Hall of Fame Trainer Jessie Reid and promoter Kerry Daigle of Keeppunching Entertainment say the California Boxing Commission has a clear duty to correct the mistake made by referee Lou Moret in the Skipp “Strictly Business” Scott vs. Gerald “El Gallo Negro” Washington fight, held on Thursday, April 3, at the Fantasy Springs Casino in Indio, California.
With the FOX Sports 1 and FOX Deportes cameras rolling, Reid, who served as co-trainer for Scott, watched as his fighter was dropped to a knee by a legitimate right hand and then knocked out by a hard body shot a full second after his fighter had clearly taken a knee.
The “knockout” victory for Washington came at 1:40 of round two, but according to Reid, the result is clearly in need of fixing.
“It was definitely a foul,” said Reid. “Skipp went down, but was not seriously hurt. He got hit with a right and was on all fours. And then he got hit with a right hook to the body while he was clearly on the canvas. That’s a foul. The referee, Lou Moret, told us before the fight if someone is hit while they’re on the ground, the fighter who does it will be disqualified or have points taken away. I know refs make mistakes, but the California Commission must step in and do the right thing here. They should disqualify Washington. That’s what I’d like to see them do.”
Daigle, a long-time boxing man in the Louisiana area, says he realizes that Washington has some powerful backers, but the right thing must be done.
“Washington is with Al Haymon and he’s a very powerful man. I understand how hard it can be to go against the powerful forces in boxing, but this is such a clear case of an honest referee making a mistake that the commission has to step in and rectify the situation. We’ll fight Washington again right away. We’re not looking to duck him. We would like to see a clear winner between these two as much as anyone else. But these fighters work so hard and to hand Skipp a loss in a circumstance like this isn’t fair. We are confident the California Commission will recognize this.”
Reid said after the fight, he approached referee Moret and took some unusual steps in making his fighter’s case.
“I told Lou Moret after the fight that he made a mistake. He said he thought Washington was already in the action of throwing the last punch while Scott was going down. I told him he missed the shot while Scott was already down. I told him he should have at least taken points and given Skipp five minutes to recover from the illegal blow. Then I walked him over to the TV announcers and they all told him he made a mistake. Then I walked him to each judge. And judge told him he missed it. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It was definitely a big mistake. My fighter should not have a loss on his record because of this mistake.”
Daigle has filed a formal protest to the California Boxing Commission and is awaiting their response.
