February 6, 2023
Former Kingaroy boxer Liam Wilson is fighting to have his world title bout in Arizona on Saturday declared a “no contest”.
An official protest has been lodged by promoter Matt Rose with the Arizona Boxing Commission over Wilson’s controversial TKO loss to Mexican Emanuel Navarrete in the ninth round of their fight for the WBO super featherweight title.
Wilson floored Navarrete in the fourth round with a big left hook.
Commentators have suggested the Mexican was given an extra 17 seconds to recover from the blow after he spat out his mouthguard, which then had to be cleaned and handed back to him.
“I think it’s pretty evident it was a prolonged count. It was much longer than it should have been. The referee stuffed around and we’re definitely going to contest it and try and get it overturned,” Wilson told the media after the bout.
However, the Aussie boxer is keen to fight Navarrete again and has suggested a rematch could be held in Australia.
The protest is expected to be reviewed by the Arizona commission on February 15.
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