Holy SMOKES, boxing has gotten weird over the last couple months. On ESPN2′s Friday Night Fights, in an echo of one of the most infamous incidents in boxing history, lightweight (135 lbs.) journeyman Humberto Toledo was disqualified in the final round of his fight with Breidis Prescott when he chomped down vampire-style on Prescott’s neck, kinda along his collarbone.
“You never know what you’re going to see in this sport,” said ESPN2′s man Joe Tessitore, and he couldn’t be more right. In 2009, you can add this to a list of oddities like a loaded gloves cheating scandal (Antonio Margarito-Shane Mosley) a round that went two minutes too long (Juan Urango-Herman Ngoudjo) and an apparent knockout overruled when the referee changed his mind and let the fight continue (Sergio Martinez-Kermit Cintron).
Prescott, fresh off upsetting British star Amir Khan via 1st round knockout, was beating Toledo soundly, which is not to say Toledo didn’t get under his skin before he bit through his skin. It was a rough fight, with Toledo docked a point late in the bout for holding Prescott behind the head and hitting him. Then, in the 10th, as Prescott clinched Toledo and forced him back, Toledo sank some incisors into the area where Prescott’s neck turned into his shoulder. Prescott grimaced, and at first the referee didn’t seem to know what happened. But Prescott, a Colombian, kept motioning at his neck, and even did the viewing audience the favor of walking over to the ESPN2 cameras and showed everyone his bite mark. The ESPN2 commentating team suggested Toledo just wanted out of a fight that was frustrating him, but there are better ways, and one suspects Toledo will receive some kind of suspension, and deservedly.
It wasn’t Mike Tyson-Evander Holyfield, because Prescott won’t need plastic surgery and didn’t have to pick up any body parts afterward. Nor was this fight very significant. It was kind of a stay-busy showcase fight for a top-10 contender. But man, does it suddenly get noteworthy or what?
Prescott didn’t impress me much, losing his composure as he did and failing to seem to hurt Toledo much aside from one knockdown. I think this fight said more about Khan’s chin than it did Prescott’s power. In other FNF action, two Cubans, featherweight (126 lbs.) Yuriorkis Gamboa and junior middleweight (154 lbs.) Erislandy Lara, scored 1st round knockouts against mediocre competition. You probably won’t see their knockout highlights on Sportscenter’s top plays. More likely, you’ll see Toledo’s bite on Sportscenter’s not top plays.
