I was watching the fight between Hearns and Benitez. In one of their exchanges Benitez ducks low, Hearns puts his arm over the back of the head. This happens for just a moment, but the referee takes notice and immediately deducts a point from Hearns. I couldn't imagine a contemporary referee doing the same since they tolerate far worse things. Old-timers, in your opinion has modern boxing become too lenient with tactical fouling/rule-bending ?
Well, it is very hard to determine was foul with intent or no. The same low ducking, of course boxer should not been hit on the back of his head. While it might happen and why? Boxer A starts to duck low, boxer B attempts to hit him until he didn't managed to duck it. If the punch is landed on allowed area while boxer is not below waistline it will be legit. F.e boxer starts to duck, punch lands on his chin or face. Fouls with clear intent: there too, it is A side, B side business ppl fight and not all things ref might see in real time so easily like in repeat if fight was close. Fouls in long row are different thing ofc and still, A and B sides does exist here.
Fighters are better and better at gaming the system (Hopkins "craft" is improved upon by a Ward type). Hand picked referees that more or less belong to a promotional outfit is also more common. Floyd has a fight coming up? Pick the ref that won't say **** about his use of the elbow. Klitschko has a fight coming up? Holding is fine, we'll break it up...etc I don't think the sport on the whole is any more or less corrupt than it used to be. Corruption is just more sophisticated now. Before where you'd have CJ Ross or Lawrence Cole style corruption, now you have something more subtle but more widespread.
I think this is overly pessimistic. Ward, Floyd, Wlad and Hopkins were all intelligent and dominant fighters. You can argue they may have benefitted from treading the line between legal and illegal on occasion but really what is new about this besides the fact that you can watch replays on YouTube now or go on the internet and find out additional details about the fight that were unavailable in the old days?
The old timers were allowed to stand directly over their Falken opponent. Once the fallen man was on 2 feet, the beating could commence. Don't think that would go over well today.
I think it's true, on the margins holding is allowed more than it was. It's never been a totally level playing field. Ali got away with a lot, Saddler too. I've heard people say, and it makes sense, that larger, HD TVs make it so close range inside fighting (and resulting holding) is more watchable. The other thing is that there are fewer knowledgeable boxing purists who want to see clean pugilism contests and more fans who just want to see two dudes fight.
I think referees today are very poor, very very poor. I hate the referees in the UK, I hate the BBBofC more, they are the real problem, regardless of what referees and judges do, they turn a blind eye. If the BBBofC were tough on incompetence but fair, insisted on consistency and a level playing field then the referees and judges would have to fall in line. But the BBBofC have made it clear, actually said it on film, they don't care what fans think, they know best.. I couldn't tell you the last UK referee or judge to be sanctioned by the BBBofC. I am not sure they have ever done it.
There’s an ongoing increasing trend of refs not allowing guys to work on the inside with Kenny Bayliss probably being the most notable example. A quick clinch break emboldens outside fighters to bend the rules because they get to reset to their preferred distance after a couple risk-free seconds of holding.
You mention Lawrence Cole & CJ Ross as being corrupt but what about the officials today. The referees & judges are being told what to do today & do it blatantly because they want to keep their jobs. The State Commissions totally ignore the "A" listersludicrous officiating because I truly believe theyre behind the majority of it One glaring example was Tony Weekes horrendous performance in the Ward/Kovalev debacle. Weeks totally ignored Ward's persistant low blows throughout the fight & had the nerve to stop the fight on the last combination he threw to Kov's testes giving Ward the win instead of DQing him. When the press questioned the commission about investigating it appeared Weekes had been sent to S Africa to give refereeing seminars & was unavailable ROFLMAO !! Guys c'mon do they think we are all idiots?? Well maybe they are right about the naive casual fans who STILL buy the blatant corruption today even though they know theyre being conned
