Salt Papi is not happy about the referee stoppage during his boxing match with Tony Ferguson.
Papi and Ferguson collided for the MFB interim middleweight title. The bout served as the co-main event of Misfits Boxing 22 inside Manchester Arena. “El Cucuy” scored a third-round TKO finish, which is his first combat sports victory since 2019.
Some weren’t too pleased with the referee’s call to stop the fight, and feel Papi should’ve received a standing eight count. Papi told The Fighting Conversation that he doesn’t believe he was truly in danger during the fight-ending barrage, and he feels the fans didn’t get a proper conclusion (via MMAFighting).
“I had to put my hands up and then the referee just stepped [in],” Papi told The Fighting Conversation. “And there was only like 20 seconds left on the on the counter as well. I felt like the fans got robbed of a proper fight. I was two rounds up already. Tony Ferguson needs to work more if he wants to win.”
Papi believes other referees on the card gave far more leeway to fighters such as Luke Rockhold, who was brutally knocked out by Darren Till in the main event.
“It wasn’t like I got knocked out, it was the ref. The ref was a bit biased,” Papi said. “The other refs were acting differently for all different fights. Like Rockhold, he was knocked down on floor and the ref was still counting. … I don’t know what’s going on, but this is the boxing business. I’m just happy to be around.”
While it’s a big win for Ferguson to finally snap an eight-fight losing streak, Papi will have to go back to the drawing board. The popular influencer doesn’t believe his star power has waned after losing to Ferguson, as he feels he was handing business before the stoppage.
