IKF Overturns Ruling, Changes Lion Fight 27 Bout to Win for Bolanos
Lion Fight, America’s leading Muay Thai promotion, announced on
Tuesday that it received a notification from the International
Kickboxing Federation (IKF) that the governing body has overturned
the result of the controversial bout between Gaston Bolanos and
Kronphet Phetrachapat.
The duel took place on Jan. 29 as one of the featured bouts of Lion Fight 27. Though Bolanos appeared to dominate his Thai opponent, the ringside judges favored Phetrachapat and awarded him a split decision. One official had it 48-47 for Bolanos, but that score was offset by the two others who saw it 48-47 for Phetrachapat.
As expected, the raucous crowd inside the Pechanga Resort in
Temecula, Calif., exploded in disgust and confusion as virtually
everybody felt Bolanos should have had his hand raised. Viewers
watching the AXS TV telecast erupted with their collective
disapproval on social media but it seemed as though nothing was
going to happen.
IKF assembled 21 international judges to review the fight and after studying the film, the committee decided to overturn the verdict and award Bolanos with the win. Of the 21 IKF judges, 18 scored it for Bolanos; nine of those judges saw it 49-46 while four thought Bolanos won all five rounds. The victory allows Gaston to remain unbeaten at 8-0 while Phetrachapat falls to 74-19-4.
“It’s unusual for a sanctioning body to accept responsibility and so clearly explain their process in evaluating a disputed decision,” said Scott Kent, CEO and president of Lion Fight. “Standardizing judging criteria for muay Thai and training world-class judges and referees should be the goal of all sanctioning bodies interested in promoting this amazing sport. I applaud Steve Fossum and the IKF for taking a stand and providing the transparency in their decision process. Both of these fighters are true warriors and hopefully we can get them in the ring again.”
Bolanos was unavailable for comment regarding the overturning of his Lion Fight 27 battle, but his manager, Gary Ibarra, spoke on his behalf in a statement.
“We are pleased that the IKF chose to review and ultimately change the judges’ original decision,” said Ibarra. “Gaston’s sole focus for this bout was to show that he could compete with an experienced competitor like Kronphet and in that respect, he felt he’d succeeded regardless of the decision. The fact that the decision was overturned, however, by 18 of the 21 independent reviewers just goes to show that not only can he compete with the best, most experienced Muay Thai fighters in the world, he can beat them.”
The duel took place on Jan. 29 as one of the featured bouts of Lion Fight 27. Though Bolanos appeared to dominate his Thai opponent, the ringside judges favored Phetrachapat and awarded him a split decision. One official had it 48-47 for Bolanos, but that score was offset by the two others who saw it 48-47 for Phetrachapat.
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IKF assembled 21 international judges to review the fight and after studying the film, the committee decided to overturn the verdict and award Bolanos with the win. Of the 21 IKF judges, 18 scored it for Bolanos; nine of those judges saw it 49-46 while four thought Bolanos won all five rounds. The victory allows Gaston to remain unbeaten at 8-0 while Phetrachapat falls to 74-19-4.
“It’s unusual for a sanctioning body to accept responsibility and so clearly explain their process in evaluating a disputed decision,” said Scott Kent, CEO and president of Lion Fight. “Standardizing judging criteria for muay Thai and training world-class judges and referees should be the goal of all sanctioning bodies interested in promoting this amazing sport. I applaud Steve Fossum and the IKF for taking a stand and providing the transparency in their decision process. Both of these fighters are true warriors and hopefully we can get them in the ring again.”
Bolanos was unavailable for comment regarding the overturning of his Lion Fight 27 battle, but his manager, Gary Ibarra, spoke on his behalf in a statement.
“We are pleased that the IKF chose to review and ultimately change the judges’ original decision,” said Ibarra. “Gaston’s sole focus for this bout was to show that he could compete with an experienced competitor like Kronphet and in that respect, he felt he’d succeeded regardless of the decision. The fact that the decision was overturned, however, by 18 of the 21 independent reviewers just goes to show that not only can he compete with the best, most experienced Muay Thai fighters in the world, he can beat them.”
