Darchinyan loses to Abner Mares by SD.

Let's just define what a referee is. He is there to ensure that the rules of the game are abided by.
"Pulling rules out of his arse" is NOT a referees entitlement, & if he made that "rule", he would be withdrawn by the supervisior, but quick (& prolly dispatched to the rathouse)

Mate, I'm not talking about defending Vic or Ali or anyone else. I'm just addressing your argument about the extended arm being a foul.

There are enough rules defining what is legal there, but none of them address at what point a defensive/attack measure is considered a foul by extending the arm without a clear intention.
You can't say "If it's not there the referee can invent one" That can be determined as putting a fighter at a disadvantage, which in turn disqualifies the term referee.

If the protest, for example, is held before a tribunal under normal rule of law, precedence will apply.
I suspect a case of the referee putting an opponent at a disadvantage would be introduced. (In this case)
If there is no rule that defines a cocked punch, I.E. "At what point the arm is extended but is not used as a legal boxing tactic" then the extention is valid.

It may appear to be unusual, it may appear to be unsportsman-like or whatever, but the flip side is that the perpetrator is prepared to leave his chin & body unguarded. It's his tactic to gain advantage, It's the science of the risk-taking of the sport. It's professional boxing.

With a lefty, he's inviting his opponent to try a left rip. He pulls them into range & counters with a left hook. If his quick & accurate enough, he scores. If he's not, his liver could come through his arsehole.

In Vic's case, it's not always a range finder. Sometime he waves it around & off to their left.

I think this has become a gray area simply because some people just don't like it.

Personally I have no arguement with the decision, but I think the referee was over-active & inconsistent.
He was close enough to the action to smell their breath but he never got anywhere near enough to stabalising who was holding & punching etc. which are clearly defined fouls.

As I said, I'm not discreditng the decision but I am questioning the referee's mid-fight objection to an elite fighters historic style.

JMO

 

I thought Mares won the fight but i think the scorecards were a bit wide, thought there was probably only a round or 2 in it, not the 4 point gap (both ways) the ref who scored it 114-112 got it about right i reckon. Just don't think Vic had enough of a work rate when trying to load up the big head shots and that's where i think Mares nicked the fight.