“The original deal was that if I could knock him out in the first six rounds, there would be no problem, but after six I’d have to take a dive and lose,” Rojas told reporter, Pedro Mu?oz.
“I had to accept it,” Rojas continued. “It was a very important fight for me. It would make me a known fighter, I’d be fighting a superstar in Mexican boxing, and plus, it was in Las Vegas, I wanted the visa.
“The day of the weigh-in, the promoter came up to me and told me that I had to go down in the sixth round and that the plans had changed.
“The truth is that I could’ve beaten ‘El Travieso’ easily, he can’t box. Everything I threw, I landed easily, but the deal had been made, although I did rough him up a little more expected.”
In response to the question of whether Arce said anything to him after the fight, Rojas replied, “He offered me an extra twenty thousand, but he never paid me.”
Asked if he repents making the decision to throw the fight, Rojas told Mu?oz, “Not at all. I haven’t killed anyone, I haven’t stolen, I behave myself, I’m healthy. I don’t have any reason to be sorry about anything I’ve done in my life, I’m at peace?It wasn’t for the money, because it wasn’t all that much, it was to get my name out there and I did it.”
For the record, Arce denies any wrongdoing and claims to have no knowledge of Rojas’ claims.
Zanfer Promotions, who handles both Rojas and Arce, also denies the allegations.
The scandal is reminiscent of the story that first appeared in the pages of The Boxing Tribune about the camp of Marco Antonio Barrera allegedly making a similar offer to journeyman, Johnny Nolasco in the bout preceding Barrarera’s 2009 fight with Amir Khan.
According to Nolasco’s manager, Rosa Diaz, Barrera’s brother, Jorge, approached her and insisted that her fighter can’t “make it past the fourth round.”
After refusing the proposition, Diaz said that Nolasco was replaced in favor of 1-7-1, Freudis Rojas, a fighter who hadn’t been licensed for nearly two years.
