Controversy in Colombia!

[Floyd R]

Controversy in Colombia!

September 3, 2007

By Jose Reyes

Kendall Holt's attempt to win a world title came up short when he traveled to hostile territory in Barranquilla, Colombia to face WBO junior welterweight champion Ricardo "Mochuelo" Torres. Speaking from the safety of a Miami Airport, Holt told *********.com, "Colombia was nothing but chaos man. You had beer cans coming down, bottled waters, you had cups with ice....the whole nine yards coming right into the ring....the crowd was throwing everything they got in the ring at me." Manager Henry Cortez stated "Kendall got hit with a beer can in the face. When Kendall went down, which was at the corner of Ricardo Torres, somebody pulled his leg, I mean it was just crazy....Kendall Holt dominated Ricardo Torres. The thing is, if Kendall knocks out Ricardo Torres, we don't come out of there alive!" Read on to learn what more happened in Colombia.

Q&A KENDALL HOLT

Kendall, sounds like you had a pretty tough fight with everyone, not just the fighter in the ring?

Jose, It was worse than Rid**** Bowe against Golota. (In reference to the wild crowd)

Pandemonium huh?

Pandemonium is exactly right.

At any point did you fear for your life?

You know what? I was just concentrating on Ricardo. The eleventh round was just a bull rush that I had to deal with. I could deal with the bull rush but I couldn't keep my footing because I was slipping all over the place. At the same time, right before the referee stopped it, I am pushing him off so I can get my balance and fight back!

Now, you had him hurt, you had him down in that sixth round, that's when you got hit with that beer can in the face. Did that hinder you, and not being able to finish the job?

I couldn't see out of my right eye. I would see blurry, he got saved by the bell. The very next round, the bell rang, they gave two minutes to tie his boots. The referee goes to his corner and tells him to tie his boots! All the people from Colombia, at the Hotel the restaurants, everybody comes to me and congratulates me and tells me that I got cheated on that fight. The whole country said, that I won the fight. Everywhere I went people stopped me to take pictures, autographs, they wanted T-shirts, they wanted headbands, whatever they could get, they wanted. They was just, so happy, they was like "he is one of our guys, from our country, but he really lost."

Now Ricardo Torres, if he gives you a rematch, would you fight him in Colombia?

(Laughs) I hope that's a sarcastic question Jose. I wouldn't go back for nothing.

What's next after this?

Hopefully we can get this decision overturned. They can see (on the tape) when this guy, grabs my leg and hopefully that will transpire into a disqualification and give me the right to wear the title by disqualification.

But, to settle things in the ring. Would you fight Torres in the states?

Oh, I would definitely fight him in the states.

Would you finish him this time?

Definitely, because I won't box with him this time, I will go out there with an aggressive jab. I'm going after him. I'm going to make him fold like a poker hand, a bad poker hand.

Did you feel his power, anything that you can't deal with?

Look, the boy can hit hard, he can hit hard. He caught me with one hard punch in the entire fight. That was in the fourth round, he caught me with a hook, and that was the only time I felt his power.

Now, talk to me about that eleventh round.

Eleventh round, he came out in a bull rush, all right. I knew I was in control of the fight, a moved around, giving him a lot of movement. Because I know, when I moved, he stopped. But then he cornered me, he caught me… I go down and I get right back up. When I get back up, that's when, that's when all hell breaks loose. They wanted (the crowd) wanted me to stay down.

So, you get back up, they began throwing all this items onto the ring. Nobody stops it, nobody calls time and takes order, correct? The fight continues despite all this going on?

I'm slipping, he is throwing punches, I don't even feel getting f**king hit, but I'm slipping, I'm trying to push him off me as he is coming, you know, it was hard fighting him, fighting the people, fighting with stuff on the ground (bottles, debris on the canvas) I'm fighting…(he pauses, to reflect) you know what? Because I was winning. You know? The rules state that if people throw stuff in the ring, you got to stop, clean and break. Geno Rodriguez said it was more important, not to stop the action and you know at first he said that he didn't know there was stuff in the ring. First he said he didn't, then he said it wasn't important to stop the action!

