So Francisco Lorenzo wins via an undeserved disqualification against Humberto Soto, thanks in large part to Lorenzo’s whining and acting as if the glancing blow was an actual hit. Now the WBC has decided to take the title away from Lorenzo. Now I have read some commentators suggest it isn’t fair, that a ruling is a ruling, however wrong, and Lorenzo should keep his belt. Originally, after watching the replays myself (thank you YouTube… ref Frank Cortez giving an interview here) I thought this was the correct decision, but upon further thought, I agree. While Lorenzo was clearly hamming it up trying for the DQ, the ruling was the ruling. If they want to give the ref, or at least the sideline judges and boxing commission the ability to use instant replay then that is one thing, but from what they saw, they decided it the way it turned out. Let Lorenzo keep the title, everyone in the boxing world will brand him a coward and he’ll loose the belt his next fight, be it a rematch or another match. If they want the belt to be left open, then the rules should say that a DQ results in a vacant belt.
What I don’t get is the comments from YouTube people against Cortez. The guy made a bad call, but from his angle and without the benefit of instant replay he made the correct call. Was it the correct call from our angle and having the instant replay? No, but refs make bad calls all the time. In this case it cost Soto a deserved title, which is perhaps why some of them are faulting Cortez, but again, we all have to play by the rules. Soto violated the rule by hitting Lorenzo while he was down, though yes, it looks like the punch may have been in process already so perhaps hard to stop, and Lorenzo’s acting helped things along. Don’t blame the ref, blame Lorenzo.
I should qualify all the above by saying I am not too familiar with either fighter. I do recall seeing Frank Cortez on a few other fights, and thanks to us not having TV, I haven’t seen many fights for a while.