Low blow! - Holmes suffers controversial defeat in Canada

"Crowley hit Richard with a blatant low blow and should have been disqualified," was the complaint of trainer Carl Grant after his boxer, Richard 'Frog' Holmes, failed in his bid to win the Canadian Junior Middleweight Boxing title last Saturday night at the Memorial Centre in Peterborough, Canada.

Holmes was declared the loser by technical knockout at two minutes and eight seconds into the sixth round, when, after being hit with a low blow by defending champion Cody Crowley, he could not continue to fight.

He was given five minutes to recover from the effects of the punch, but at the end of the prescribed recovery period, he told referee Mark Simmons that he was in pain and suffering from cramps, and the referee ruled the outcome of the fight to be a loss by tko.

It was a bruising fight, and Crowley was the aggressor. Fighting from a south-paw stance, he dominated the action from the third round and scored freely to Holmes' body and head.

Holmes was hit with low blows a few times and went down to a blow that he called low in the fourth round, but which the referee ruled to be fair, and, therefore, gave Holmes an eight count.

ACCIDENTAL FOUL

Crowley continued to dominate, and when he connected low once more in Round Six, Holmes held his groin and fell to the canvas. The referee signalled to the judges that it was not a knockdown and later deducted a point from Crowley, signifying that it was an accidental foul.

When Holmes did not respond to the directive to resume fighting, the referee waived the fight off and gave Crowley his 13th consecutive victory and a clean 13-0 record. Holmes now falls to 15-8.

Holmes told The Gleaner that he was hit by low blows several times.

"He threw a lot of punches to the body and caught me with at least four low blows," Holmes declared. "I complained to the referee, but he did nothing about it. I even thought about hitting him with low blows myself but did not follow through."

The final blow, he said, really hurt him and he had severe cramps.

"I just could not continue," he volunteered.

Grant said that he was giving serious thought to lodging an appeal but was waiting to view a full tape of the fight before making a decision. He said that in the meantime, the president of the Canadian Professional Boxing Council had informed him that their welterweight title was vacant, and Holmes could possibly fight for that title.

"We will look at that offer later," Grant added.