Liam Wilson’s nook will launch a protest after he was denied an unbelievable underdog boxing world title, crushed by favorite Emanuel Navarrete regardless of flooring the Mexican within the fourth spherical.
Opening an $18 lengthy shot for the vacant WBO tremendous featherweight title, Australian Wilson silenced the partisan crowd in Phoenix’s Desert Diamond Enviornment when he landed a candy left hook and ultimately despatched the two-division champion to the canvas.
Navarrete survived what Wilson’s nook thought was a protracted rely and was hit once more by Wilson’s last punch of a dominant spherical. Wilson landed one other candy left hook within the sixth spherical however was then monstered earlier than the struggle was stopped with one minute left within the ninth spherical.
“I knocked him down within the fourth and thought the rely was a bit longer than I believed (it ought to have been),” he mentioned within the ring after the loss.
“I believe it was a few 20-second rely. Overview it and see what occurs there.
“I’ll be again, make no mistake about it. I like these laborious fights.”
It was Navarrete’s thirty second consecutive win, relationship again to 2012 and his eleventh title struggle, the victory making him the tenth Mexican to win titles in three divisions.
(Picture by Mikey Williams/Prime Rank Inc by way of Getty Pictures)
“Liam is a superb warrior; he got here to win, led with that massive shot on me and it stung me,” Navarrete mentioned.
“I used to be capable of get myself up off the canvas and cool down.”
It was Brisbane product Wilson’s second defeat in solely 13 skilled fights, the world title promise made to his dying father 11 years in the past on ice for now.
Wilson’s path to a world title shot was a winding one, knocked out in 2021 by Joe Noynay, profitable their rematch after which prevailing towards Matias Rueda to e book a world title eliminator berth. However he was promoted from that straight into the primary occasion when Mexican star Oscar Valdez was injured, the Australian plucked to struggle Navarrete for the title vacated when champion Shakur Stevenson missed weight and moved up in school.
Initially a significant outsider, he firmed throughout struggle week regardless of a dramatic weigh-in that completed with the Australian’s camp crying foul.
Wilson’s staff claimed the scales had been tampered with to permit Navarrete to make weight. Accusing officers of dishonest, they demanded a gathering with authorities on Friday and ultimately obtained it simply hours earlier than the struggle.
However with no proof of their accusation, their worries – and demand for Navarrete to be weighed once more – have been waved away and the present went on.
Wilson put that behind him to quieten a hostile 5100-strong crowd and ultimately earn their respect, the low-profile father of two set to return to Queensland along with his popularity vastly enhanced.
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