PBC on FOX results and highlights: Stanionis vs Collazo ends in no-decision, Mykal Fox robbed by judges

Tonight’s PBC on FOX main event unfortunately ended in a no-decision after just under four rounds of action, with Luis Collazo — who said he would be retiring after this fight — hurt on a hard, accidental clash of heads and pulled from the fight at 2:31 of round four.

Since four full rounds were not completed, the fight couldn’t go to the cards, and ends without a verdict either way.

Stanionis (13-0, 9 KO) was pretty much dominating the fight, and the feeling seemed to be that while the 40-year-old Collazo (39-8, 20 KO) was definitely going out with pride, he was on his way to going out for sure. Stanionis was landing around 60 percent of his power shots, and while Collazo was doing his absolute best to dig in and make the younger fighter respect him (which Stanionis clearly did), there were no rounds going in Collazo’s favor, and the damage was likely going to add up.

The head clash was both legit hard and legit an accident, it happened when both were stepping in, as we’ve seen in many southpaw vs orthodox matchups over the years. Collazo was dazed and having trouble standing, and understood the correct decision being made by referee Charlie Fitch, who gave Collazo time to recover but told him that, obviously, if he couldn’t stand up he would have to stop the fight, which he did.

If this really was it for Collazo, as weird as it is to end on a no-decision like this, he goes out with pride. He was throwing what he had at Stanionis and looked prepared to go out on his shield if need be. He’s not what he was at his peak, but he is still a tough, hard-nosed fighter, and he’s had a career worth real respect for the last 21 years and change.

Gabriel Maestre UD-12 Mykal Fox

This one started with drama before the bell, as Maestre’s gloves were taped improperly and had no signature. The tape was too high, had to be cut off and re-taped. Troy Fox, opponent Mykal’s father and trainer, called it out, and referee Mark Nelson immediately agreed and questioned the inspector as to how anyone signed off on this. But they were re-taped and the fight went on.

That, however, is overshadowed by the incompetence of judges John Mariano (115-112), Gloria Martinez (117-110), and David Singh (114-113) for having this fight close, let alone giving Maestre the decision win. Bad Left Hook had it 118-109 for Fox, who scored a second round knockdown and also used his height, reach, and a good bounce in his step on defense to fluster and frustrate Maestre for pretty much the entire fight.

This is an atrocious decision, truly awful. Fox (22-3, 5 KO) was flat-out robbed in this fight. He knew it, his team knew it, everyone in the building knew it. This is about as bad as decisions get. Maestre (4-0, 3 KO) has no business still being unbeaten, no business having won this fight, and no business carrying even the most bogus possible “world title” in boxing, a WBA “interim world (regular)” belt, which he won here.

I’d say this is an embarrassment to boxing, but boxing cannot be embarrassed because it has no shame. Surely this will be bad enough for the WBA to investigate the controversy, which will likely lead to five other judges — also appointed by the WBA — deciding it was fine, actually.

Luke Santamaria UD-10 Devon Alexander

Alexander is now 2-7-1 in his last 10 fights, and at 34, it’s clear he’s just not got it anymore. Scores were 97-93, 98-92, and 98-92 for Santamaria in a lousy fight where nobody did much good, clean work, but the judges just didn’t buy what the FOX team were buying early on, that Alexander barking and jabbing Santamaria’s gloves was winning rounds because he was “controlling the distance.”

Bad Left Hook scored the fight 96-94 for Santamaria, so slightly closer than the judges.

Alexander (27-7-1, 14 KO) isn’t some total incompetent or anything, but he’s very, very far past his prime. That’s just the reality of the situation. I thought he got the short end against both Victor Ortiz (a draw) and Andre Berto (a loss) in 2018, but Ivan Redkach flat-out stopped him last time we saw him 26 months ago, and now this. Santamaria (12-2-1, 7 KO) is not some top prospect or anything close to that, he’s a gritty young fighter who gives a decent accounting of himself every time out, but he’s got a clear level. If Alexander had a hope of rejuvenating his career, he had to win this, and he just didn’t.

On another note, Alexander wasn’t going to make weight for this fight, so he had to have the contract weight adjusted up to 154 lbs, which is what he weighed in at on Friday. Santamaria actually was going to make weight, so he tipped the scales at 148½. This didn’t stop the FOX commentators from gushing over Alexander being in great shape, which I thought was pretty tacky to keep doing that and just have Heidi Androl spend 20 seconds going, “Well, sometimes fighters don’t make weight, LOL! Oh well! But Devon was so nice and professional and he let Santamaria know ahead of time, so it’s fine.”