Joseph Agbeko Can't Overcome Referee, Low Blows, and Abner Mares (In That Order)
by Scott Christ on Aug 13, 2011 11:33 PM EDT
in Boxing Results and Post-Fight Analysis
Email
Print
Joseph Agbeko and Abner Mares had a competitive fight tonight on Showtime from Las Vegas. There was plenty of action. The fight could have been remembered well. It won't be.
That's because Russell Mora, the assigned referee for the fight, was either blatantly biased or wildly incompetent tonight, never penalizing the victorious Abner Mares for a multitude -- we're talking double digits -- of low blows, including a bogus, terrible knockdown call on a blatant low blow in the 11th round. Mares on on scores of 115-111, 115-111, and 113-113. Bad Left Hook stopped scoring the fight upon the absurd knockdown call in the 11th round.
After the fight, Mora was interviewed by Showtime's Jim Gray, who absolutely blasted Mora, and with good cause. It was without question the greatest thing I've ever seen from Jim Gray, because Mora was a disgrace tonight.
Frankly, I don't know how else to talk about this fight. It had action. It could have been good. But Agbeko fought a referee more than his opponent tonight, and Russell Mora's reaction to watching replays was suspect at best. You can share your thoughts. I've got nothing else. This was a joke.
To note, Agbeko's team will file a formal protest with the IBF on Monday.
96 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEsbY1-9UYg&feature=related
"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."
I cashed in on this bet…great performance Mares, and Golden Boy’s first champion they built from an 0-0 record!
Is that you Oscar?
"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.
It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0
If it was I wouldn’t have needed to bet on Mares.
by Fausto Geraci on Aug 13, 2011 11:55 PM EDT up reply actions
I would really like to see a rematch, Agbeko deserves one. But, a lot of those shots were on the belt line. There were definitely low blows, and the knockdown was completely low and should have been a point the other direction, but I thought Mares outboxed Agbeko clean to take 7 rounds at least.
"outboxed Agbeko clean"........
Errrrrr…….I don’t think so.
I thought he outboxed him pretty clearly. The numbers backed that up as well.
by Fausto Geraci on Aug 13, 2011 11:54 PM EDT up reply actions
Pretty easy to outbox a guy
You hit in the nuts 30 times!
by Dezlaw on Aug 13, 2011 11:55 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
hahahah
"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."
*cough cough cotto-judah cough cough *
"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."
Sure, there were plenty of shots on the belt line, but there was also plenty of shots that were clearly low. I had Mares losing at least two points (maybe even getting DQed) due to clear illegal blows, but the ref let it go.
Had the ref done his job early, who knows, maybe Mares would have strted keeping his punches up and there would have been no controversy. But now, well what early seemed like it was going to be a great fight (cause it was starting out great) got ruined for me and manny others.
Also, getting hit low takes a lot out of you and it is very hard to recover fast from it. It is impossible to tell how much Agbeko was affected by that…
"I´ve seen the future of the whole fucking thing and it´s Big Man Clarence Clemons!"
- Bruce Springsteen
The world became a less amazing place on June 18 2011, with the death of Clarence Clemons. R.I.P. Big Man, you will be sorely missed.
Some people don´t like the saxophone, but if you can´t rock to the Jungleland solo, you are dead inside!
You could see Mora sweating while he watched the replay.
The itsy bitsy Spider went up the waterspout
Down came the Thunder and washed the spider out
Up came the sun but Thunder still remained
And the itsy bitsy spider never touched the belt again~
Of course,he knew he was dead wrong and still wouldn’t admit to it after what the replay showed was a clear low blow. Disgraceful..
Yes, this is what we were talking about in the other thread. He warned Mares several times for low blows, how can he say afterwards that the punches were legal? He put himself in evidence right there!
Bob Arum would promote Lucifer himself if he could put asses in the seats.
Yeah seriously,if you thought they were legal punches why are you giving him warnings for low blows.This is badly suspect
by Full Throttle on Aug 13, 2011 11:51 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
After the replay…. he could have man’ed up and said… yeah I fucked up…. but he was too chickenshit to admit it. I mean what is the worst thing that could happen to him? Get suspended? Oh no….
"Boxing is dirty," said Casamayor. " The day I’m not ready to be a dirty fighter is the day I don’t fight anymore because it will mean that I have no heart for it anymore."
Right,at least say OK I got that one wrong. It was just to clear in the replay to debate it at all.
by Full Throttle on Aug 13, 2011 11:57 PM EDT up reply actions
I hope they can follow up on the good precedent that was set with suspending the judges in the Lara fight.
This was worse……Much worse.
Mora needs to be made accountable
Mora is incompetent.......
