Video is rubbish really. Wilder did get hurt badly and we all saw the referee give him extra time to recover at the beginning of the next round. This isn't something that no one saw happen, a new revolution on the fight or anything, it was heavily discussed at the time it happened and afterwards. Wilder was hurt, it was poor refereeing or the home fighter received some aid but Wilder didn't cheat himself, he didn't ask for a doctor, he got up to start the next round and the referee decided to have a look. Wilder did what he had to and when he was allowed to fight he did and he won in a very good fight. That was poor form the official but ultimately it isn't anything we haven't seen before, the money fighter always gets some perks.
There is a big hole in the theory that the ref saved Wilder's ass and it goes like this... If the doctor assessed that Wilder was in no condition to continue the ref would have acted on the advice of the doctor and awarded the fight to Ortiz. There is nothing wrong with referees using the expertise of a trained medical practitioner if there is any doubt about a fighters welfare. The 1st duty of the ref is the welfare of the boxers under his control. If doctors had been used more often there would have been at least some fewer ring deaths.
Yup, I was raging when the referee gave Wilder that extra time to recover. Just as I was raging the many times that Joshua has his tape deliberately come loose so he can get extra time when he is gassing.
Ha, good luck anybody coming back on that one. Thats a fair shout. Champions when on home turf get those little things in their favour. All of them.
