OMEGA boxing gym head coach Christopher ?Ping-Ping? Tepora cried foul after his ward Jason Canoy lost by an apparently controversial decision last weekend in Ukraine.
?I thought we won already. Canoy dropped him in the second round and after that he kept on running and clinching. In the seventh round, Canoy got hit by a headbutt and the doctor stopped the fight. We should have won the fight,? Tepora told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
The 23-year-old Canoy lost by a technical decision to unbeaten hometown fighter Oleksandr Hryshchuk at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, Ukraine.
Despite Canoy dropping Hryshchuk, the judges still gave the fight to the 27-year-old Ukrainian with lopsided scores. One judge scored it 69-64, another gave it 69-65, while the other judge didn?t give Canoy a single round, despite the knockdown, with a score of 70-63.
?I saw it as a hometown decision because the referee also broke up the action when Canoy was about to score a knockout. He made lots of reasons just to let him recover,? he said.
Tepora believes that Canoy, 16-4 with 11 knockouts, should have been awarded at least four or five rounds in the scheduled 12-round fight for the World Boxing Association Inter-Continental flyweight belt that was cut short to just seven after the clash of heads.
?We should have been ahead on points. But we understand that when we fight in their hometown the only way to win is by knockout. The promoter said that we will be given a rematch,? said Tepora.
The proposed rematch for Canoy and Hryshchuk, 13-0 with five knockouts, is slated for December, still in enemy territory ?Ukraine.