Or worse. When this fight started I asked my wife "why is Mora refereeing this fight? Were Bayless, Cortez, Nady, etc. Unavailable? Seemed very strange to me that he was refereeing this major fight. Don’t forget, he almost got Montiel killed against Donaire. The Montiel thing was incompetence, this seemed like a Golden Boy fix. Agbeko needs to fire DK and get a promoter who will keep this kind of thing from happening in the future!
FYI, Mares, Jim Gray, and Russell Mora are all trending on twitter right now.
I’m torn between being glad folks are paying attention, and sad that this is what it takes for folks to pay attention.
Well, lets just hope that the attention puts some extra pressure on the IBF and NSAC.
IBF to order a rematch and NSAC to suspend Mora.
"I´ve seen the future of the whole fucking thing and it´s Big Man Clarence Clemons!"
- Bruce Springsteen
The world became a less amazing place on June 18 2011, with the death of Clarence Clemons. R.I.P. Big Man, you will be sorely missed.
Some people don´t like the saxophone, but if you can´t rock to the Jungleland solo, you are dead inside!
Fighters Deserve Better
Fighters work too hard to have to put up with that sort of crap. You you have to feel for Agbeko. He comes back from his injury, struggles to make weight but eventually forces his body down to the limit, gets drilled low almost two dozen times… but still works his way back into a position to win the fight – and then has to suffer through that 11th round call. That was just awful.
TheBoxingBulletin.com
by A.F. on Aug 13, 2011 11:50 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Agbeko is an iron man
who fought through all those low blows and never took a break.
not that Mora would have allowed it.
To get Mora suspended:
push the "contact us" button, and an e-mail form pops up.
To agitate for a rematch:
International Boxing Federation
Office:
899 Mountain Ave., Suite 2C
Springfield, NJ 07081
Phone: 973-564-8046
Fax: 973-564-8751
Main Contacts:
Daryl J. Peoples, President
Lindsey E. Tucker, Championships Chairman
The other sanctioning body involved is Sulaiman’s, so writing probably won’t help. Their contact info is kind of opaque, I’ll try again in the morning.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
The IBF e-mail address is c/o the public relations dep’t:
Jeanette Salazar, Public Relations Director jsalazar@ibfboxing.com
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
from the staff picks comments-
“I think Agbeko will win the fight, but…
Mares will get the nod.
You can’t really analyze this fight without assuming that Mares is already a point or two ahead, imo.
Young, undefeated Mexican American kid who everyone surrounding the event (including much of the media) insist is going to be a superstar vs a 30 something bantam from Ghana who just works…
If you are familiar with the way things go in this sport, you gotta go with the ticket seller in a close one. Quite frankly, refs and judges can never be trusted to be fair, or to know what they’re doing. I wish I was exaggerating when I say that an official fucks up every single weekend, without fail.
I think it will be a close fight, like Mares’ other fights vs top opposition, so I’ll take him to scrape out another decision he may or may not actually earn."
even a blind squirrel…:P
Damn. Basically if your last name is "Mora" then you're probably going to be hated, incompetent, or both.
See: Jim Sr. and Jim Jr., Sergio, and Russell.
I went whale watching the other day. I think. There were a lot of people in that lake.
This is apparently legal knockdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nevnbUC6d80&feature=player_detailpage#t=252s
I absolutely think this was a fix. No one could be that blind. I think this was set up for the Golden Boy fighter to win. Mares should’ve absolutely been DQd.
I don’t care what people say, but this is nothing new from Abner Mares. He’s an extremely dirty fighter and he got incredible help AGAIN by the judges and referees. Low blowed Darchinyan and never got punished. Practically knocked Agbeko’s penis and balls right off and got NOTHING. He got REWARDED, of all things.
Unbelievable.
I went whale watching the other day. I think. There were a lot of people in that lake.
blatant fkups in boxing.
what a shock.
[ ] I am shocked and amazed
[x] I am not shocked or amazed
Mel Gibson shot the movie Apocalypto on location at the center of my taint.
-Fake Emcee
by Cory Braiterman on Aug 14, 2011 3:02 AM EDT reply actions
Someone who is better than me at these sort of things
should put together a video compilation of all the low blows. Go viral with this thing.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
I’d like to see this decision nullified, and Mora suspended. At the same time, Mora seems hardly capable of policing himself, so if there were to be a rematch, the ref would have to watch him like a hawk.
I just rewatched the fight. I was extremely conservative, and only counted the low blows that I could clearly see.
I counted 31, and the actual number was almost certainly higher.
And I think what is crazy is that Mora never threatened to take a point away from Mares; he warned him a few times, and that’s it.
