Can you believe this crap?

If he clearly 'won', then why was he not declared champion? The answer was, it was anything but clear, it was not 'plainly obvious'.

The precedents have been set, look at Rivers/Walgast, look at all the 'terrible decisions' in boxing history. You cannot make an exception for one.

But you can make sure the ref is fired and a rematch is set up, which is what happened. It was better than anything Joe got...

 

I think it's quite clear why he wasn't declared champion. That's kind of the crux of the whole argument, right? It's corruption.


I guess we'll just have to disagree; I see nothing at all too terrible about righting a wrong. No need to stand by and accept injustice simply because there's a time-honored tradition of it. That simply makes no sense.

 

I would agree the crux is 'corruption'. I would also agree 'corruption' happened here. But I would argue 'corruption' can be considered an abstract concept in modern boxing. Thus, something that is part of the 'fabric' of the 'artistic' make up of the sport.

That may make it wrong to you; but when it 'comes down to it', you (like me) are getting your 'jollies' watching two people trying to knock each other out. Some would say that is wrong in a modern society. So maybe we need to a certain level, too accept 'corruption' in boxing ?

 

Of course one cannot just be given the title (although it was offered once which I'll get to in a minute), but there are instances of massive corruption that just pisses you off to want to rectify it. One of the most galling things of course is the immediate rematch. To me that is just a backhanded slap in the face for something you should have been awarded in the first place. Aside from Coggi-Gonzalez there was also Muniz-Napoles I. When you mentioned Rivers-Wolgast or bad decisions, let's not forget that was the case of a singular crook (the ref) or possibly 2 bad/corrupt judges. The Muniz fight had a corrupt Ref and commission and WBC head honcho saving Napoles' title (commission looking the other way on Napoles use of illegal swabs and of course orchestrating the tech win). In Coggi-Gonzalez it was the ref, timekeeper (check out how many shortened rounds there were), cornerman (although that's to be expected, but watch him stand on the ring apron with his hand holding up Coggi by the waistband) and of course, the commission and WBA. The only time the title was offered up was Sallavarria-Gonzalez for teh WBC flyweight title. Sallavarria retained it on a draw, was found to have drank illegal stimulant between rounds (sugar water) and the title was offered to Gonzalez, who gallantly refused it and won the vacant title against Socrates Botato.

 

Spectacular turnaround by Eder Gonzalez. Rarely do you see a boxer aimlessly staggering around on ***** street for so long like Coggi was.

Gonzalez TKO2 Coggi

Gonzalez the WBA light-welterweight champion from 17/12/93 to 18/03/94.

The WBA didn't even have the integrity to change the result to a NC. They are diabolical.