HASEGAWA/VALDEZ TITLE FIGHT STOPPED EARLY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA (October 16, 2008) World ranked bantamweight Alex Valdez and his team are furious at the decision over referee Mike Griffin’s decision to stop his title fight in the second round against World Boxing Council champion Hozumi Hasegawa in Tokyo, Japan today. “Alex won the first round with his aggression, in the second round at about the two minute mark he gets hit behind the head by Hasegawa and tumbles against the ropes. He’s up at the count of eight without a problem, Hasegawa flurries and Griffin stops the fight. It was too early and fans can look at the tape and judge for themselves, said Frank Espinoza, manager of Alex Valdez. At the time of the stoppage, 2:41 of the round, Valdez can clearly be seen moving off them ropes to avoid Hasegawa’s flurry of punches, few of which hit the mark, none of which hurt the Mexican. Fight fans can view Round 2 from this Youtube link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMOHNHnh1Dg more: http://www.15rounds.com/hasegawavaldez-title-fight-stopped-early/
Thanks for posting the link. Having watched the whole second round, I have to say the stoppage wasn't that bad. Valdez only got up on the count of 9 after the first knockdown and he was getting battered all over the place aferwards, hanging on for dear life. He was in the process of being knocked out when the fight was stopped. Not the best-timed stoppage ever, granted, but it wasn't a bad one either, and certainly, no robbery, in my view.
If it is not for world title fight then I go with your idea. But ref griffin called an early judgement for this fight. The 2nd wave of Hasegawa attack before the stoppage did not hurt Valdez and in fact he is in position to counter and recovering.
I just saw it. You have to be a biased latino to call that a bad stoppage. He was down and hurt. Came up and was receiving a beating. The opponent just tried to chop him down. OK, stoppage. It could have gone on and some judges would probably have let it, but many would have stopped it.
But in a title fight, you don't take the full 8 count after a knockdown before coming back up unless you are really hurt, either. And you don't hold on for dear life after coming back up unless you are, again, hurt. He looked like he would get knocked down again seconds later and that suggests Valdez had been hurt again, on the back of the first knockdown. Had he jumped back up on 4 or 5 after the first knockdown, and fought a bit like he did at the beginning of the round, without stumbling or getting hit time after time, then I'd agree with you.
Not too bad I've seen better but that dude took some flush shots and was wobbling all over the place...he would have gotten hurt