I thought after the first warning, the ref is supposed to start threatening to take points away; not in Mora’s world.
An awful lot of Mora’s actions were, to put it mildly, incomprehensible. There were so many low shots that, had rules been enforced, Mares’ point total after the fight should have approached negative numbers.
The stunner, of course, was that 11th round “KD.” Mares’ glove did hit Agbeko’s glove first, but the fact is that Agbeko’s glove was already well below his beltline, so Mares’ shot was deflected from a clear low blow to an astoundingly low one.
I also want to bring up this claim by Mora that, from his point of view, these low shots were “at the beltline.” Referees aren’t, as far as I understand, simply guys who are handed a blue shirt and a bowtime and thrown in the ring; they are “trained,” aren’t they? If so, wouldn’t a significant part of training, after a review of basic rules, cover the whole matter of angular perspective and how to compensate for it?
Jim Gray did a great thing by confronting Russell Mora on it. It made sure that people understand that this isn’t “right” or “expected” and made it clear that Mora is going to be held accountable by someone for his bullshit.
Managing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 14, 2011 9:49 AM EDT reply actions
Jim Gray is a hack
Jim Gray handled that career with the same lack of professionalism that has marked his entire career. A journalist/reporter is supposed to ask tough questions — which Gray did — without exposing his bias — which Gray clearly did not.
Gray had NO business to conclude the interview with Mora by saying he was “way off the mark.” He also had NO business telling Agbeko that he hoped Agbeko received the instant rematch he desired.
A reporter’s job is to report, not to offer opinion or become part of the story. It’s not a question of “professional courtesy.” It’s a question of a reporter simply asking tough questions and continuing to probe without letting his personal biases show.
Gray is a hack. Always has been. Always will be.
This is a situation that called for a hack, in my opinion. People in boxing are given enough slack.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Aug 14, 2011 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions
Jim Gray is one of the worst of all time. James Toney put him on blast.
by Fausto Geraci on Aug 14, 2011 12:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I don’t think he is in the position of being a “reporter” there. He’s in a TV personality/analyst role which means delivering a product that informs and entertains the audience. He’s not a journalist in a situation like that. There’s nothing wrong at all in my mind.
Managing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
by Brent Brookhouse on Aug 14, 2011 1:07 PM EDT up reply actions
I have no problem with Gray’s questions; they were great. But I have a big problem with his lecture to Mora after the interview and his pandering to Agbeko, telling King Kong he hopes he gets the desired rematch. The bias was blatant in both interviews.
Would Gray’s interviews have been diminished or softened if he didn’t lecture Mora or kiss Agbeko’s ass? Not one bit. So why bother? Why inject yourself into the story?
it wasn't a bias; it was a reflection of reality
a bias is when you show favoritism. This was more a matter of being in possession of the faculty of sight.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
So telling Agbeko that he hopes he gets his rematch doesn’t show favoritism?
The IBF isn’t required to order a rematch. It should, if it has any sense of sporting ethics. But this is boxing, after all.
We seem to have different priorities here.
I believe this is a case where insisting on impartiality in the face of truth is a bad idea.
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
But this is boxing, after all.
Exactly. Which is why rough justice isoften the only justice you’re going to get—that’s why anyone willing to .make it happen is the hero of the moment, even Jim Gray.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
Yeah, really, why the outrage over Jim Gray’s tactics? This is entertainment, and when entertainment is tainted with something as awful as what happened this Saturday, it’s better to be active than to be “polite”. I applaud Jim Gray’s tactics and his editorializing. At least Mora was held accountable in the court of public opinion, even if no one else does anything.
Bob Arum would promote Lucifer himself if he could put asses in the seats.
I don’t care what Gray does or did the rest of the time (he’s never bothered me, really), he was just what the Dr. ordered last night and I give him every credit for putting that criminal ref on the hotseat and pinning him there. Thought it was great.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
You know, the more I think about this, I think that Mora can’t be corrupt because if you’re doing something illegal, you at least try to cover it up. It was so blatant, that I think there was something else going on. I think this was either gross incompetence, or something more sinister like racism. Now, I don’t take that lightly. It may have been a simple case of incompetence, but the bias was pretty glaring. Someone mentioned in another thread that Mora was the ref who DQ’d Peterson against Rios (I didn’t see the fight). Isn’t it interesting that when the Black man is the one throwing the low blows he gets DQ’d but when he is receiving them, HE gets warned for holding down his opponents’ head? Now, there’s really not enough there to establish a tendency, but it’s just something to think about.
Bob Arum would promote Lucifer himself if he could put asses in the seats.
That’s my point, Rick: Gray didn’t need to express that because we all thought that. He didn’t need to be an advocate for the obvious.
