Referee Faces Ban After Emanuel Navarrete Controversy, Confirms California Commission Head

For the 36-year-old Charly Suarez, the WBO super featherweight title bout against Emanuel Navarrete presented his first-ever shot at a world title, following a clean 18-0 pro record. So, when the two faced off at the Pechanga Arena in San Diego, Calif. on Saturday, judges Fernando Villareal and Lou Moret scored it 77-76 and Pat Russell 78-75 — all in favor of Navarrete, who retained the title. But the catch was, the result could have easily gone the other way.

The fight began with Navarrete using his reach and awkward angles to control the early rounds. But as the bout progressed, Suarez began to find his rhythm, countering effectively in the middle rounds. In the sixth, Suarez landed a clean left hook just before the fighters clashed heads. Moments later, a cut opened above Navarrete’s left eye. Referee Edward Collantes quickly ruled the injury to be the result of an accidental headbutt. The fight continued into the eighth round, but the worsening cut forced a stoppage. The judges’ scorecards read 78-75, 77-76, and 77-76 — all in Navarrete’s favor — awarding him a technical decision victory.

“When a cut is produced by a legal punch and the fight is stopped because of that cut, the injured boxer shall lose by Technical Knock-out, and the Commission shall inscribe in the records the letters TKO (loss by technical knock-out),” state the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) regulatory guidelines. Since the injury was ruled to be from an accidental headbutt, the outcome was determined by the scorecards. And that’s where the issue lies.

Video replays later suggested that it was Suarez’s punch, not a headbutt, that caused the cut. Analyst Ed Tolentino also emphasized that the footage clearly showed the injury stemmed from the hook, arguing that Suarez should have been awarded a TKO win. Referee Edward Collantes has since come under heavy scrutiny.
“Edward Collantes will not be refereeing a high-profile boxing match in the foreseeable [future],” tweeted California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) executive director Andy Foster in the aftermath.

However, just hours later, Foster took back his statement and replied to that tweet, expressing continued confidence in Collantes’s abilities. “We have change[d] our minds about Ed Collantes. He is a fine referee and we look forward to having him referee again soon. In fact, this weekend,” he replied to his own tweet.

Now, in a development, Foster walked back his statement again, as he deleted the second tweet.  The CSAC is now reviewing the fight’s outcome, and a decision on whether to overturn the result to a no-contest is pending.

Regardless, now the question is what the fighters had to say about Navarrete’s cut?

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Emanuel Navarrete and Charly Suarez share their perspective

It was a grueling weight cut for Navarrete, and he seemed to perform well in the fight. So, reflecting on the stoppage, he said, “From the first moment of the impact, I knew it was a head-butt and it split my eye completely.” Now ‘Vaquero’ is thinking things over about whether to stay at 130 pounds or move to 135. 

“We’ll recover [from] the cut, but I felt good, strong, and complete. We’ll take things calmly and make a decision if we stay at 130, or try again at 135 pounds,” he added. Meanwhile, Suarez has maintained that the cut opened due to a legitimate punch rather than head butt. “I hit him with the right straight,” Suarez said. “I want Navarrete again.”

That said, there’s a good possibility that there will be a rematch if the result gets overturned. However, only time will tell what fate holds for the two boxers. What did you think about the incident? Was it a headbutt? Or a clean punch?