How soon, do you want to get back in the ring with Torres?

You know what? I just want them to overturn the decision. They will see that the guy did grab my leg. You know what will make me real happy? That they mandate a rematch and Ricardo was to say 'alright, I don't want to fight you.' Thank you give me my belt.

Let's say you get your belt Kendall, who do you want to fight?

Who do I want to fight? Geno Rodriguez....at a catch weight.

(Laughs) I got ya. What would like to say to your fans here on *********?

I would like to thank everybody for their continued support. I would like for Geno Rodriguez (the referee) to man up, and admit that he made a mistake. I argued with him and I yelled at him at the hotel, (the night of the fight) which was wrong. I tried to apologize to him the next morning, but he said he didn't want to talk to me, which is fine. I just wanted him to know that I was apologizing and that I was wrong. I shouldn't have done that, I made a mistake, I apologized. If he made a mistake, apologize! Things happen, we're human. He probably was scared, and I have got to say that the WBO will do the right thing, they are one of the best organizations out there
-----------------------------------------

[Floyd R]

Continued

Q&A HENRY CORTEZ

Talk to us about what happened Henry.

Henry Cortez: Colombia was nothing but chaos man. People throwing beer cans, bottled waters and the whole nine yards with Kendall Holt in the ring in the eleventh round.

Kendall was ahead in the bout until that eleventh round?

It was a shut out, Kendall won every round except for the round he went down. Kendall controlled the fight, dominated Ricardo Torres, it was actually an easy fight for Kendall, easy fight.

What was it that allowed Kendall to get caught with a punch in the eleventh round?

Kendall got up against the ropes, he made the mistake, and he started exchanging with him. He got caught with a good shot, you know, he went down, but as soon as he went down, he got up, jumped around. He was fine, and as soon as he got up the crowd was throwing everything they got in the ring at him.

These were individuals sitting close to ringside?

No, you know what it was, the place was set up like a theater. The actual ring was set up to the front with the balcony right above the ring. You had beer cans coming down, bottled waters, you had cups with ice the whole nine yards coming right into the ring!

The referee made no attempt of stopping the bout to control order?

Geno Rodriguez made no attempt, not once, to stop the fight, call time-out and set order. I think, you know, I think because he's human, he probably got scared, everybody got scared. It was chaos. Let me tell you what he said to the newspapers (In Colombia), because we got it recorded, at first he says, "Well, I didn't see anything coming into the ring" which is crazy because everybody saw it. Then he says, that he saw it but he felt that the action was more important, which it didn't make sense because Kendall was slipping all over the place and getting hit with some. As a matter of fact, when Kendall went down which was at the corner of Ricardo Torres, somebody pulled his leg, I mean it was just crazy! Somebody pulled his leg.

Did anybody from Kendall's corner see that?

No, well I didn't see it, at the time I was more worried about getting hit with something, to be honest with you, yeah it was crazy. I mean from round one it was out of control. We couldn't even get into the ring because they were bombarding us (making their ring entrance at the start of the fight). We had to like fight are way through the crowed to get to the ring, nobody walked us in. I was like 'holy ****,' it was just crazy.

Was there any security there or police?

You know what, I think they had like two or three cops. That was it. I didn't see anyone else, I saw personally myself, two police officers, that was it.

What was the capacity at this place, how many could it hold?

It wasn't a big place, but it was packed, like two thousand. Even in the 6th round when Kendall laid out Ricardo and once we get the tape I want to check the count because the count seemed, instead of 10 seconds it was like 15 seconds. Kendall got hit with a beer can in the face.

This happened when Kendall dropped Torres?

Yes, when Kendall was in the neutral corner he got hit with a can of beer in the face. That was the only shot out of the other two that Ricardo hit him with, because Ricardo couldn't touch him. Kendall Holt dominated Ricardo Torres. The thing is, if Kendall knocks out Ricardo Torres, we don't come out of there alive!

So, what's the next step for the Kendall Holt camp?

Were doing an automatic protest and what I would like to see is that the WBO steps up and does the honest thing. Reviews the tape, get us a no contest. Eliminate this fight that just happened, because it's not even a reality first of all, there should be a mandatory rematch.

