In boxing, cheating is frowned upon like any other sport. In men’s boxing fighters are pretty much crucified. For women’s boxing you do not really hear much about cheating or anything else because in the United States, women’s boxing is not a big attraction.
In Mexico, where women fighters are treated like the gladiators were in ancient roman times, a cheating incident took place in a high profile women’s bout between Mariana “La Barbie” Juarez and Riyo Togo in their high profile rematch in which one of the fighters could have been permanently damaged for life or even possibly ended their life.
In a report from yahoosports.com, on July 13th in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, super flyweight Riyo Togo from Japan was found wearing tampered gloves before the rematch took place in which the padding was removed from Togo’s gloves.
The rematch was more than just redemption for Juarez who lost the vacant WBC super flyweight women’s title three months prior in Mexico City in which Juarez was stopped in the first round and left doubts in many fans minds if she was still a top fighter.
With the recent discovery prior to the rematch it may have answered what had happened to Juarez who hadn’t been stopped since 2005.
Members of team Juarez inspected Togo’s gloves before the bout and discovered that the padding was removed and the fighters knuckles and hand wraps were pressed directly against the glove. Team Juarez immediately brought this to the attention of the WBC suerpvisor Dr. Lorenzo Soberanes who immediately took action.
Prior to the bout, members of Team Juarez inspected Togo’s gloves and found that the padding had been removed from the front part and that the fighter’s knuckles and hand wraps were pressed directly against the leather of the glove. They brought this to the attention of WBC supervisor Dr. Lorenzo Soberanes , who then took action.
“Togo’s team had move aside the padding from the front part of the glove to attain more punching force. The knuckles were protected by just hand wraps and skin,” said Soberanes.
The gloves of both fighters were then seized and taken to the WBC’s headquarters in Mexico City for examination before the sanctioning body makes an official decision as to possible punishment.
Juarez won the rematch with a 10 round unanimous decision and claimed the WBC International belt.
Juarez was surprised by the seizure of the gloves and the discovery.”I didn’t expect that. After finding out that they had seized the gloves last Saturday, it made me question whether she fought like that when she knocked me out in one round at the Arena Mexico. On that occasion, I felt that her punches were very hard and, look, I can take a punch and I’ve fought against some very heavy punchers. Before each fight, people from my camp check the wraps of my opponent. It’s a regulation that a person from the opposite team can be present when a fighter’s hands are being wrapped. On that occasion (their first fight), the wraps were fine, but it didn’t occur to anybody to check the gloves. The representative of the WBC, Dr. Lorenzo Soberanes seized Togo’s gloves as well as mine and gave us new ones. This time, even though she landed hard several times, it didn’t hurt me like it did when she beat me that last time,” said Juarez.
What transpired in Mexico on July 13th could have ended the was Luis Resto and Billy Collins did with Collins taking a beating for ten rounds with doctored gloves which permanently damaged his vision and ended his boxing career.
Collins ended up in a deep depression and became an alcoholic and died less than a year later in a car crash that his family believes was in reality a suicide.
Resto and his trainer Panama Lewis served only a two and a half year prison sentence and a lifetime ban from the sport.
As far as Togo’s punishment, a ban from the sport for her and her team for life should happen and criminal charges should be pursued.
