Referee Tony Weeks seemed to explain his quick stoppage of the Ortiz-Lawson fight in a since deleted Facebook post.
Tony Weeks: “What the public didn’t know [was] that prior to the fight they did a brain scan on [Lawson], 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 gave him the same examination and he tested negative for the aneurysm, so they cleared him to fight.”
Golden Boy Promotions issued the following response:
Golden Boy Promotions Statement: “Fredrick Lawson was cleared by a Nevada State Athletic Commission sanctioned doctor to fight on Saturday night. All other questions should be referred to NSAC.”
“Fredrick Lawson was cleared by a Nevada State Athletic Commission sanctioned doctor to fight on Saturday night.”
So they found an aneurysm through brain scan on two separate occasions, then after a third test shows negative, they make a last-minute decision to clear him on the day of the fight? I’m not in the medical profession, but you’d think that, just as a precautionary measure, they would have pulled Lawson from this event.
No matter what you think of the entire Ortiz-Lawson fiasco, it seems like everyone involved just isn’t going to take responsibility here which is per usual in boxing.
My personal opinion is that the fight should have never taken place period regardless of bad stoppages, health issues, ect.
I would have thought that they would have sat Lawson out, probably after the first, but definitely after the second test that was positive for a brain aneurysm, and tried to find another opponent.
I think I may have misread that last statement in the above article. They didn’t clear him on Saturday, they cleared him (at some earlier date) for Saturday’s fight. I wonder the timeline on the brain scans, and how they affected Lawson’s preparation and mental state when he entered the ring. That had to be somewhere in the back of his mind…
Okay. However, hypothetically, if the facts are as straightforward as those we see (a quick stoppage, a fighter cleared to fight, but who had suspect medical findings) who is responsible and for what?
I get the aneurysm part, I think: They found the aneurysm twice and then they didn’t after a third check (why they even got to #3 is a mystery, but so be it); but my problem would then be if Tony Weeks knew that he had an aneurysm, or that he recently did, did he then decide that AT THE FIRST SIGN OF DANGER, that he was pulling him out? Because if he did, then given the circumstances of the fight (with him being brought in as an opponent for a big puncher), then he should have asked out of that fight. Or am I missing something?
Lucie, as far as how they got to #3, good question. Seems like consecutive brain scans that resulted in Lawson being positive for an aneurysm should have been enough to sit him out.
And yes, judging by the statement above, I’m pretty sure Weeks entered this event with the mindset that he’d be pulling the plug on this at the first sign of danger, which is understandable given the circumstances. This was a rip-off for whoever paid to watch, and more importantly, they might have put Lawson at serious risk here. Very, VERY bad look here IMO.
Very simple Lucie, Weeks dropped the ball, that is the reason his post in X was deleted. The card was about to be canceled, so, bring a guy that with a good amount of money will clear the guy to step in the ring and save the card, with the condition to stop the fight ASP, when he gets hit, so, Weeks went in there with some special instructions, but he could no handle the criticisms and dropped the bomb, that’s all, a fraudulent action uncovered
Good thing you’re not serving as judge, jury, executioner in our society. How can you be so certain from such scant information? Come on.
You’re possibly (probably) missing the fact that Lawson would want to have fought? Dude needs to eat like the rest of us.
Oh of course he does, but if it’s that simple then why even bother with testing him? If he wants to fight… let him? I’m sure they’ve refused to license fighters previously for medical issues, I’m no doctor AT ALL but having an aneurysm seems a pretty good reason to decline someone’s application.
Weeks wanted the money so at the end of the day, he is using confidential medical info as an excuse. Weeks may have refereed his last fight.
I find it hard to believe anything Weeks says.
We’ll find out eventually, because this certainly will be heavily looked into. Never heard a peep about the fight being in danger beforehand. Can’t imagine Weeks just pulled this story out of his behind on a whim though. If what he’s saying is true, seems like this would potentially be the biggest scandal in the sport since, when? Quite awhile. Somebody could be in serious trouble over this if they let a guy in the ring who wasn’t sufficiently cleared to fight, and may have had a brain aneurysm no less. Golden Boy staying clear of any questioning on this with the above statement, which basically reads: Uh, ask them (NSAC). Will be interesting to see what becomes of this. I don’t think this one is going away anytime soon.
Since when have we ever “found out everything.” Possible but extremely unrealistic.
Why?
I was appalled by the stoppage in real time, but when I saw the replay of it, Lawson looked out of it immediately post-stoppage for several seconds and didn’t seem to understand what was happening. I think the fight was correctly stopped in retrospect.
I spoke with Lawson about 30 minutes after the fight. He looked & spoke fine & said he had no idea why it was stopped because he was blocking the punches
Laying against the ropes taking punches – after you have just been wobbled – is not a good look. Fighters must know by now that you should punch back and/or clinch. Weeks has been a good ref for a long time and while he could have let the fight continue Lawson cannot just lay back and absorb punches without firing back.
He wasn’t absorbing many punches. Ortiz was hitting the glove.
But you also need to punch back and/or clinch.
If this were Canelo vs Benavidez, do you think it would have been stopped under the same circumstances? I think not.
It wouldn’t have happened with Canelo or the Mexican Monster, both have camps that wouldn’t allow them to fight if there was a health issue.
