Canizales Makes the Cut; Gonzales Loses in Two : Boxing: Former Olympian cries foul, but referee rules that a punch was responsible for injured eyelid.

It took Paul Gonzales six years to get a shot at a world title after he was voted the outstanding fighter of the 1984 Olympic Games.

It wasn’t worth the wait.

Gonzales’ bid for the International Boxing Federation bantamweight championship ended unsuccessfully at 30 seconds of the second round Sunday at the El Paso County Coliseum.

However, it wasn’t until 15 minutes later that the ring announcer finally declared champion Orlando Canizales the winner.

Referee Barry Yeats had been advised by Dr. Paris Bransford to stop the fight because of a cut in Gonzales’ left eyelid.

The question was whether there had been a head butt, which would have resulted in the bout being called a technical draw.

Yeats said that a right hand had caused the cut 30 seconds into the first round.

But the ringside IBF and Texas Athletic Commission officials decided to huddle anyway.

Gonzales got the news that he was officially the loser while being interviewed by NBC announcers Marv Albert and Ferdie Pacheco.

“That was ridiculous,” said Gonzales, insisting he was the victim of a head butt.

“I didn’t lose to Canizales. I lost to a butt. He butted me in our first fight, too. He came out throwing punches, but he was using his head at the same time.”

None of the four angles of the NBC replay indicated a head butt.

“Paul’s reaction reminded me of Muhammad Ali’s after the anchor punch against Sonny Liston in Lewiston, Maine,” Pacheco said.

“When he watched the film of the fight, Ali said he couldn’t see the punch because it was toofast.”

Canizales was positive that a punch had done the damage.

“It was a clean right hand over the top,” he said.

Whatever, the champion from Laredo, Tex., came out fast in a manner prescribed by manager Bob Spagnola.

“We lost the first fight because Orlando wasn’t aggressive enough,” Spagnola said.

“If he tried those same tactics again, it would have been a long afternoon.”

Instead, Yeats first called Bransford into the ring to look at the cut after only 37 seconds of the first round.

Gonzales was permitted to keep fighting and counterpunched decently, but the round belonged to Canizales.

Cornerman Chuck Bodak was able to stop the bleeding between rounds, but the cut was re-opened after only 10 seconds of the second round.

Canizales, who weighed in at the bantamweight limit of 118 pounds, improved to 25-1-1.

Gonzales, 117 pounds, is 14-2.