If you read the IBF rules, there is NO controversy. Bute won.

That's a stretch. Now suddenly the ref is crooked the whole fight? Let me ask you a question honestly:

If Bute HADN'T been knocked down in the 12th, would you still have been outraged at the ref's handling of the fight?

Or are you trying to simplly retroactively build a case against the ref to add legitimacy to your contention that Andrade was robbed of a KO.

 

I think this is a very selective interpretation of the officiating. Except for the bizarre leg grab early in the fight, I don't remember any strange or egregious behavior from Bute, or any blatant favortism from the ref. I don't remember hearing about it either (from the commentators). The only time I heard foul was after the final KD incident. And now suddenly people are claiming the whole fight was tipped in favor of Bute.

I really think you're looking for something that isn't there.

 

I at no point said that the rules were crap. I am not talking about changing the rules, I am talking about upholding all of them, not just abiding by some of them. How about making a fighter walk towards you to make sure he is alright? He was not alright. Not at 10, not at 23. The fight was on the line as well as Bute's reputation and he couldn't even take a step to give people a legitimate reason to think he could continue. Remember when Oliver McCall knocked out Lennox Lewis? He was walking forward to try and prove he wasn't knocked out. Now this isn't a debate about that stoppage but just an example to show that fighters who are OK will do anything to convince themselves and the world that they are OK. Bute had 23 seconds to move off those ropes and he didn't, which implies to me that he couldn't.

He was hanging on the ropes and made no attempt to get off them. He stumbled to his corner after 23 seconds for goddsake! He was knocked out. The Ref said he was out on his feet before he ever hit the canvas. Before he ever took that last punch. It was a miracle he got to his feet but he hadn't fought back in a long time and was as knocked out as anyone has ever been on his feet.

This was not my point. My point was that the ref continually looked over at Bute's corner while he should have been officiating the match. He's got a man on the ground at the end of a fight that cannot be saved by the bell and he is looking at Bute's corner? It's a pretty crazy moment to be looking at that fighters corner.

And he looked at Andrade initially as the rules allow, but when he turned back to Andrade after looking at Bute's corner there was no reason. None whatsoever. I'll say it again: You can follow the rules and not do your job. However i don't feel like he followed all of the rules he certainly did not do his job.

 

the truth is that even if the ref did the right thing, just the fact that he is from the same town as Bute gives the impression of corruption. It was a mistake to let a Montreal ref officiate this fight.

On a side note, people complaining about clinching are rediculous. Look at how much BHop clinches, Floyd Mayweather too, alot of fighters clinch alot. Even Ali used to clinch alot.

Andrade was also using his head alot. (kind of like Hopkins too) It was pretty bad. The ref let it go. Surprise surprise noone is complaining.

At the end of the day a fight like this cannot end without controversy.

 

Wow, your argumentative skills are pathetic. "The only time I heard foul was after the final KD incident". Were you in the living rooms of the millions of people watching this fight? How the **** do you know what people were saying about the referee before the KD controversy? You DON'T!!!! I was bitching about Bute holding in the first ****ing round. But since you didn't "hear me", then that means it didn't happen right?

You're other piece of evidence is that the commentators didn't say much about Bute being favored by the referee. Once again, WOW! Anyone who has watched any amount of boxing has heard commentators not call the same fight that everyone else is watching. Hell, there have been many, many different threads from knowledgable boxing fans on this site about biased and or incompetant commentating (Jim Lampley ring a bell?).

How about when the fight re-airs on Showtime you count the amount of times that Bute instigates a clinch and then come on this site and say there wasn't an egregious amount of clinching.

 

Another issue with the finality of this fight......
....Why did'nt the timekeeper ring the bell when time expired?

Replay shows that when Bute got up, the ref did'nt ask Bute to step foward or do anything....he just signaled for the fighters to fight.....then the bell either rung, or he realized that the fight was over.

.....but my point is that the ref was going to let the fight continue, even though Bute was in no condition to do so.
Bute could'nt even walk by himself to his corner for God's sake!

There alot of things that will probably be left unanswered, but another thing to ponder is that if the bell did'nt ring, even though the Showtime video shows the time expired, without the bell ringing, the ref could have called a halt to the fight deeming Bute unfit to continue.
Under this scenario, Andrade wins by KO, but instead, the ref was going to let the fight continue!


Does anybody here think that Bute should have been allowed to continue if there was actually more time on the clock for the fighter to fight?????

 

No way he should have been allowed to continue, because if the referee had done his job and had the fighter walk towards him, he would have seen Bute either fall down or not be able to walk more than one step at a time.

 

in an interview on the radio today Wright said that knowing there was no more time on the clock after Bute had clearly beaten the count, he knew that Bute's health was not at risk since there was no more time for Andrade to land any more punches. Therefore he feels that he made the right call by not stopping the fight after the knockdown because the fighter's health was not at risk.

 

i havent seen the fight yet but according to espn bute could not have been counted out so long as he found his feet..which he did.

again, i havent seen it for myself yet and i've only heard from you guys (and espn) how much trouble bute was in at the end....

 

But what you've presented here is no more convincing than what I wrote.

And in addition, you've taken it upon yourself to be insulting. That's not a great tactic. It only makes you THINK you won an argument.

Now, when i said I didn't hear much about the fight being improperly officiated before the KD in 12, I meant the following:

1) I didn't hear any complaints from Farhood or Charles, and I didn't notice any impropriety myself (Keep in mind that I don't know Bute from a hole in the ground. This is the first time I've ever seen the guy.) Considering both Farhood and Charles were both complaining about the conclusion, we can assume they didn't have a pro Bute agenda.

2) I also didn't read much complaining on ESB during and shortly after the fight. Only recently have people seemed to fill out ther arguments by claiming a grand conspiracy throughout the fight.

3) I myself did not notice any major problems with the officiating -- and I had NO dog in this race. I know and like Andrade, but didn't know Bute from Adam.

So that's what I meant by that statement, not that I didn't literally hear you. That would be a silly thing for me to say.

 

I know there was a ton of WTF, but those were regarding the stoppage. What I am saying is that I didn't notice any complaing about the officiating of the fight leading up to the conclusion.

As the day has progressed, people are now claiming to see favortism throughout the fight. I wonder if that's not just a flawed ending casting a shadow of conspiracy over the whole fight.

 

What a bunch of revisionist hogwash coming from Wright.....he did'nt know whether time had expired or not, as the replay clearly shows, he's signaling for the fighters to fight once Bute was up......at that point either the bell rung, or the timekeeper screamed at him end of round.
....but Wright is signaling for the fighters to fight with Andrade clearly in bad shape.

Why did Wright signal for the fighters to fight, if he knew that there was no more time on the clock?

 

techincally the rules state that he won, but everyone with a pair of working eyes know bute was out of there.