Jean Paul Mendy Wins by Disqualification Over Sakio BikaMore
LAS VEGAS -- Australia's Sakio Bika was disqualified for hitting French rivalJean Paul Mendy when he was down, making Mendy the first-round winner of their IBF super middleweight eliminator at the Mandalay Bay Hotel on Saturday night.
Bika (28-4-2, 19 knockouts) had dropped Mendy (29-0-1, 16 KOs) to his knees with a left hand to the temple, and then hesitated before driving home a vicious right uppercut that caused a knocked-cold Mendy to pitch forward face-first where he lay motionless for about 20 seconds.
Referee Joe Cortez determined that Bika had fouled Mendy in the fight, which took all of 89 seconds to complete.
"I'm really disappointed. I was excited. I never saw that his knees were on the ground," said Bika. "I wasn't necessarily looking for him on the canvas. I'm really upset. I wanted to be in the big fights, but now, obviously, I'm taking a step backward."
Mendy was picked up off of the canvas and recuperated on a stool, where he was examined by ringside physicians. Mendy left the ring on his own power, but was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
"The rules clearly state that if you're hurt, and you want to go down, you can go down on one knee. If you follow the rules, then you don't expect someone to hit you when you're down, so of course, he was not expecting that," said Michael Bazan, a member of Mendy's promotional team.
"The rules are the rules, and everyone has to follow them. So we're happy that they did call it the right way," said Bazan. "At the same time, Mendy came here to fight and win it convincingly in front of people and to prove something, and that he is a real champion."
The winner of Mendy-Bika was set to be in line for a title shot against the winner of an Oct. 15 clash fight between IBF king Lucian Bute (26-0, 12 KOs) and Jesse Brinkley (35-5, 22 KOs).
"We'll move on and we will fight in our next fight, which we expect will be against Bute. Whoever wins out of Brinkley vs. Bute. If Brinkley wins, we'll fight Brinkley," said Bazan. "But we want to make it clear that Mendy is a real champion. He came here to fight."
Mendy-Bika was among eight fights on the undercard of main event featuring WBO and WBA lightweight (135 pounds) champion Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz promoted by Golden Boy Promotions' and televised on HBO pay-per-view.
Bika (28-4-2, 19 knockouts) had dropped Mendy (29-0-1, 16 KOs) to his knees with a left hand to the temple, and then hesitated before driving home a vicious right uppercut that caused a knocked-cold Mendy to pitch forward face-first where he lay motionless for about 20 seconds.
Referee Joe Cortez determined that Bika had fouled Mendy in the fight, which took all of 89 seconds to complete.
"I'm really disappointed. I was excited. I never saw that his knees were on the ground," said Bika. "I wasn't necessarily looking for him on the canvas. I'm really upset. I wanted to be in the big fights, but now, obviously, I'm taking a step backward."
Mendy was picked up off of the canvas and recuperated on a stool, where he was examined by ringside physicians. Mendy left the ring on his own power, but was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
"The rules clearly state that if you're hurt, and you want to go down, you can go down on one knee. If you follow the rules, then you don't expect someone to hit you when you're down, so of course, he was not expecting that," said Michael Bazan, a member of Mendy's promotional team.
"The rules are the rules, and everyone has to follow them. So we're happy that they did call it the right way," said Bazan. "At the same time, Mendy came here to fight and win it convincingly in front of people and to prove something, and that he is a real champion."
The winner of Mendy-Bika was set to be in line for a title shot against the winner of an Oct. 15 clash fight between IBF king Lucian Bute (26-0, 12 KOs) and Jesse Brinkley (35-5, 22 KOs).
"We'll move on and we will fight in our next fight, which we expect will be against Bute. Whoever wins out of Brinkley vs. Bute. If Brinkley wins, we'll fight Brinkley," said Bazan. "But we want to make it clear that Mendy is a real champion. He came here to fight."
Mendy-Bika was among eight fights on the undercard of main event featuring WBO and WBA lightweight (135 pounds) champion Juan Manuel Marquez and Juan Diaz promoted by Golden Boy Promotions' and televised on HBO pay-per-view.
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