Several concerned Filipino boxing fans chimed in with their thoughts after my column yesterday on comments made by Ana Julaton, and her trainer Angelo Reyes regarding how they were unfairly treated in Argentina during her WBO super bantamweight title defense against hometown girl Yesica Marcos.
Amidst questions and criticisms from some Filipino boxing fans about their decision to push through with their title defense, despite what had just happened to countryman Jhonriel Casimero, allow me to offer some insights on the matter, which may help put things in perspective. Advertisement
Ana Julaton went to Argentina to defend her title because she pretty much had no choice. The WBO issued an order for her to defend her crown after Marcos won her fight in October to become the #1 mandatory challenger to Julaton’s crown.
Julaton’s promoter Allan Tremblay was trying to secure a neutral territory, even a fight in the Philippines which Julaton herself had been dreaming about for years now. The problem is, the funding for the fight was coming from the Mendoza Government (The Governor and the Mayor of San Martin heavily funded the event with Argentinian promoter Osvaldo Rivero), and there was little support and commitment coming from the US and Philippines end for Julaton.
Tremblay had only two choices: Either have Julaton give up her belt, making it vacant and Marcos would have been able to fight for the vacant title against any opponent of her choice, or Julaton would have to take the fight (originally scheduled in February which Team Julaton first found out was moved to March through the internet) in Argentina.
Being the competitor and true champion that Julaton is, she opted to take the fight, despite the odds being stacked against her, under the notion that they had Rivero’s word that things will be fought under fair terms. Julaton would’ve loved to fight in the Philippines, but nobody truly cared, or believed enough to invest in her and make the fight happen. But even with the outcome of the fight, Julaton said she has no regrets, and was grateful for the experience to fight in front of an estimated 40,000 fans who were all wildly cheering two women showcase their skills inside the boxing ring. The gameplan all along was to knock Marcos out, well aware of the fact that a decision will be hard to come by in her opponent’s hometown. Unfortunately, even that became difficult with the way the referee controlled the fight, and even deducted a point from Julaton for a bogus low blow.
It was with the way the team was treated in Argentina; the lies, the Philippine National Anthem being cut in the middle, the USA National Anthem not being played at all, the last minute switching of the judges, how the referee treated her, how they did not get what was promised, and Julaton not being recognized the way champions are supposed to be recognizes, etc., that bothered Julaton more than the loss itself.
It’s easy to sit and criticize without having all the knowledge about what fighters go through in the crazy, and dirty world of boxing. Here’s hoping we support our fighters who are trying to make a difference, and not just when they win titles, or all of a sudden gain interest when they are marred in controversy, but truly support them, so that they may never have to go through the horrors of what some of our fighters have recently experienced in enemy territory.
Below is a transcript of my interview with Julaton’s trainer/manager Angelo Reyes on how the fight was scored, and the way I scored it as well.
I scored the fight 94-93 for Marcos, with the point deduction being the main difference in the fight. Judges ringside saw it 98-91, and 98-92 twice. (CLICK HERE for my round-by-round recap)
Angelo Reyes – “You’re right and that is exactly the same way we saw it, except I had it as a draw. Our game plan, and what we trained for in this fight was that Ana was going to TKO Yesica in the latter rounds.
You saw how Ana was able to knock her down in the 2nd round with a double left hook, and we were on our way to exactly that, as we felt Marcos was expending her energy out in the 3rd and 4th all the while Ana was using her right hand to consistently block Marcos’ hooks, which you can watch on the replay was effective.
If Ana had been treated as the Champion by the judging, then it is easy to score a round in where Ana was blocking the shots while coming back with more precise power punches.
In fact I felt the 5th round was our round, and when the referee took away the point, I was upset because I felt he only did that because Marcos’ corner had been complaining since the third round (constantly screaming at the referee in Spanish).
You can see on the replay that before the point deduction occurred, you hear Marcos’ corner complaining to the referee the whole time. I believe the rules state that the corner man can be disqualified for talking to the referee during the bout, but it seemed as if Mr. Ramirez was even listening to Marcos corner.
We of course have always been professional and have never been issued a warning for talking to the ref as we follow the rules. That was a turning point for our game plan. I felt Ana may have been disqualified given the way the referee was constantly stopping her flow rather than just letting the two of them fight.
I asked Ana to box from rounds 6-10 rather than our original game plan which was to stop Marcos in the later rounds, even still at this point I felt it may be close on the scorecards (I had Ana winning the 2nd, 3rd, and the 5th a 9-9 round at this point) and boxing the final 5 rounds would give us the best chances to win.
Had I realized that the Judges were going to be biased towards Marcos and gave her the first half of the fight with a huge margin (even with Ana knocking her down in the 2nd which should have been a 10-8 round), I would have asked Ana to go for broke and KO Marcos even with the fear of the referee constantly hounding her which seemed very excessive.
You noticed the referee never once warned Marcos for grabbing Ana in the back of the head and pushing her, which was evident in the 2nd round, and throughout the fight. The reason why a couple of punches from Ana may have looked low is because, #1 Yesica would grab Ana’s head and Push it down while Ana was setting up for a body shot, and #2 Yesica Marcos’ corner repeatedly from rounds 2 through 5, would keep yelling at the referee when the punches were NOT LOW.
Dennis, Marcos was getting damaged with vicious hits for sure, and I believe the millions that watched this fight are convinced that Ana was digging to the body of Marcos more than she has ever shown before. Marcos slowed down in the last few rounds and did nothing in the last tw. Had we kept that attack, Marcos would have given up by the 7th or 8th round rather than getting a chance to recover in the sixth because Ana stopped going to the body, only because of our fear of disqualification.”
