Young Aussie boxer Alex Winwood has lost his boxing quarter-final at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham after bizarrely being ruled to have been knocked out at the start of the second round.
The 25-year-old had held his own in the first round of his Flyweight bout against Zambia’s Patrick Chinyemba.
See the blow that prompted the ref to call off the fight in the video player above
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Four of the five judges had scored the first round to have been in the Aussie’s favor after landing two massive right handers on his opponent.
But barely seconds into the second round, Chinyemba floored the Aussie with a one-two.
The force of the right hander fell Winwood, who hit the canvas.
As Winwood picked himself off the canvas, he was clearly stunned to see that the referee had waved off the match.
“The referee says ‘that’s that’,” said the commentator.
“It’s all over. Don’t count, nothing. Chinyemba has turned the tables spectacularly.
“I’m very surprised at the stoppage.”
Chinyemba didn’t even look to have considered it a match-winning blow, walking over to his corner of the ring in preparation of the restart of the bout.
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The second commentator wasn’t convinced the fight should have been called off either.
“It looks worse than what it probably is,” he said.
“He’s got up, he’s clear, and he’s fine, and I think he should have been allowed to continue.”
Chinyemba is now guaranteed of a medal after the knockout win sent him to the semi-final.
Winwood told Seven after his fight how he disagreed with the referee’s decision, but respected it nonetheless.
“I think it was a pretty fast call,” he said.
“I won the first round, and I felt like I won it quite clearly. And I wasn’t hurt previously, nor was I punched significantly.
“I really wanted to have a shot and prove myself. I know what I’m made of – I wanted to show Australia, and the world, what Australians are made of.”
Winwood then got emotional as he laid out a special message to his country.
“Thank you, Australia,” he said with tears beginning to well in his eyes.
“You mean so much to me, from the bottom of my heart.
“As an Indigenous Australian, I love you all, up the Aussies!”
See the emotional moment in the video player below
Alex Winwood’s emotional message to Australia
Was the ruling the right call?
Our 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Harry Garside, doesn’t believe it was a fair ruling.
“You’ve got to wait until the opponent gets up and then you’ve got to give him eight seconds, and you’ve got to look into his eyes and see where his legs are,” he told Seven after the fight.
“She waves it off way to prematurely.”
Although Garside sympathized with the referee after Winwood turned his back on her as he started to get back to his feet, Garside said it was the wrong call to make so quickly.
“She should have given Winwood eight seconds to recover,” he said.
“You’ve got to look into the fighter’s eyes – that’s where you’ll see if he’s dazed or if he’s rocked, it’s always in the eyes.
“And she didn’t even get a chance to do that. She called it off way too quickly.”
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