Commission awards Anthony Olascuaga KO1 win over Jonathan Gonzalez, overturns cut-shortened no decision

Anthony Olascuaga’s first defense of his WBO flyweight world title had ended abruptly and anticlimactically. More than a week later, it has now officially gone down as an Olascuaga victory.

Olascuaga, a 25-year-old from Los Angeles, won the vacant title in July by knocking out Riku Kano in three rounds in Japan. He returned to Tokyo to defend it on October 14 against his top-rated contender, Jonathan Gonzalez.

The two fighters clashed heads about 1 minute and 50 seconds into the first round, opening a cut over Gonzalez’s left eye. The referee brought Gonzalez to a ringside physician, who examined the wound and indicated that the bout could continue.

After another 20 seconds of action, the fighters clinched, and Gonzalez motioned toward his left eye. After a brief exchange between Gonzalez and referee Robert Hoyle, Hoyle waved off the bout.

Not long afterward, Olascuaga’s team appealed to the Japan Boxing Commission, according to Jake Donovan of RingTV.com. They argued that the decision to end the fight came from Gonzalez, not from the ringside physician.

The appeal succeeded, according to a letter from the Japan Boxing Commission to the WBO, which was reported by boxing writer Carlos Linares.

“Gonzalez had expressed that he was not able to see, so that referee thought he had an intention to quit, decided that Gonzalez would lose by TKO and notified the ring announcer,” the letter said.

The commission said the fight’s supervisor initially recommended the bout instead be a “no decision.” A few days ago, the commission overturned the supervisor’s ruling.

“The referee has the sole authority to stop the bout, and the referee claims that Gonzalez abandoned the bout,” the letter to the WBO said. “Therefore, I would like to kindly inform you the result of this bout could be changed from a no-decision to a TKO loss for Gonzalez.”

Olascuaga is now 8-1 (6 KOs). Gonzalez is now 28-4-1 (14 KOs).

Olascuaga and his trainer spoke with Lucas Ketelle of BoxingScene.com on October 28:

“He had the choice to continue the fight. The doctor had checked him, said he was OK, and then [Gonzalez] went on and started complaining that he could not see when the cut wasn’t in his eyes,” Olascuaga said. “It was above his eyes. So, for him to say that he can’t see it, it was a lie. The referee did what he had to. He stopped the fight. But I was confused on why it was a no-contest if he had quit, because he said that he could not see. I’m glad that the decision was overturned, and it was a TKO victory for me.”

“The right decision has been made,” said trainer Rudy Hernandez. “He quit thinking he’d get another fight, and a payday would come with it. He’s had a track record of complaining [and] crying in fights. Finally, it caught up to him. He has to live with that decision he made.”

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.