Liam Wilson’s corner will launch a protest after he was denied an incredible underdog boxing world title, beaten by favourite Emanuel Navarrete despite flooring the Mexican in the fourth round.
Opening an $18 long shot for the vacant WBO super featherweight title, Australian Wilson silenced the partisan crowd in Phoenix’s Desert Diamond Arena when he landed a sweet left hook and eventually sent the two-division champion to the canvas.
Navarrete survived what Wilson’s corner thought was a prolonged count and was hit again by Wilson’s final punch of a dominant round. Wilson landed another sweet left hook in the sixth round but was then monstered before the fight was stopped with one minute left in the ninth round.
“I knocked him down in the fourth and thought the count was a bit longer than I thought (it should have been),” he said in the ring after the loss.
“I think it was about a 20-second count. Review it and see what happens there.
“I’ll be back, make no mistake about it. I love these hard fights.”
It was Navarrete’s 32nd consecutive win, dating back to 2012 and his 11th title fight, the victory making him the 10th Mexican to win titles in three divisions.
(Photo by Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
“Liam is a great warrior; he came to win, led with that big shot on me and it stung me,” Navarrete said.
“I was able to get myself up off the canvas and settle down.”
It was Brisbane product Wilson’s second defeat in only 13 professional fights, the world title promise made to his dying father 11 years ago on ice for now.
Wilson’s path to a world title shot was a winding one, knocked out in 2021 by Joe Noynay, winning their rematch and then prevailing against Matias Rueda to book a world title eliminator berth. But he was promoted from that straight into the main event when Mexican star Oscar Valdez was injured, the Australian plucked to fight Navarrete for the title vacated when champion Shakur Stevenson missed weight and moved up in class.
Initially a major outsider, he firmed during fight week despite a dramatic weigh-in that finished with the Australian’s camp crying foul.
Wilson’s team claimed the scales had been tampered with to allow Navarrete to make weight. Accusing officials of cheating, they demanded a meeting with authorities on Friday and eventually got it just hours before the fight.
But with no proof of their accusation, their worries – and demand for Navarrete to be weighed again – were waved away and the show went on.
Wilson put that behind him to quieten a hostile 5100-strong crowd and eventually earn their respect, the low-profile father of two set to return to Queensland with his reputation hugely enhanced.
© AAP
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