When you said automatic protest, did you talk to the WBO people right there after the match?

I left Paco a message (over the phone) and at the fight I spoke to the supervisor and I think the supervisor was a little…, everything that happened was little over his head and he wanted to digest everything, probably wants to sit back and analyze the tape. He didn't really want to remark on it, he was kind of nervous about what he was going to say. He want's to sit back and see what happens, but I think he knows in his heart, because he was there, he was there.

He was there? Well, what more do you want?

I even spoke to the judges, and their exact words where "These people are animals." They couldn't believe what was happening. You know Stewart Winston was at the hotel, and he apologized, and I told him 'it's not your fault.' It's not the promoters fault. It's just sad because you know what? We had a real good time. We enjoyed Colombia. The people loved Kendall there, everything was great up until the fight. The promoter did a great job, promoting the fight. Kendall was on the front page of the newspapers every day. You know, they loved Kendall more than Ricardo, up until the fight. It was Kendall Holt in the front pages, on the television news. But hey listen, I think Geno just got nervous or something man. It was crazy, he made a mistake. When he watches the video and sees what happened, it says it how it is.

Even so, you are not returning to Colombia and fight again are you?

No, we are not going to Colombia to fight there, but like I said earlier, you know what, the good side is that we are here at home (with a sigh of relief) in the United States, we're in Miami right now and I think if Kendall Holt knocks this guy out, maybe we don't make it out of there.

That's what it sounds like, yeah.

It's just four or five guys from America there, what are you going to do? You know, instead of beer and water bottles, they would be throwing chairs.

Now, when the stoppage was called (Torres flurries), Kendall was throwing punches back and he was fine?

Oh, yeah he was punching back. Ricardo did not even touch him, but in the flurry Kendall was more trying to keep his balance, but then I talked to him and he tells me 'Somebody grabbed my leg.' I look over to Ricardo's corner and there is like 30 people in the corner. God knows who did it, you know? There was just no control, it was just crazy. No security, no order. I think the WBO, they are one of the best organizations around and hopefully they will do the right thing, I know tomorrow is a holiday but I will have my attorney, Patrick English, jump right on it, and do it formal, you know. I just wanted to add Jose, that Billie Chams, the whole promotion team, they are great people. They treated us like family. There is nothing bad to say about them but unfortunately what happened, happened. He is a very honest guy, that is well respected, one of those old time guys, that his word is gold, you know?

(copied from http://www.*********.com/reyes80.htm)

[Floyd R]

On that note, Holt won that fight. An immediate rematch should take place in a neutral country.

[weepaul]

I notice 5 things from this clip.

1- Ref calling a knockdown a slip.
2- Holt getting hit with a beer can after knocking Torres down.
3- The count appeared rather slow.
4- A cornerman trying to clean up the mess with a towel.
5- Holt clear headed and bitterly complaining a nano second after the stoppage.

Throw in the point that almost all sources claim Holt should have been well ahead in the scoring and was not.
I believe you have a clear case of Holt getting ****ed over.

Just my 2 cents.

[Texanballer]

That is crazy. Well Colombia alone isnt a safe place to be for any reason. The people down there are wild and have no one to control them. If that happened here people would be thrown in jail.

[Verstyle]

Well **** he went to Columbia,home of ******* and drug marketing.What did he expect.

[BrooklynBomber]

I was rooting for Holt and that made me sick.

[BrooklynBomber]

Well **** he went to Columbia,home of ******* and drunk marketing.What did he expect.

He could not do any different, Torres is a champ and chooses were to defend his title.

[Texanballer]

I thnk some blame should be put on him and management. Its hard going to someone's hometown to win a fight, imagine someone's country? And this Country happens to be one of the most dangerous ones in the world.

[Gato2012]

Holt is exaggerating everything, he lost.

You people shouldnt make an opinion until youve seen the fight. The stoppage was legit in my opinion too, ive seen MUCH worse stoppages and dfnot see people complain, but people complain cause ts in Colombia and expected Holt to get robbed so complain.

Thats Holts story we read, of course its biased. Lets hear Torres' story.