Yes, this is one of his best attributes, along with great decission making and minimal interference (contrast this to someone like Cortez). But I wonder whether he would have let this fight continue if it was Maidana or Ortiz instead of Paulie. The punch which prompted the stoppage looked ridiculously harmless. It must have been the accumulation, coupled with Paulie's zero chances of scoring a KO. Perhaps considering the fighters chances of scoring a KO (thinking about context), is the correct thing to do when contemplating a stoppage.
Smoger did a great job in this fight. I love watching him work. He's there to referee, and seems to know exactly how much to get involved or, more importantly, how much to 'not' get involved. Guys like Joe Cortez, who seem to think the crowd is paying to see them and not the fighters, need to take a page from his book. On the other hand, I'm not quite sure about the several kisses he planted on Malignaggi's shoulder while he was walking him back to his corner after he stopped it.
He should've warned Khan for pulling Malignaggi's head down and getting him into head locks. Other than that Smoger did a top job as usual.
there's a BIG difference between what smoger does and what cortez did that night. cortez was breaking them before they even giot close. it would have made for a much better fight if smoger rwas the ref for hatton/pbf.
