By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Crolla’s promoter Eddie Hearn is hopeful that he can get Crolla a rematch against WBA World lightweight champion Darleys Perez (32-1-1, 20 KOs) in November back in Manchester, UK. Crolla and Perez fought to a controversial 12 round draw last Saturday night at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, UK.
Hearn has already appealed to the WBA to have them review the fight and order an immediate rematch. The fight was scored 114-113 for Perez, 113-113 and 116-111 for Crolla.
Perez, 31, would have won the fight if not for the referee Howard Foster inserting himself into the equation by taking off two points for low blows from Perez in the championship rounds. One of the point deductions came in the 12th round when Crolla (29-4-2, 11 KOs) grabbed Perez by the head and pulled him forward to a bent over position just as Perez was throwing a punch. Referees don’t normally take points off for a low blow in this situation but Foster went ahead and mistakenly took the point off.
“November, back in Manchester,” Hearn said to skysports.com about a rematch between Perez and Crolla. “I think realistically we’ve got a good chance of them ordering a rematch,” said Hearn. “I think everybody felt that Crolla had won. I haven’t found one person who scored it a draw or gave it to Perez.”
What I don’t understand is why does the champion Darleys Perez has to come to the UK again to defend his WBA title over there? Shouldn’t Crolla come to Perez’s country to face him there? I’m just saying. Why does the champion have to fight consecutive bouts in Crolla’s hometown? To me, that’s just wrong.
I can understand one fight in the UK, but it seems kind of off putting for the champion Perez to have to come to the UK two consecutive times, especially after how he lost his victory due to a referee over-officiating. The referee took points off at the worst possible time in the fight, and he blew a call in taking a point off in the 12th round. I could definitely see how Perez might not want to come back to the UK unless he absolutely has to if ordered by the World Boxing Association.
“There is much more money for Perez in a rematch,” Hearn said. “I have spoken to Gary Shaw his promoter already and they are certainly up for considering a rematch.”
What good is the money Perez will get in a rematch if he’s going to be risking his title in Crolla’s hometown for a second time? Perez could very well lose his WBA strap the next time around if there’s another referee that starts taking points off left and fight from Perez.
It would be really interesting if Foster is the referee for a second time, and then he starts in where he left off in taking points away from Perez over and over again. What I don’t understand is why Foster didn’t take points away from Crolla for him pulling Perez’s head forward over and over again with both hands. I’ve seen that trick used by Amir Khan in many of his fights, and it’s always surprise me that the referees don’t do anything to stop that trick.
Perez has a title defense that he needs to get out of the way against Derry Mathews. I’d rather see a puncher like Mathews facing Perez than seeing Crolla get a rematch. If you come up empty in trying to win a world title, you shouldn’t be getting do overs. That’s how I see it. We saw Paul Smith get a rematch after he was beaten by WBO super middleweight champion Arthur Abraham last year. Smith complained and Abraham’s promoters at Sauerland Events caved in and gave him a needless rematch.
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