The fighter planned on appealing the loss, but Barboza’s manager says that the appeal won’t be filed due to a rule from the Florida State Boxing Commission (FSBC).
“We wanted to come in front of them and analyze the fight and show them the decision was wrong,” Alex Davis told MMA Junkie. “They can’t allow it because for that to happen, I would have to accuse the judges of fraud, or Ige of having taken (performance-enhancing drugs). I have no suspicion of fraud, and I don’t think he takes PEDs. I think he’s a great fighter, and he fought really well. I can’t appeal because of that. The whole world saw Edson winning that fight. Nothing against Ige, he fought a great fight, and he’s a tough guy and all props to him. But the problem is, from our perspective, the scoring was wrong. We should be able to take a fight before the commission and appeal, and if they think the scoring is wrong they should be able to overturn. That doesn’t happen here. The law doesn’t permit it to.”
Barboza has now lost three straight bouts and he hasn’t picked up a victory in almost two years.
Two of Barboza’s last three losses came via a controversial decision and Davis says bad decisions are plaguing the fighter.
“These decisions have been plaguing him,” Davis said. “We had three obviously bad decisions yesterday, and we get them all over the place. The effect on his career is devastating because now he goes 1-4 in his last five fights with two fights that were controversial decisions. When people look at his record, all they see is the loss and nothing explaining how it happened or how good the fight was.”
There is no word at this time from either Barboza or Davis as to what is next for the fighter.
