The IBF Minimumweight Championship title changed hands as Raul Garcia defeated defending champion Florante Condes by unanimous decision last June 14, 2008. However, it was reported that the initial unanimous decision was incorrect. In fact, it was actually a split decision in favor of Garcia. The confusion was caused by the fact that the ring announcer only read the scores without naming the judges and their corresponding scorecards. boxer raul garcia

The official scores were 115-112 in favor of Condes by judge Abraham Pacheco, 115-112 in favor of Garcia by judge Alejandro Lopez, and a lopsided score of 118-110 in favor of Garcia by judge Adelaide Byrd. Byrd’s score was highly controversial, as Condes was able to KO Garcia in the final round. Byrd has caught controversy for her judging even before. This included a fight between Mike Arnaoutis and Ricardo Torres for the vacant WBO 140 pound title, wherein Torres won a controversial split decision due to Byrd’s yet again lopsided score.

Despite the controversial loss, Florante Condes accepted his fate, graciously saying “I really lost.” Garcia was evidently racking up the points in each round, and Condes was forced to make one last huge effort for a comeback. This came with a devastating right punch which knocked out Garcia for a while, but Garcia still came out fighting strong until the end of the fight.

Maree cartujano
Sports Pundit staff writer
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