The controversial fight between Australian Davey Browne, Jr. and Filipino Reynaldo Belandres held in Sydney, Australia Oct. 9 will be shown on "Tomorrow's Champions," a boxing program aired every Saturday at 9:30 a.m. on ABS CBN's Studio 23.
North Cotabato Vice Gov. Manny Pinol, whose Braveheart Boxing Club manages Belandres, said former world champion Jeff Fenech in whose program "Jeff Fenech Fight Night" the fight was aired and Bill Treacy, owner of the Grange Old School Boxing, which promoted the bout, gave him the permission to air the video of the event to give Filipino boxing fans an opportunity to see the controversial fight.
Browne, 22, (17 wins, 1 loss, 4 KOs before the fight) one of the rising stars of Australian boxing who stands 5' 11", was matched against former national amateur boxer Reynaldo Belandres, 23, of Matalam, North Cotabato for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) Youth World Featherweight title set for 10 rounds at the plush Star City Casino and Hotel in downtown Sydney.
Shorter by about 6 inches in height, Belandres , who had a record of 15 wins, 10 KOs and 2 draws before the bout, brought the fight to the Australian following his corner's instructions to get inside the long arms of Browne and dig into the midsection.
Belandres succeeded in dominating the fight, opening up a cut over the right eye of Browne in the 2nd round which turned the Australian's face into a bloody mess while at the same time staggering the latter several times with left hooks and overhand rights.
The highly-partisan Australian crowd fell silent as round after round the shorter Filipino fighter pursued Browne around the small ring and delivered haymakers in contrast to the pawing punches of the Australian.
But while Belandres was able to overcome the reach and height advantage and tamed the partisan crowd, he was not able to survive the pens of the three Australian judges who scored the fight 98-92, 97-95 and 97-94, all in favor of Browne.
The decision was widely booed by the Australian boxing fans and denounced as "robbery" by the promoter himself, Bill Treacy, American former world middleweight and lightheavyweight champion Mike McCallum who was at ringside, and other prominent personalities at ringside.
Jeff Fenech, who was doing the commentary of the fight and making an unofficial scoring of the fight which he saw Browne's way, called the lopsided scoring of the fight as "disgusting."
Even Browne' father and trainer, Davey Sr., admitted to Australian trainer Todd Makelin and he and his son were also surprised by the verdict. He has promised to give Belandres a rematch in the spirit of fairness and sportsmanship but this will take place next year to allow his son's injuries to heal.(pr)
No comments:
Post a Comment