The way it was going, it was probably better off that it was stopped; however, the question remains why even have him fight if he truly had two positive scans? The third it’s gone? Miraculously? Malfeasance. Too close to fight night to bring in someone else? Didn’t want Ortiz to have yet another cancelled event? I bet those and a few more played into that equation.
BS. If Weeks was so worried about Lawson’s wellbeing then he should have refused to referee the fight.
You can’t pretend to have principles after the fact. He’s using this as an excuse.
Good post, Josh. Weeks has an excuse for everything. He probably would’ve stopped Evander Holyfield’s title fight with Bert Cooper after Coop dropped him, with the excuse that he wanted Evander to get home early to tuck his numerous kids into bed & wish them a goodnight.
This just goes to show what kind of organisation GB is. First of all Lawson is a welter (he was up against a middle),finally just to make Ortiz look good, they risked this guy’s life. And to think “fishnets ” is always criticizing other promotion.
If Lawson needed 3 brain scans, they were 2 too many against a puncher.
If Weeks was so concerned why he refereed the fight? Or why he didn’t object to Lawson fighting.
The ppl who paid for the event didn’t get their money worth
i knew this outcome was “fixed” so to speak, but i thought they were protecting virgil. it shows the corruption in golden boy and nevada commission. weeks should have refused to take the fight and he or someone should have reported this to the public. They all just took their money and ran . its sad and tragic that boxing is just ” a money grab” no matter what .
Well said Carlos. The only thing square about boxing is the ring.
GBP doctor shopping?
Weeks should have been screaming about this BEFORE the fight. One landed punch is one punch too many.
Sick stuff for sure.
If two radiologic tests confirmed an aneurysm and the third did not, I would question the slices on the film and the quality of the machine performing the tests. Other exams can be ordered to detect aneurysms. The article says brain scan. Well, that could be a CT scan or an MRI. Either way, the brain aneurysm can be ruled out with more than one tests and even repeated tests at other medical facilities as a second opinion. Aneurysms can be small enough that they are simply watched periodically throughout a person’s life getting occasional testing. If they extend over so many millimeters, then operative interventions are taken into consideration if that is advisable. Some folks are born with aneurysms and never have issues with them.
sickening . these are just set ups for gbp fighters. when virgil faces a real fighter he will get exposed too . same will happen with mungia, zepeda, garcia, etc.. Now with Week’s information on ” this fight”, fans should be skeptical of future fights.
Wow. That is very worrying.
I just hope Toney weeks isn’t the ref for any major upcoming fights. He can ref a fight like this but keep him FAR AWAY form the major bouts. If what Weeks says is true, then good on him for stopping it too early rather than too late, but its hard to trust him considering his track record as of late. I miss referee Joe Cortez.
50 to one favorite. That was the reason the fight should have never happened. It was non competitive on paper. Shame on you Golden boy
Weeks needs to retire he screwed Barroso in a fight he was winning against Romero and now this debacle. This sport I love is going down for the count.
I already had a college degree when I won a regional Golden Gloves title. My former trainer told me he could make me a world champion in six years; “but you do not have to do this”, he said. That stuck with me. I did have some regret over the years of not turning pro and still swapped punches sparring numerous pros and amateur’s here and there throughout the years. Think I made the right decision…its a corrupt and unforgiving game.
Couldn’t resist after this post. I didn’t know this was DMV story hour? So what happened? You have a college degree to become a race baiter, you are truly special.
His trainer lied to him.
This reminds me of years ago when JC Chavez was having the rematch with Meldrick Taylor and Mills Lane was quoted as saying “I am not going to let Taylor get hurt” . Something is wrong if a referee is going into a fight with that mindset. If the aneurysm story is true then this is even worse. What i find interesting is that with Barroso on the semi main, the story of his experience with Weeks would be refreshed in everyone’s mind. I found it interesting seeing Weeks at ringside while the issue with Barroso had just been discussed by the broadcast. That said, I was quite surprised that Weeks got the main event on this night. Now I am suspicious that maybe it was a calculated move. If it was known Lawson potentially had an aneurysm well why not let Weeks who now has a quick trigger stoppage reputation take another hit on his already damaged reputation for the cover up. The event gets saved, Lawson gets saved, and Weeks is the fall guy. Perhaps Weeks after taken too much flack decided he did not want to be the fall guy any more. Perhaps I am over thinking this but it was a perspective I wanted to share. I have no facts to back this up…just a theory.
I’m not a doctor and I know nothing ìabout aneurysms. However, I do know boxing and was at the event sitting close enough to see that was a ridiculously early stoppage. No significant punches were being landed. Boxing fans suffered greatly from this farce main event by shelling out their hard earned money for travel & tickets. A number of people sitting near me paid a lot of money to fly in from Texas and support their hometown fighter, Vergil Ortiz. Very sad all around!
Boxing has a history of shady practices and corruption, but if a quarter of what I expect about this is true, Goldenboy officials should be sharing a cell with the Nevada State Athletic Commissioner Coobeck. This is seriously the worst black eye boxing can receive. This needs to be put in front of a jury and a judge for criminal negligence. Sure it will all get brushed under the rug though.
Reminds me of when Baby Joe Masi had a brain bleed and they took his boxing license. This fight should’ve never happened if they knew the guy wasn’t 100%. Definitely screwed the fans out of a good fight.