By Manny Pinol
Merida, Yucatan, Mexico – Mexican flyweight champion Juan Francisco Estrada retained his World Boxing Organization (WBO) and World Boxing Association (WBA) titles here tonight after Filipino challenger Romel Asenjo’s handlers stopped the fight early in the third round because of an eye injury.
It was I, as manager of Asenjo, who told cornermen Jeff de Guzman and Mexican second Jorge Lacierva to climb atop the ring and stop the punishment of the smaller Filipino challenger who was fighting with only one good eye.
Estrada, 24, caught Asenjo with a stinging left jab towards the end of the second round which flipped the skin covering the right eye prompting De Guzman to put it back in place during the rest period.
When I saw the injury, I knew that it was meaningless to continue with the fight as Asenjo would only be badly punished by the bigger and stronger Estrada.
It was a decision lauded by Mexican boxing great Juan Manuel Marquez, who along with another boxing legend Julio Cesar Chavez, did the fight commentary for TV Azteca.
The decision was also praised by WBO and WBA officials and the boxing fans who all said that the decision to stop the fight was the right decision to protect the boxer.
“Good decision. There will still be other boxing matches in the future,” Marquez later told the Philippine team in the dug-out after the fight.
Even before the stoppage of the fight, it was evident that Estrada was more superior than the shorter Asenjo.
The Mexican champion used his longer reach to control and the fight.
Asenjo stunned Estrada with a thunderous left halfway in the second round but the Mexican champion came back with a combination which resulted in the eye injury for the challenger.
The Filipino challenger protested the decision of his corner to stop the fight but it was explained to him that there was no point continuing the fight with only one good eye.
“It could affect his eyesight later on,” said De Guzman.
The Mexican ring doctor who examined Asenjo after the fight prescribed an injectable medicine to address the swelling of his right eye.
It was Asenjo’s second loss in a world title attempt having lost three years ago to Raul Hirales Garcia in Mexico City for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) miniflyweight title.
Asenjo, who is a natural miniflyweight and who had to gain weight to fight in the flyweight division, said after the fight that he would like to go down to the miniflyweight division again.
(Photos show Asenjo missing with a left and with his right eye closed after the stoppage of the fight. Later, Asenjo posed with Juan Manuel Marquez who visited him in his dug-out.)
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