Nicolas Pablo Demario Scores Knockdown, Then Bites Opponent
Nicolas Pablo Demario took a page from Mike Tyson‘s playbook when he bit his opponent after scoring a knockdown in the boxing match.
Demario was up on the judges’ scorecards against opponent Josue Vargas, who he had just floored in the fifth round of the fight. It was at this moment when the boxer enigmatically got a taste of his opponent as he bit him. The referee paused the fight to assess Vargas, who was visibly in pain from the illegal attack evident by the blood and bite mark on his shoulder.
Nicolas Pablo Demario is not disqualified
The situation gets even more bizarre when the referee allowed the fight to continue instead of stopping it due to the illegal bite. While Nicolas Pablo Demario seemed to be winning and had no apparent reason to go for the bite, he should’ve been disqualified from the fight right then. In this case, however, the referee just decided to dock a point for Demario and let the fight go on.
“That’s a DQ, bro. Biting?! That’s a DQ!” the commentator reacted to the point deduction. “Wow. Are you kidding me?” (h/t Bloody Elbow)
The point deduction surely hurt Demario as he lost the advantage of a scored knockdown in the same round. He remained up 47-46 on two scorecards, while one had it 46-46 after the point deduction.
Vargas, who had a bloody bite mark on his shoulder, turned things around late to win the final three rounds. Demario was lucky he didn’t get disqualified, but he still eventually lost a unanimous decision with the scores of 76-73 and 76-74 twice, all for Vargas.
MMA has seen its fair share of fights that ended early by illegal strikes as well and that should’ve been the case for this boxing match too.
