Many people believe that Amir Khan’s victory over Marco Antonio Barrera made him look like a million dollars, but the reality is no one really knows what could have happened if Barrera could have used both his eyes. Don’t read too much into the victory; Khan dominated an old, slow guy who had a horrendous deep cut on his head that bled into his eye from round one. The head butt was unintentional, but to me that’s not an impressive win, but a fight that had to be stopped.
MyBoxingFans talked to Marco Antonio Barrera’s cut man Tony Rivera after he arrived to Los Angeles CA, from Manchester, England. He spoke about what really happened Saturday night.
“I have worked with Marco for almost 17 years and I have worked on many different type of cuts,” stated Mr.Rivera. “But I couldn’t stop the bleeding, it was a huge cut. It was 3 1/2 inches long and it was deep. I could honestly see his bone, blood just kept squirting out and it was affecting Barrera’s vision.”
“Luckily Marco had invited a plastic surgeon to watch the fight and thankfully he was able to stitch him up. It took 30 stitches, how in the world was I suppose to stop the bleeding from an open wound that required 30 stitches?”
“That fight should of have been stopped!!”
“I knew what they were doing; they wanted to have a winner instead of a no decision.”
Do you feel that if this would of happen here in the US they would have allowed the fight to continue?
“Of course not, they would have stopped it in a heart beat. Â The doctor didn’t see Marco until the minute and a half mark of round 4. It was obvious Marco couldn’t see, blood kept running down his eye.”
Did Marco or anyone in his corner say anything?
“We tried, you saw when the doctor asked Marco if he was ok to fight, and Marco kept saying that he couldn’t see.”
“A fighter like Marco is not going to say stop the fight, that’s the doctor’s job, how many boxers you know that won’t quit even though they have a broken hand or a broken nose?”
I too agree. We saw what happened earlier this month with Robert “Ghost” Guerrero. A head butt caused a huge gash over his eye and a doctor said the fight should not continue with out any hesitation, now lets be honest Barrera’s cut was ten times worse.
Personally, I believe we shouldn’t necessarily write off the future Hall of Famer based on what we saw on Saturday, we can’t judge Barrera’s performance within 2 minutes from the opening bell, instead I give props to the 35 year old veteran for hanging in there and for being able to sustain Khan speed with one eye.
What’s your opinion should the fight have been stopped before the 4th round?
Photos by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
This fight should have been stopped much earlier. For all intents and purposes…the fight was over after the head-butt.
Kahn better be glad there wasn’t much time left in the second round when he got rocked.
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