Australia’s Liam Wilson is still fuming over this past Friday’s stoppage loss at the hands of Emanuel Navarrete in Glendale, Arizona.
Willson traveled to hostile territory to collide with Navarrete for the vacant WBO super featherweight championship.
The near 20-1 underdog appeared to be on the verge of a major upset when he badly hurt, and dropped, Navarrete in the fourth round.
There has been ongoing controversy over what transpired in the round. From the point of the knockdown to the point of the action resuming, Navarrete seemed to have around 27 seconds to recover.
Navarrete got to his feet on unsteady legs, but then spit out his mouthpiece and was given additional time.
Over the next few rounds, Navarrete would regain control of the fight and ultimately dropped and stopped Wilson in the ninth.
Wilson’s promoter, No Limit, has already submitted a protest to the Arizona Commission – with a firm request to have the outcome changed to a no-contest.
The Aussie boxer felt the contest should have been over in the fourth.
“I can see his face. And I felt it was a knockout. His eyes were f—–. Sorry, his eyes were stuffed. He was on the ground, eyes rolling in his head. It looked like he was definitely gone and it’s a shame it took a lot of time for him to get back up, to get his composure and senses back,” Wilson told Fox Sports.
“Then, he was able to spit his mouthguard out. Buy a few more seconds. Next thing you know it’s nearly 30 seconds. I don’t think that’s fair. It’s not right. (The referee) took so long and there was enough time for him to find his measure again. It just dragged on.
“If it’s true that it was 27 seconds, that’s robbery. But I’m just a fighter and if my hand didn’t get raised, I lost. It’s a shame. There was a lot of commotion after the knockdown and then, almost 30 seconds had dragged on (before) he was back on his feet. He was wobbly after he got up. But it shouldn’t have got there.
“Initially, I went to the corner. Then I looked over at my corner, a few more seconds went by, then I looked at the referee and he basically started counting. I thought ‘f—.’ And then he only just starts doing this (Wilson begins counting on his fingers) and Navarrete then found his bearings enough to spit out his mouthguard. I thought ‘f—— hell’. Sorry, but this has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. It’s a shame.
“I can put it behind me so long as the whole world knows. And the people who witnessed it. That stuff (footage) doesn’t lie. But I just need to go back home and rest. I only want to take hard fights. For some reason I can’t get up for easy fights. I perform really badly. So I just want to take hard fights. Fights that get remembered and are worth it. And I feel like this one was worth it. And I want the next one to be worth it. I just want Australia to know I am a true champion. I just want to be in championship fights or close enough.”