For a couple of minutes, Julio Cesar Martinez was a world champion.
The Mexican challenger traveled to England to take on WBC flyweight champion Charlie Edwards and after scoring a number of wicked combinations to knock him, Martinez was initially ruled the winner and the new WBC champion. But that was until the WBC stepped and overruled the original fight result.
The fight was overturned and ruled a no contest after it was revealed on instant replay that Martinez landed a hard body shot when Edwards? knee was already touching the canvas. Normally, the British Boxing Board of Control does not have instant replay, but because it was a WBC-sanctioned title fight, the WBC made the decision to overrule the result after looking at replays of the incident. With the bout being called a no contest, Edwards would remain the WBC champion.
As for what is next for both men, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman said after the decision to change the result was made that a rematch will happen between the two. Edwards said he would give his opponent a rematch while a frustrated Martinez said he wanted a rematch and to be the A-side as he feels he is the rightful champion.
Martinez had dominated the fight, landing several combinations and not allowing Edwards to do more than throw single shots at times. Martinez threw a furious combination in the third round to hurt Edwards and when Edwards was already touching the canvas, Martinez landed the punch that would end the fight but not win it.
The fight took place at The O2 Arena as part of the undercard for Vasiliy Lomachenko vs. Luke Campbell for the unified WBA, WBO and WBC lightweight championship.