Jury Is Judged For Not Being Neutral Because Coming From Indonesia, WBC Cancels Tibo Menabesa's Victory Over Jayson Vayson

Tibo Monabesa (left) vs Jayson Vayson (right) (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The World Boxing Council (WBC) has stated that it does not recognize Tibo Monabesa's victory over Filipino boxer Jayson Vayson in the defense of the WBC International light flyweight title (48.9 kg) at Holywings Gatsu Club V, Jakarta, Sunday, February 27.

The decision was contained in a letter signed by WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman addressed to the President of the Indonesian Boxing Association (ATI/IBA) Manahan Situmorang dated March 7, 2022.

"The WBC Official Commission has reviewed the Tibo Monabesa match against Jayson Vayson. Of the 10 judges who evaluated the match, they decided that Jayson Vayson won by a large difference," said Mauricio Sulaiman in the letter quoted from Antara.

WBC also highlighted the jury on duty, all of whom came from Indonesia, which he considered not neutral. Based on Boxrec data, the judges in charge of the fight were Rocky Joe, Ricardo Simanungkalit, and Teguh Tambunan. While the referee is Philipus Elungan.

From the results of the 10-round match between Tibo Monabesa and Jayson Vayson, the judges Rocky Joe scored 95-93 for Tibo Monabesa, Ricardo Simanungkalit with 95-94, and Teguh Tambunan 94-94. With this result, Tibo Monabesa won an absolute number by majority decision (MD).

But the WBC states otherwise. "WBC decided this match was No Contest (no one won or lost) and did not recognize Monabesa's victory," said Sulaiman.

The WBC decided to give the option to accept the decision of the world boxing body and change the result to a Non-Contest and then notify the Boxrec website, or reject the WBC decision and keep Tibo Monabesa's victory.

In fact, WBC also offers seminars or training to judges and referees from Indonesia to make better decisions.

"We will be happy to provide seminars to your judges and referees via zoom under the supervision of WBC University which can be useful for working in uniformity. We are looking forward to your feedback," concluded Mauricio Sulaiman.