Boxing: Easy win for Gomez could spark weight investigation
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Your support makes all the difference.Michael Gomez realised a few seconds before the opening bell that Uganda's Justin Jwko had nothing left when they met at the Kingsway Sport Centre, Widnes, on Saturday night.
Gomez was making the first defence of his World Boxing Union super feather-weight title against the once formidable African, and sent Jwko tumbling from the first meaningful punch.
"I knew that he had been in some hard fights against some of the best in the world, but I only realised just how shot he was when we came together in the ring,'' claimed Gomez.
The fight lasted until the second round when Mickey Van, the referee, ended the slaughter to give Gomez a surprisingly easy win. There are one or two decent domestic fights for Gomez that will both enhance his world standing and increase his bank balance if they are made quickly.
Jwko, 31, was quick to blame weight loss for his dreadful appearance, claiming that he had dropped 22lbs during the two weeks before the fight. If that is true, there is likely to be an investigation because it is extremely dangerous for any fighter to lose that much weight so close to a title fight.
The British Boxing Board of Control has strict measures on weight loss and often checks the weight of boxers in the months and weeks before important fights and presumably it was happy with Jwko's test weight last week.
There have been instances this year when fights were postponed because the Board's inspectors decided that one particular boxer simply had too much weight to lose. Had Jwko been 10lbs or more over the weight limit during the previous week there is absolutely no way that he would have been let into a British ring to compete for a world title fight.
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