Robson Conceicao filed a complaint with the CMB after his unanimous decision loss to Oscar Valdez on Friday in Tucson, Arizona, his manager, Sergio Batarelli, told ESPN.
Among the complaints: the arbitration, the judges and the fact that Valdez was allowed to retain his title despite testing positive for the banned substance Phentermine last month.
The CMB uses the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association for its Clean Boxing Program; VADA has phentermine, a stimulant, as a banned substance. Independently, the CMB allowed Valdez to retain his title and the Yaqui Easter Tribe Commission let him fight.
The fight was hotly contested, with Conceicao (16-1, 8 KOs) in control over the first five rounds before Valdez (30-0, 23 KOs) recovered. A judge, Stephen Blea, handed a 117-110 card in Valdez’s favor. The other two judges had the same score: 115-112.
Blea, who scored just three rounds for Conceicao, issued a statement Monday through the CMB saying that “the score of 117-110 is not accurate and does not represent the actions in the ring.”
Blea said he was wrong not to score 2 rounds in which he did not find a clear 10-10 winner, scoring them in both cases for Valdez, giving the champion the benefit in closed rounds (something which judges are not supposed to do). Blea also said the noise from the crowd influenced him. Valdez adopted Tucson as his hometown, and was attended by more than 4,500 fans.
After watching the fight on ESPN +, it seems he now believes Valdez won the fight 115-112 or even 114-113. The judge said he has contacted CMB officials to “submit to a thorough review and training program and I will not accept any championship assignment until this process is completed.”
Batarelli also addressed the CMB, but in a very different way. He filed the complaint with the president of the CMB, Mauricio Sulaimán, on Monday morning and is looking for an immediate revenge, or at least a number one ranking for Conceicao.
He referred to referee Tony Backpack’s performance as “partial,” clearly a reference to Backpack’s questionable decision to take a point off Conceicao in the ninth round for hitting behind the head. It seemed to be a light blow and there was no warning in advance. Valdez later connected a hard rabbit blow, but was simply warned.
Batarelli noted that there was not a single round in which Conceicao had been overtaken by Valdez, according to CompuBox. Of course, there is much more to scoring than just who connected more times.
“It’s a joke,” Batarelli said. “… This type is not qualified to judge a [pelea] of world title. Who named him? This is all a damn disaster. It’s a damn joke. “
“Why do you need a drug test if guys aren’t going to be punished when it suits them?” Added. “It’s not fair. It’s really not fair. I hope Sulaiman will consider my complaint … In Brazil, the whole press is talking about it … It’s difficult.”
Without the points deduction, Valdez would have won seven rounds to five against the helpless 9-1, or 115-113. ESPN scored the fight in favor of Conceicao, 114-113. Without the deduction, he seems to believe the fight was a win for Valdez, seven five or a draw.
Valdez, 30, won the 130-pound title with a brutal knockout over Miguel Berchelt in February. Conceicao, a 32-year-old Brazilian, was competing in his first high-profile fight. The Olympic gold medalist defeated Valdez in the fans.