Is the boxer in the viral image the winner of the game? Read more to know the reality
Claim
Rating
Explanation
An image of a boxer who appears heavily injured is being shared in social media lately. Along with the image, a caption questions. A similar post can be seen here from early June.
What’s the truth?
Using a Google reverse image search, we found a similar image uploaded to Getty Images. From the captions, we were able to identify that the boxer is Denis Lebedev from Russia and this image was taken after his defeat in the match at the hands of his opponent Guillermo Jones from Panama. This match was held on May 17, 2013.
When we searched further, we were able to find more images from the match uploaded to Getty Images.
To reconfirm that Denis Lebedev (in the viral picture) indeed lost the match, we did another keyword search and found reports from Sky Sports, Daily Mail and ESPN which confirmed that the Panamanian boxer Guillermo Jones indeed beat the Russian boxer.
Upon further search, we found that Don King (the man who lifts Denis’ hand) is actually the promoter of Guillermo Jones. Throughout his career, he has promoted prominent boxers like Mohammed Ali, Mike Tyson, Julio César Chávez etc. In this match, Denis was hit in the eye which resulted in a significant swelling and damage in the first round itself. Jones continued to attack Denis’ eye which worsened his condition over the rounds which also resulted in bleeding. Despite such a serious injury, Denis Lebedev continued for 11 rounds before he was knocked out by his opponent Guillermo Jones. This prompted Don King to applaud Denis and raise his hand in appreciation for his commitment to the match and the sport. The same can be seen in the video below.
But interestingly, the match was declared ‘No Contest’ as Guillermo Jones was found to have used banned substance and the WBA Boxing Championship that Jones won in that match was stripped off of him.
Conclusion:
In our research, Denis Lebedev, who is in the image circulating on social media, did not win the match. He was knocked out by his opponent Guillermo Jones.