But Jim Gray never has resisted a chance to become part of the story during his entire career. He is the Geraldo Rivera of sports broadcasting.
Scott, how would have Gray’s interview been cheapened or softened if he didn’t interject his opinion? I have no problem with Gray’s questions. They were appropriate and stern. But interjecting his opinion both to Mora and Agbeko compromised his position as an objective journalist.
Then again, the phrase “objective journalist Jim Gray” ranks right up there on the oxymoron meter with “jumbo shrimp.”
I don’t like Jim Gray. Let me be 1 billion percent clear about that. I do think he’s a hack, I do think he’s smug, and I don’t like his work.
Bad Left Hook
"To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day..."
by Scott Christ on Aug 14, 2011 12:26 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d be surprised if anyone likes him. He’s like the Mike Wallace of boxing, but without the substance that accompanied Wallace’s insufferable self-importance.
I like him better than Max or Larry!!!
I would much rather listen to a Jim Gray post fight than Max or Larry. Gray calls it like it is and doesn’t care if Showtime or anyone else likes his point of view. Max and Larry you can tell are front men for HBO and only asks questions for the network and not the fans.
I understand your point. I would also mention, though, that Bernstein eventually went ballistic as well, he tends to be extremely judicious.
I understand that some commentators are also journalists, and I also understand that while acting as commentators, they should generally strive to be as balanced as they can. What I’m not sure I share is a belief that commentators are also, at the same time, acting as journalists. I think that the context is somewhat looser and more relaxed, and allows for greater expression of personal opinion, before the reporting goes to print.
Big difference between Bernstein and Gray.
Bernstein is an analyst on Showtime broadcasts — he gets paid to offer opinions. Gray is a ring reporter on Showtime broadcasts — he gets paid to interview and supposedly report news.
Gray needs to stick to the role for which he is hired. But his insufferable ego won’t allow that.
Fair point. IN that case, Showtime shouldn’t let him up in the ring for the post-fight interviews. Bernstein should do it, and Gray should stay in his seat and write it all down.
I don’t know if you’re trying to be flippant, but not every reporter works in print. TV reporters exist.
No, I was not trying to be flippant, and I apologize if it sounded that way.
Broadcast media are based on written copy also. What I meant was that a later TV, radio, or internet broadcast would need to have copy first.
Wow, nice lecture! Seems right out of a 101 textbook! Sometimes the “ideal” of a position or job is different from how it’s practiced! At the moment, pk500 is the one that sounds smug!
"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."
Talking about ideal, we had a boxer who threw no less than 21 low blows last night: http://www.boxingtalk.com/pag/article.php?aid=21980
Haha… the funny irony, and of course, Russell Mora should be held accountable his bad refereeing job:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joRLCP28_aA
5:02 , referee’s instructions! hahaha…
More jokes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_FT_kc0wyY&feature=player_embedded#at=268
I don’t see this person lecturing Max Kellerman with his biased “Did you not learn anything from the Campbell fight?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BFaC7y55Is&feature=related
"According to all the laws of aerodynamics the bumble-bee should not fly, but the bumble-bee does not know this and so flies anyway."
Jim Gray Was a Minor Hero Last Night
no matter what he is the rest of the time. He took the risk (or even exploited the opportunity—doesn’t matter) to hold a really awful, very wrong referee publicly accountable, and I’m glad. Sometimes bad people do good things—Jim Gray was all right with me last night.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
amen
Boxing writer: "Iran, what are you going to do when you retire?"
Iran Barkley: "Rob your house"
Mares said “please don’t ruin my moment” to Jim Grey. Well, it really wasn’t his moment, it was Russell Mora’s, and not in a good way. I can’t remember any fighter getting away with that many low blows without at least having a point taken away. Heck, “working the body” also means punching to the ribs and the chest…
This was not boxing this was WWE
The fix was in. It was a bogus 1st round knock down, it was obvious that he went down from a wild miss and was off balance. Then the 11th round was just down right bad. I had the same feeling that I had when I was a WWE fan as a kid and the good guy was about to get the win and then the “heel” takes something out off his shorts and hits the good guy over the head and steals the victory.
PS- Mares is a dirty fighter and should have been DQ last fight and this one. Everytime he got hurt he threw low blows. They had nothing to do with his head getting pushed down. King Kong should have threw low blows right back at his ass.
Mares is a dirty fighter and should have been DQ last fight and this one. Everytime he got hurt he threw low blows. They had nothing to do with his head getting pushed down. King Kong should have threw low blows right back at his ass.
Terse but well put. That’s it right there.
There is no safety in numbers, or in anything else--James Thurber, 1939
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanShots on Bad Left Hook
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
