‘Robbed’: Australian Liam Wilson denied world title upset by bizarre 27-second count
Liam Wilson has reflected on the “piss take” that was his attempted world boxing title heist in Phoenix, saying he’d fight Emanuel Navarrete again for the WBO strap if his protest is upheld.
The Australian was nursing a sore head a day after the controversial defeat at Arizona’s Desert Diamond Arena on Friday night. His team have claimed Wilson was “robbed” after the Mexican favourite was allowed 27 seconds to recover from a trademark left hook that floored him in the fourth round.
Navarrete, unbeaten since 2012 in 31 fights, then roared back to win an 11th world title fight in a third division via a ninth-round stoppage.
Those extra 17 seconds after the knockdown were life-altering for the unheralded Wilson, whose victory on US debut would have been at least equal to the shock world title upsets by Jeff Horn five years ago and Jeff Harding nearly 30 years before that.
If followed a bizarre weigh-in drama on Thursday, Wilson about 2kg lighter than he had expected to be when the combatants stood on the scales. Navarrete snuck just under the 59kg super featherweight limit, leading to accusations of cheating and scale tampering to ensure the Top Rank star made weight.
“To me it was just a big piss take and looked well and truly planned to buy him some time,” Wilson told journalists in Arizona on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) of the delay that saw referee Chris Flores stop the count, pick up Navarrete’s mouthguard and then re-insert it upside down. “I knew I was against it. The scales debacle a day before, then the ref’s doing that. For us to cause the upset, they would have hated that … it was easy for them to sabotage because they had power in other areas.”
A protest was immediately lodged by promoter No Limit, one the Arizona Boxing Commission will review at their next meeting on 15 February.
A blockbuster defence against twodivision champion and fellow Mexican star Oscar Valdez is already in the works. But Wilson’s team want it declared a no-contest, which would strip Navarrete of the belt, wipe the loss off the Queenslander’s record and force the WBO into new plans.
“I definitely want a re-match if it’s for the exact same position,” Wilson said, confirming Navarrete hadn’t dismissed the idea of an Australian rematch “if the money was right”. He added: “It has to be to win a world title; I wouldn’t do a re-match for nothing … [and] I would love to do it in Australia.”
Helping Wilson’s case is support from the wider boxing community, with respected US analysts backing what could otherwise be viewed as spurious claims. “It was a piss take, but we hate talking like this,” Wilson’s coach Ben Harrington said. “We’re real boxing people. Saying, ‘We’re robbed’ is not us and it’s not Navarrete’s fault either.
“The last thing you want to do is cry foul, but it’s just so blatant that you can’t not. Unfortunately it’s pretty common in boxing; judge corruption, long eight counts.”