Golden Boy Promotions has released a statement about the controversial nature of the Tony Weeks stoppage that saw Vergil Ortiz defeat Fredrick Lawson in less than a round.
Ortiz was returning to the ring after a long hiatus, having his first bout since August 2022, and was expected to have things his own way against Lawson, but Weeks’s stoppage looked very early and has been widely-condemned in the aftermath.
A Golden Boy Promotions statement said: “Fredrick Lawson was cleared by a Nevada State Athletic Commission sanctioned doctor to fight on Saturday night. All other questions should be referred to the NSAC.”
The statement came as a swift riposte after Weeks took to social media, Facebook, to defend his actions.
In a post that has subsequently been deleted, Weeks wrote: “What the public didn’t know that prior to the fight they did a brain scan on him, and it came up that he had an aneurysm, and they did a test again, and the same aneurysm came up. Another doctor was brought in and have him the same examination and he tested negative for the aneurysm, so they cleared him to fight.”
Weeks has refereed some of the biggest Las Vegas fights since he began in 1994, including Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo I, Manny Pacquiao-Marco Antonio Barrera II, Winky Wright-Shane Mosley I, Juan Manuel Marquez-Joel Casamayor and Kelly Pavlik-Jermain Taylor II.
Lawson is now 30-4 (22), Ortiz is 20-0 (20), and ProBox TV has contacted the Nevada State Athletic Commission for comment.
