Another low moment for pro boxing

[BAMAPHIN 22]

Maybe it was a slow news day that explains why the 24-hour TV networks kept replaying the chaos during the 10th round of Floyd Mayweather's victory over Zab Judah late Saturday night. Deep in the scuffle was Mayweather's uncle, Roger.

He shouldn't have been there. That Judah had Mayweather doubled over after a foul blow wasn't a reason for Roger Mayweather to jump between the ropes and spark a scuffle that tainted his nephew's victory.

if he hadn't, Mayweather's dazzling performance would not have been lost in the confusion. The fight might even have an asterisk attached after the Nevada Athletic Commission meets Thursday to review the incident. The NAC will look at every angle to find out why fists flew on videotape.
Judah's father, Yoel, also stepped between the ropes.

It might not have come to that if Tallahassee's Don Hazelton, the former head of the Florida Athletic Commission, had been there. During his tenure, all of boxing's sanctioning bodies called Florida's commission the best in the world. Hazelton is still enforcing boxing regulations with fighters and trainers as executive director of boxing for the Miccosukee and Choctaw Indians.
''We keep telling people,'' Hazelton said, '' 'Don't let your fighter lose a fight because you're stupid.' '

The NAC rulebook spells out that "no persons other than the unarmed combatants and the referee may be in the ring" and that the referee has the discretion to stop a bout when "an unauthorized person enters the ring."
That sounds like Roger, whose actions should have prompted referee Richard Steele to consider disqualifying Mayweather. At the very least, the fight should have been a no contest.

Promoter Don King was one of the first to call for enforcement of the rules, pleading for disqualification of Mayweather.


http://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060412/SPORTS/604120313/1002

 

[CalDolFan10x14]

You KNOW when Bob Arum and Don King do a cross promotion fight, there's going to be some kind of controversy, whether its staged or not.

 

[finfansince72]

Man Im a huge fight fan but my god boxing might as well be run by Vince McMahon. Its the WWF with gloves on right now. Banning Don King from boxing would be a good start.

 

[Muck]

The only people who keep thinking about the 10th round brawl are the people who keep watching that clip over and over.

After that night, I pretty much forgot about it. Heck, after the fight, I'd pretty much forgotten about it. Once it became clear that the fight would continue, that's all that mattered.

This BS about a NC or a DQ is ridiculous. The people in charge, along with Richard Steele, made the right decision. You let that fight resume. Stopping it would be an injustice to fight fans and the sport. Instead of it being a forgotten footnote, the brawl would have been THE memory, with the proceedings that followed dragging on for months/years.

They made the right decision. It wasn't pandemonium. Order was restored relatively quickly. Neither fighter was injured. And due to their good judgement, they allowed the sport to escape another black eye rather that creating one.

The NAC rulebook spells out that "no persons other than the unarmed combatants and the referee may be in the ring" and that the referee has the discretion to stop a bout when "an unauthorized person enters the ring."
That sounds like Roger, whose actions should have prompted referee Richard Steele to consider disqualifying Mayweather. At the very least, the fight should have been a no contest.

I hightlighted the important words.

This guy states that the ref has the DISCRETION to stop the fight. Not the OBLIGATION. And not two lines later he says the fight should have been an NC. Then he said King was the first to call for "an enforcement of the rules".

I thought the rules said the ref had DISCRETION, not OBLIGATION.

 

[FinsNYanksFan13]

The only people who keep thinking about the 10th round brawl are the people who keep watching that clip over and over.

After that night, I pretty much forgot about it. Heck, after the fight, I'd pretty much forgotten about it. Once it became clear that the fight would continue, that's all that mattered.

This BS about a NC or a DQ is ridiculous. The people in charge, along with Richard Steele, made the right decision. You let that fight resume. Stopping it would be an injustice to fight fans and the sport. Instead of it being a forgotten footnote, the brawl would have been THE memory, with the proceedings that followed dragging on for months/years.

They made the right decision. It wasn't pandemonium. Order was restored relatively quickly. Neither fighter was injured. And due to their good judgement, they allowed the sport to escape another black eye rather that creating one.



I hightlighted the important words.

This guy states that the ref has the DISCRETION to stop the fight. Not the OBLIGATION. And not two lines later he says the fight should have been an NC. Then he said King was the first to call for "an enforcement of the rules".

I thought the rules said the ref had DISCRETION, not OBLIGATION.

I agree 1,000 percent. Couldn't have said it better myself. Anyone who is a fight fan who watches every fight they can (like me and I'm pretty sure Muck is a big boxing fan) know that # 1, posees get involved all the time (although it's not always this big and most of the time it happens at pressers and behind the scenes), and # 2, as Muck stated it wasn't that big of a deal. The fighters wanted to keep fighting, the ref and Mark Ratner (the commissioner) thought the fight should continue, and you know the fans wanted the fight to go on. Floyd Mayweather dominated this fight convincingly from the 4th round on and giving him his first loss of his career because of this incident would have been an injustice to boxing!