Javier Fortuna knocks out Abner Cotto in comedy of officiating errors

Javier Fortuna remained unbeaten tonight despite a sloppy fight with Abner Cotto and a downright comical performance from referee Lou Hall, who was officiating his first significant fight in a career that dates back on BoxRec to just July 2013.

Let's get the facts of the fight out of the way first. Fortuna (26-0-1, 19 KO) hurt Cotto (18-3, 8 KO) early in the first round and early in the second round, but Cotto did make a bit of a stand, which included a called knockdown in round two. The trouble is that the knockdown was clearly the result of shots to the back of the head from Cotto, and though Hall called the knockdown officially, he also took a point from Cotto for the knockdown.

Later, Cotto laid in with some low blows, and at the end of round four, Fortuna threw a late shot that missed completely. At this point, Cotto's trainer ran into the ring and told his fighter to hit the canvas, so the Puerto Rican slowly lay himself down, at which point Hall decided to take everyone's word for it and issue a point deduction from Fortuna.

In round five, Fortuna had apparently decided that he was done playing with referee fighter, and finished Cotto off halfway into the round with a knockout.

As for Lou Hall, let's not be too harsh. He's inexperienced and may have just been nervous on this bigger stage. This may not have been the biggest fight for boxing fans, but this was a Showtime-televised 10-rounder with a contender in the ring, not some four-rounder at The Belvedere in Elk Grove. Maybe Hall will get the chance to make up for a poor performance. Some good referees have had terrible nights at the office.

Fortuna landed 105/302 (35%) total punches, including 17/94 (18%) jabs and 88/208 (42%) power shots. Cotto landed 46/144 (32%) total shots, including 10/37 (27%) jabs and 36/107 (34%) power shots.