Ian John Lewis and Terry O'Connor are worse imo. Just openly corrupt. (Not that Bayless wasn't awful)
What was with all the open hand surrendering gesturing of Bayless throughout the fight, he looked like someone being threatened.
His positioning was also terrible, he almost got clattered into on 3 or 4 occasions. He lacked authority throughout. And it was, as you mentioned, both ways. The extra time for Ramirez after the knockdown, the unwillingness to take a point when the holding was excessive... had he taken a point in round 2 or 3, and told them to tidy it the **** up or he'd be taking more, we would have ended up with an even better fight. In fighting is a fine art, a lost art in many ways, and it's because referees don't let fighters actually fight on the inside.
Yes. That was odd. The first knockdown was especially egregious. I though Bayless was going to give Ramirez time to take a shower and freshen up a bit before continuing.
Bayless has always been terrible plus he looks like a *** in there but the problem is that the other refs around arent any good either. The last good ref was Steve Smoger since then its been rubbish some are corrupt others are incompetents and some are both i cant even count the number of fights these clowns have ruined. Its rare to see a fight were the ref doesnt **** me if at one moment very very rare. Terrible era of refs although it has to be said that the previous ones werent all that either.
Was constantly too close to the fighters distracting them. Sticking his hands in there when they were fighting in close. Pretty much caused the 2nd knockdown by slapping Ramirez' arm away and giving Taylor the opening for that uppercut. Oh, and the mandatory 20 counts after the knockdowns. Why do refs now feel the need to dance the waltz with guys getting up from knockdowns? Classic example of a ref thinking the crowd is there to see him ref. Total clown
It will be exactly the same story in Fury vs Wilder III when Bayless gets the call for that, with him protecting Wilder at every available opportunity, ruling a few legitimate knockdowns as slips and deducting a point or two from Fury for non-existent low blows. It speaks volumes about the NSAC if they still view Bayless as their best referee and call upon him to be arbiter for their biggest fights.
They tried their best to rob Taylor. But Taylor is just too good they couldn't do it. He was against Ramirez, Bayliss, the judges, Bob the snake Arum, the mexican fans. And still he got the victory
What about Jack Reiss, who refereed Fury vs Wilder I? I like his calm authority and level-headed approach to fights. When he's refereeing a fight, you barely notice him, which is the mark of a referee who is doing a good job and letting a fight develop without feeling the need to interject himself when the combatants start to fight on the inside. Let's be honest: if Kenny Bayless had been the official for the aforementioned fight, he would've likely waved the fight off when Fury touched down in the final round without even taking into account Fury's ability to recover quickly from heavy knockdowns.
