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Olympic boxer and gold medalist Robson Conceicao just cannot catch a break. Having come up short when he faced Oscar Valdez for the WBC super featherweight title and again when he lost to Shakur Stevenson for the WBC, WBO and The Ring belts, the Brazilian was ready to start a new title run last weekend, but things went sideways in the second round.
A clash of heads led to a No Contest
Paired up against Nicolas Polanco to try and build a new title run, Conceicao had won the first round of their fight at the Madison Square Garden, in New York City. In fact, the Brazilian was the superior fighter in the second too, up until an accidental clash of heads put the match to a halt.
Nicolas Polanco seemed to be the one who felt the impact the most, falling to the ground and needing to get back on his feet with the help of the referee. Once the Dominican boxer was examined by a doctor, he was allowed to return. However, with just seconds left in the round, the match was stopped again at the end of the second round.
During the break, Polanco’s team assessed their athlete and deemed he was unable to continue fighting after getting dazed from the clash of heads. The referee was informed of the decision and the match was stopped for good. Due to the accidental nature of the incident, the result was a No Contest.
Robson Conceicao thinks the clash of heads wasn’t that strong
In an interview with Combate, Conceicao explained his frustration about the incident and wishes the fight could have continued. In the Brazilian’s opinion, the impact from the clash of heads was not powerful enough to do any significant damage to Polanco. The feeling becomes even stronger since the fight was originally meant to take place in May, but was postponed due to visa issues with the Olympic boxer.
“I’m really frustrated I trained so much for this fight. After my last one, I’ve been training hard for this. As everyone could see, I was doing really well. I was landing the better shots and I could see that he was about to get knocked out. Unfortunately, an accident happened. There was a clash of heads, but there was no need for this circus act he put on. This harms the sport.”
“He came at me, trying to attack me with a strike.” Conceicao said. “I dodged it and lowered myself a little bit. When I dodged and he stepped forward, there was a clash of heads when I started standing up straight again. It wasn’t the kind of clash that would cause all of that, though. Had it been that powerful, it would have cut his eyebrown open.”
Conceicao’s team share the same opinion as the Olympic medalist and will try to appeal the result to the New York Athletic Commission.
Robson Conceicao won an Olimpic gold medal in 2016
Robson Conceicao (17-2-1 NC) won the Olympic gold medal in the 2016 games, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In his professional career, the 34-year-old has only suffered losses in title fights, dropping unanimous decisions to the aforementioned Shakur Stenveson and Oscar Valdez, respectively in Septmeber 2022 and September 2021.
The Olympic boxer’s most recent victory took place between the losses to the champions, when he bested Xavier Martinez via unanimous decision, in January 2022.
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