Last Friday in the Las Vegas sports centre in Barranquilla, Colombia, all three women’s matches, according to Kevin Bello Parada of Boxeo Mundial, ended in first round knockouts, with Mónica ‘Terrible’ Acosta Siris “imposing her will on” Maria (‘Viking’) Ahumada at featherweight, 17-year-old Paulina ‘Paquita’ Cardona “stopping” Jany Mendoza at super flyweight, and the unbeaten Maria Mancilla “anaesthetizing” Aracelys Cardona at cruiserweight.

Latin American journalists often fail to distinguish between KOs and TKOs; and, indeed, it could be argued that – other than in the case of a controversial stoppage – the difference is hardly significant. If a fighter is obviously not getting up (because she’s out cold), rather than counting, referees often prefer to get the doctors in there quick; the result is then given as a ‘technical’ knockout, even though it’s a literal one as well. Conversely, when the referee stops the fight because a knockout is inevitable and imminent, it is often reported as a KO, even though ‘technically’, it isn’t. Other than the case, then, of Mancilla and Cardona, where the language is pretty unambiguous, we can’t be sure here (in the absence of further information) quite what happened. Perhaps the ref just didn’t like women’s boxing - or had a plane to catch.

Anibal Andrade, who refereed the recent Acuña-Herrera title fight in Buenos Aires, had no plane to catch – the ferry back to Montevideo perhaps ­­– but he came in for some criticism on Argentinian TV for interrupting the action at a time when the outcome was still uncertain; Herrera, the commentators felt, might still have recovered, had she been given the chance.

Thanks to the miracles of modern technology, you can judge the matter for yourselves: http://www.latigresa.com.ar/. The blonde in the white dress, BTW, at the start of the clip, is Oliveras.