Kiko Martinez lost his boxing world title on Saturday night after an unfortunate refereeing performance which didn’t penalise several illegal moves from Josh Warrington, the new champion, who won thanks to a refereeing stoppage in the seventh round.
The Spaniard finished the bout dejected, because he knew that this could be his last fight and wouldn’t have wanted to bow out in this way.
It was a very unpleasant last few minutes in the ring, and Martinez ended up with twelve stitches from several headbutts, the first of them in the first round, which left him badly hurt.
Kiko left his mark, though, as Englishman Josh Warrington had to go to hospital at the end of the fight with a broken jaw.
Fans have been wondering what would have happened if the referee had controlled Warrington‘s conduct in the ring.
If Kiko Martinez had fought at his own pace, without his vision impaired by the blood in his eyes, the fight could have gone differently.
If an injured Martinez can break the newly crowned champion’s jaw, you have to wonder what he could have done had it been a fair fight.
That’s a fight for another day, however, that we sadly won’t see. Congratulations to the new champion, even if it wasn’t a clean fight.
Marca
