Benn-McClellan: Why did the referee ignore Benn's illegal rabbit punches?

My suspicion is that McClellan was so heavily favored to win that the ref wanted to give Benn every possible chance to win in front of his home crowd.

 

It’s either this or the ref owned a beagle. Either way, one of my favourite fights of all-time. So good - on so many levels.

 

Yeah if you see the 1st round he kept getting in the way of McClellan halting his attack he made sure he did everything possible to help Benn survive that 1st round.

 

But the G-man was no saint.

 

I tend to look away from the rabbit punches-it s a fight and spur of the moment thing and it s rather hard to spot if not quite clear.It happens.

My problems is his evident interjections in the action in the first round-he was obviously buying time for Benn to clear the cobwebs.