I am starting to sound like a broken record.
Boxing is my second favorite sport after the NFL, but it is hard to get behind it because of two reasons.
Routinely the best matches aren’t made (yes I am talking to you Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao) and the judging/refereeing is atrocious at times.
No better of example of this was last night Mares vs. Agebko fight where referee Russell Mora’s performance was abysmal and that is putting it kindly.
Abner Mares is a good young prospect under the Golden Boy umbrella, but by my count he threw 15 clear low blows and about 5-10 that were really close to low blows. He was warned five times by Mora, but Mora seem to blame Agebko more than Mora for the clear fouls.
The first knockdown of Agebko in the 1st round looked like a slip, but since a punch did land I didn’t have a problem with Mora’s ruling on that, but the knockdown that was ruled in the 11th round was simply the worst decision by I ref that i have ever seen.
http://youtu.be/z3ldZ2o13CU
Mora was standing in PERFECT POSITION as Mares hits Agebko CLEARLY low. No person on the planet could have though that was on the belt line as Mora protested, but Mora ruled this a knockdown.
It was such a bad error, people immediately started to question if something illegal was going on.
Mares ends up winning a majority decision (115-111, 115-111, 113-113), but if the Mora would have been half way competent the decision would have been different. At minimum Mares should have been deducted a point (probably two) and the 10-8 round should have been a 10-9 round for Agebko.
That sad thing even if ref properly Mares was fighting well and possibly could have won the fight, but now his championship and win is tainted.
I give a ton a credit to Agebko, he didn’t complain too much even though he was continually fouled. He kept fighting even though getting hit repeatedly below the belt can’t be helpful with your strength.
Go put on a cup on and have someone hit you squarely in it and see how long it takes you to recover. Then imagine getting hit 10 plus times while someone is also trying to hit you in the head.
An immediate rematch should be ordered and Mora shouldn’t be allowed to ref ever again. I am not the biggest Jim Gray fan, but I was grateful for him delivering the professional ether to Mora in the post fight press conference.