Boxing needs to use video technology to help officials, says leading promoter Eddie Hearn.
\nBritain\u2019s Charlie Edwards appeared to be losing his WBC flyweight belt when he was counted out against Mexico\u2019s Julio Martinez in London at the weekend.
\nBut the fight was ruled a no-contest when big-screen replays showed Martinez had punched Edwards in the ribs when his knee and glove were on the canvas.
\n\u201cEssentially it was VAR for boxing and it was 100% right,\u201d said Hearn.
\nVideo assistant referees (VAR) have been introduced in Premier League football this season to adjudicate on goals, penalties and potential red cards while cricket uses technology to judge on wickets, and tennis utilises the Hawk-Eye system to see if the ball landed in.
\nDuring the third round of Saturday\u2019s fight at the O2 Arena, Martinez hit Edwards – defending the title for the second time, with a number of head and body shots, forcing the Briton to put a glove and knee on the canvas.
\nAs soon as that happened, fighting should have stopped with the referee starting a count and the other boxer moving to one of the corners. Martinez, however, struck Edwards in the ribs again and the Londoner, rolling in pain, was counted out.
\nThe capacity crowd booed Martinez when the replays were shown on 12 big screens, again when he was announced as the winner, and also during his post-fight interview.
\nAfter seeing the replays, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman overruled the decision from ringside, declaring the bout a \u2018no-contest\u2019.
\n\u201cIt [the punch] was so late it was next week,\u201d said Hearn. \u201cWhen they played it back it was that bad they were able to make a decision instantly. I didn\u2019t expect them to do it and I\u2019ve not seen anything like it.
\n\u201cThe WBC have a rule with video replays – they like to have it in-play but the British Boxing Board of Control and some other commissions do not.
\n\u201cBut with all the screens up it was easy for the president to say \u2018it\u2019s a no contest, I don\u2019t need to review it or go before a committee – it\u2019s my decision\u2019.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t see a downside of doing it in a sport where there\u2019s so much on the line.\u201d
\nSulaiman immediately ordered a rematch, and Edwards felt the change of verdict was correct.
\n\u201cI took a knee for a purpose,\u201d added the Londoner. \u201cHe finished me off with a body shot and I couldn\u2019t recover.
\n\u201cCheaters never prosper. We get in this ring to abide by the rules.\u201d
\nThe result means Edwards retained his belt and his record of 15 wins and one loss.
\nSince the introduction of VAR in the Premier League, there has been criticism of the length of the delays, on occasion it has taken up to two minutes before a decision has been made on the validity of a goal. Hearn said decisions would be much quicker in fights.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not like it will slow boxing down, that\u2019s what people say about football and cricket,\u201d said Hearn.
\n\u201cThe media and everyone is talking about it and it\u2019s a question where fans will say \u2018why not?\u2019
\n\u201cThere\u2019s maybe too much VAR in football but it would be minimal cases in boxing, they wouldn\u2019t refer to it every round but where it\u2019s an important decision and something that could affect someone\u2019s career and livelihood.
\n\u201cIf you lose a belt you are no longer champion and it\u2019s the difference between making \u00a31m and \u00a350,000, we have to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Boxing needs to use video technology to help officials, says leading promoter Eddie Hearn. Britain\u2019s Charlie Edwards appeared to be losing his WBC flyweight belt when he was counted out against Mexico\u2019s Julio Martinez in London at the weekend. But the fight was ruled a no-contest when big-screen replays showed Martinez had punched Edwards in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-213847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=213847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/213858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=213847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=213847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=213847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}