Credit: Twitter
On May 13, Saturday, the American Rolando “Rolly” Romero defeated the Venezuelan Ismael Barroso in a controversial fashion via a TKO to win the WBA Super Lightweight World title at The Chelsea, Las Vegas. The main event of Showtime Championship Boxing saw the referee Tony Weeks put a stop to the bout at 2:41 of the ninth round to crown a new champion, however, the fans and the fighters felt it was 'injustice' to stop the fight.
When the abrupt stoppage was called in by the referee, Barroso was apparently standing on his feet. He was seemingly slipping out of most of the punches thrown by Romero before the referee Weeks stepped in between both the boxers to halt their scheduled 12-round showdown.
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In the immediate aftermath, Rolando Romero was quoted as saying in the post-fight chat with Jim Gray of Showtime, “I’ll be honest. He's a warrior and he wanted to keep going, he should have been able to keep going.”
Meanwhile, when Gray asked Barroso about what he thought about the fight stoppage, he responded through a translator’s help, “I think it was an injustice to stop the fight. I was giving the best shots.”
Ismael Barroso mentioned that the referee didn’t say anything to him about stopping the fight. He also talked about not understanding why the fight was stopped, to which Jim Gray, the interviewer concurred. The sportscaster told the viewers on Showtime that the referee Tony Weeks has refused to talk to them just like the head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
