From the sound of the opening bell, Argentine warrior Diego Chaves was out to knock out Brandon Rios. As a fellow action fighter, Brandon Rios decided that it was a good strategy to trade punches with his adversary. Chaves was the more active puncher, but Rios’s body shots landed with thudding power. I scored the first round for Chaves.
In the second round, Chaves used his hand speed to his advantage, raining combinations on Rios. Rios was still able to work Chaves’s body effectively throughout the round.
A liability in this bout was certainly referee Vic Drakulich, who deducted a point from Chaves for holding. From my perspective, I did not see anything worth calling there, but he is the ref, right? One could only hope that Drakulich would not play as the Regulator in Chief and impede the fight from progressing consistently, but we were fooled on that one.
In the fourth round, Rios took the aggression up a notch, but Chaves handled it well, landing effective shots of his own. At this point, this was Chaves’s fight. Rios is a brawler, not a boxer and Chaves was boxing Rios dexterously.
In the fifth round, Rios sent Chaves to the canvas, however, Rios threw him to the canvas. As a result, Drakulich took another point from Rios.
Once again, in the sixth, Rios was the aggressor, but he was not landing anything substantial. Yes, the fight was getting rough, but it was a kick for the fans. Drakulich was not pleased and threatened to disqualify both fighters for their tactics. There was no need for intervention from Drakulich. Drakulich, a professional referee since 1989, was losing control of the fight no doubt, but boxing is a rough sport, yes?
Chaves continued to rock Rios, who has shown an adept ability to take a punch, as seen in previous fights with Manny Pacquiao and Mike Alvarado.
This fight was everything that the fans expected, a brawl. Both fighters were aggressive, held, and wrestled.
Clearly, Vik Drakulich was a not a fan of this type of fight. Once again, Drakulich took another point away from Chaves, threatening to disqualify him for his tactics.
This did not deter either fighter as they both fell to the canvas in the ninth. Soon after, Chaves and Rios tied each other up. After some complaining from Rios, Drakulich turned to Chaves and disqualified him, leaving the rest of us to wonder why Drakulich decided to disqualify Chaves.
Why did Vic Drakulich make the DQ call on the spot? Why did he wait for Brandon Rios to complain before making the call? Why did Drakulich allow Rios to get away with holding and pushing down on Chaves’s head during the bout?
At the time of the disqualification, Chaves was ahead of the fight, as he was on my scorecard as well. As for the fans, sadly, they lost tonight.
Unfortunately, sometimes these things have to happen so that bad apples are taken out of the sport. Vic Drakulich is one of them. I can understand a professional referee making a mistake every now and then. It is going to happen, however, this kind of bloody nonsense was going on the whole fight. In addition, we did not even go the distance. There is no need for any type of investigation, no need to spend the extra money. Vik Drakulich just needs to go and enjoy the rest of his life doing something else. If boxing cares about its integrity, it is time to make some touch, strict decisions.
