Team Burgos Wants Immediate Rematch

Team Burgos Wants Immediate Rematch – NEW YORK (JANUARY 21, 2013)- On the heels of Saturday night’s controversial WBO
super Featherweight title bout that saw defending champion Roman Martinez receive
a gift draw against Juan Carlos Burgos, Burgos’ promoters Banner Promotions and Thompson
Boxing are filing a request to the WBO for an immediate rematch.

The bout saw Burgos batter and get the better of Martinez for the duration of the
twelve round fight yet only judge Waleska Roldan had the fight scored in favor of
Burgos by a tally of 117-111. Somehow judges Tony Paolillo saw the fight for Martinez
116-112 and John Signorile had the fight even at 114-114.

Even before the scores were announced, the HBO broadcast team called into question
about the judges as they had 9 combined title assignments with Signorile working
his first title bout ever.

HBO boxing analyst Max Kellerman went as far to say, “Keep your eye on Paolillo”
before the scores were announced. Kellerman later said he “should not get an
assignment on this level…”

The official punch stats showed a 286-193 advantage for Burgos with a 234-164 edge
on power punches.

HBO also ran a poll where fans sent in their thoughts on who won the fight and an
overwhelming 84% of those who participated believed that Burgos should have been
awarded the victory and title.

“Juan Carlos won that fight hands down and this week we will file for an immediate
rematch”, said Arthur Pelullo, CEO of Banner Promotions. Continued Pelullo, “The kid worked hard and should be a world champion this morning. We just hope the WBO agrees with what the whole world saw and does the right thing by granting us this rematch.”

Added Alex Camponovo, general manager of Thompson Boxing, “The draw left Juan Carlos
Burgos completely dejected and angry. We all felt the same way as his dream of
becoming a champion turned into a New York nightmare. We hope the WBO does not
punish a young man who has given everything to his craft since the age of 10 and
joined the pros when he was 16 years old. An immediate rematch should be the only
solution to a poor ending and I think Martinez’s people and the champion himself
know deep down that he did not do enough to retain the belt.”

Below is a sampling of respected boxing media opinions on the fight:

– Kevin Iole of yahoo.com 115-113 for Burgos

– Mike Rosenthal of Ring Magazine: “This is what bothers me: Juan Carlos Burgos
dreams his entire life of winning a major world championship, which so far had eluded
him, and then earns that title by dominating the current champion in the ring. Then
a bungling judge steals what should’ve been the greatest night of his career. That’s
what happened on Saturday, when Burgos clearly outboxed WBO lightweight titleholder
Rocky Martinez but had to settle for a draw because of a horrible split decision.
The rogue judge was Tony Paolillo, who somehow scored the fight 116-112 (eight rounds
to four) for Martinez. The 114-114 score of John Signorile also is baffling. The
biggest punches of the fight were the dozens of punishing body shots landed by
Burgos. And, according to punch stats, Burgos landed 93 more overall punches and
70 more power punches than Martinez (286-193 and 234-164). That Paolillo and Signorile
somehow failed to see that left Burgos (30-1-1, 20 KOs) on the wrong end of yet
another injustice in boxing. Shame.”

– Dan Rafael of espn.com: 116-112 Burgos. “The 24-year-old Burgos (30-1-1, 20 KOs),
however, seemed to carry the better of it. He used a hard, sustained body attack
throughout the fight. Of the 234 power shots Burgos landed, 118 were to the body,
according to CompuBox statistics. Burgos outlanded Martinez (26-1-2, 16 KOs) in
10 of the 12 rounds.”

– Harold Lederman-HBO Judge: 117-111 Burgos. On the broadcast, Lederman was quoted
as saying, “Burgos carried this fight. I don’t know how you miss it.”

– Lem Satterfield and Doug Fischer of Ring Magazine: 115-113 for Burgos

-Steve Kim of Maxboxing.com: 116-112 Burgos “With this much discord, the boxing world deserves redemption for this injustice.”

Banner Promotions and Thompson Boxing eagerly await a response from the World Boxing
Organization.