Salt Papi is not happy with referee Benny Decroos for his stoppage in his Misfits Boxing 22 clash with former UFC star Tony Ferguson. Papi, real name Nathaniel Bustamante, was up two rounds against “El Cucuy” before the referee called the TKO victory after a barrage of punches to Papi.
“I had to put my hands up and then the referee just stepped [in],” Papi told The Fighting Conversation. “And there was only like 20 seconds left on the on the counter as well. I felt like the fans got the robbed of
a proper fight. I was two rounds up already. Tony Ferguson needs to work more if he wants to win.”
Papi said he’s “disappointed” with the match ending, looking at Darren Till’s violent knockout over Luke Rockhold later that night as an example of how the referee could have treated his bout.
“It wasn’t like I got knocked out, it was the ref. The ref was a bit biased,” Papi said. “The other ref were acting acting differently for all different fights. Like Rockhold, he was knocked down on floor and the ref was still counting. … I don’t know what’s going on, but this is the boxing business. I’m just happy to be around.”
Papi doesn’t feel the loss hurts his star power, and would be down to a rematch with Ferguson if that’s what “El Cucuy” and Misfits chose to do. That won’t happen anytime soon, though, as Papi needs surgery to fix a broken thumb suffered in the first punch the landed.
“Everyone saw what happened,” Papi said. “I was working him, round one and round two. Obviously in round three I slowed down, I was telling I told my cornerman I’m gonna take a rest because I already won two rounds. I was taking a rest in round three, that’s why I’was not moving too much because he was trying to tire me out.”
