Bute beat the count... easily

Bute was TKO'ED 12

 

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VENyMfW16Vc[/url]

Here's the briggs Lyakovich fight. The ref waves it off before Sergei even tries to get up. I remember there was a lot of controvery surrounding this one too because the ref never gave him the 20 seconds to get back in the ring.

FYI: Its tough to tell by this video whether or not the bell rings when the fight is over or when the ref waves it off. But I think in most cases the bell doesn't ring until a ruling is made.

 

Personally, until we get someone in here to tell us wherther or not the ref could have ruled it a TKO or not after the bell I don't think we'll get a clear answer as to where or not what happened was the right call or not.

Personally, its probably somewhere in the grey area. **** just happens.

 

I think common sense should come into play in the last round. I have no problem with last night. I still have a problem with Chavez-Taylor and there was more time left in that fight.

I have no problem with subjectivity coming into play in the last few seconds of the 12th round.

 

Ok this is from the IBF bout rules (I will post a link below):

So I think this is pretty clear.

The ref had to count to 8 (rule number 2).

The ref had the right to stop counting if Andrade was not in his corner (rule number 4).

Assuming Bute went down after 2:52 (I don't know when that exactly happened) the fight should have ended after the count of 8 if Bute's hands were clear of the floor.

Based on the 'Referee section' the ref didn't have to end it if Bute was wobbly, because he could have decided that, given the amount of time left, continuing would not subject him to serious injury.

If you believe that - then there was no robbery.

Ok - a lot of things were at the refs discretion, but ultimately he was right. Bute was not seriously injured after he allowed the fight to continue.

The only way you can argue this was a robbery is to invoke rule number 1 and claim that Bute was 'hanging helplessly over the ropes as a result of a legal blow'. While I have some sympathy for this, I think it is difficult to claim he was 'hanging helplessly' - he did have his hands off the ropes once the ref got to 8...

 

And here's the link to the official IBF rules that I quote from:

[url]http://www.ibf-usba-boxing.com/userfiles/File/IBF-USBA%20Bout%20Rules.pdf[/url]

 

Thanks for the link. I think Briggs Lyakovich was an ok decision as well. Ok, Lyakovich should have been given the 20 count, but no way in hell was he coming back into that ring...

 

The ref did not make Bute take a few steps in his direction (as he is supposed to do in these cases), possibly because he knew Bute was out on his feet and the fight was fixed. Instead, the ref allowed Bute to lean against the ropes, and deemed him capable of fighting.

Is this a rule or is this just a thing most refs do, making the boxer taking a few steps in his direction? I mean from the looks of it Bute might be able to stand on his feet without leaning on the ropes, barely though...but i don´t think he would´ve been able to take a step without falling to the canvas...

 

Asking the fighter to take a few steps in his direction is not an official rule. It's good practice to check if the fighter is ok. Ultimately, however, the goal is to determine whether he is not going to get killed if the fight continues. So if there's almost no time to go, I think it's legit to let it carry on. And Bute was not destroyed as a result, which proves the decision was correct.

 

In my opinion, the hometown referee was biased. He let Bute clinch too much when it was to his advantage to kill the inside fight, and broke up the clinches when Andrade was roughing Bute up in the clinch. The referee also stopped the fight and gave warnings precisely when he thought Bute needed some help. He even let Bute get away with lifting Andrade's leg on the inside, to get him off-balance. Bute should have had at least one point deducted for clinching, I though. Then, there was the "long count" in the final round. It's hard to believe the referee didn't try to buy Bute some precious extra seconds.

Leaving the "long count" to one side for one second, during the last round, the referee stepped in every time Andrade was on the point of knocking Bute down, with Bute holding on for dear life. If the referee had been biased up to this point, at this stage, it could be argued that he prevented Andrade from winning the fight.

Towards the end of the round, Bute was out on his feet, in no position to defend himself, with Andrade going in for the kill. At this stage, the referee could have stopped the fight at any time. He was helping Bute again, but not preventing Andrade from winning, at this stage. The referee gave Bute the benefit of the doubt, allowing him to get knocked down.

Now, Bute was knocked down with 2 seconds left on the clock. Andrade was sent to the neutral corner. Bute was up on his feet within 6 seconds of the knockdown, so 4 seconds after the end of the fight.

You cannot be saved by the bell, and Bute certainly wasn't. He had to get up within a count of 8, after the knockdown, in order not to be called knocked out. Bute did better than that; he got up within 6 seconds. What the referee should have done then was to continue giving Bute a standing 8 count, before demanding that he take a step forward, to see whether he could stand up on his own two feet without falling down. If he couldn't, the referee should have called it a TKO. If he could, he should have gone to the scorecards.

The problem was that the referee didn't know that the round was over because the timekeeper had not signalled the end of the round with the bell. It seems the timekeeper made a mistake and went against the rules by stopping the clock when Bute went down, and restarted it when the referee restarted the fight. So, the referee, not knowing that the round was over, restarted the fight. The timekeeper waited another two seconds and rang the bell.

In conclusion, the reason for the controversy is a mistake made not by the referee, but by the timekeeper.

Would Bute have managed to take a step forward and keep his balance? We will never know. A rematch will not answer the question, but has to happen under these circumstances.

If you want to blame someone, blame the referee for giving Bute all the home-town advantages possible and blame the timekeeper for almost costing Bute a legitimate win.

So, to draw the line: With help from the referee, Bute made it into the last seconds of the fight, and beat the count fair and square...easily. The timekeeper was responsible for the referee's irregular actions from that point on. It was a controversial ending all-right!

 

The a-hole ref never gave him a chance to beat the count! The controversy is not just for the Andrade comeback KO. It would've been an awesome finish either way. I'm going to Motreal! **** this ****! Marlon has got to see me!

 

Yes, Bute was up by the count of 10. But if the ref didn't waste valuable seconds telling Andrade to get back in the neutral corner, the fight would of continued with probably 10 or so seconds left, and Bute would of been knocked the **** out.

 

I am afraid that is wrong. Bute went down with two seconds left of the fight. He then got up within 6 seconds and the referee would have counted to 8 anyway. The fight was long finished by then. Andrade would not have had a chance to KO Bute. Either he did when he knocked him down or he didn't. We will never know because the timekeeper made a mistake on the basis of which, the referee acted improperly.