Lucian Bute vs. Jean Paul Mendy RBR

I'd say in this case the blame is 50-50.

Navarrete is leaning in against him and bowing down to almost invite the push-downs, but Cote is also blatantly pressing him from above.

 

Round 5

Cote flicks his jab, missing a lot but just using it to set up his right hand. A good right thrown out of a crouch stuns Navarrete a bit and makes him stumble a bit to retain his balance before recovering. Cote wasn't close enough to capitalize. Navarrete spoils and clinches between spurts of wide circling. Glancing left hook by Navarrete as he comes hopping into a clinch.

Cote secured himself the round with that big shot early. His work rate after that kind of sucked, and he almost gave it away.

10-9 Cote

50-45 Cote

 

Round 6

Cote (who they say was competing at super featherweight two years ago for the Canadian national team, explaining his slight build at light welterweight) is still allowing Navarrete all the comfortable distance he wants, just circling with him and trying to catch him in a lull with quick lateral scrambles to create an opening but only really pecking with that long jab and right hand without stepping through. Navarrete is watching and feinting. Cote exploits a moment's drop in the guard by kicking out his lead leg and landing a NICE left hook. It wobbles Navarrete a little. Clinch until the end of the round.

60-54 Cote

 

I can certainly understand that. It's the round that Navarrete has the best argument for so far, despite his brief round trip to ***** St. :good

 

Round 7

Cote hurts Navarrete once more with a flash of speed using that nice left hook, but again fails to follow up. He seems to get the memo a bit late, throwing some fast uppercuts about twenty seconds later after Navarrete had already cleared the cobwebs and gone back to spoiling. They come together and lean chest to chest, both working the body as Cote powers him to the ropes. Once they get there and flop together the referee calls for a break. Cote misses a jab as Navarrete pulls straight back, but steps through to score with a nice quick uppercut to the body. More clinching.

70-63 Cote

 

Round 8

Cote reaches with some body shots, not getting much through. Navarrete is backing away with his hovering guard, keeping his waist drawn back. Nice right hand upstairs by Cote as he runs in. Clinching. Uppercut by Cote before getting grabbed. Navarrete is strong enough to keep Cote's arms down but is getting completely overpowered in the shoving match, with Cote consistently carrying him across the ring and roughly hauling on his arms to get free. Cote misses one of those big left hooks, throwing it a bit slower than he did before. Wild flurry by Cote misses. Navarrete lands a 1-2. Suddenly Navarrete is coming alive offensively, in the final ten seconds. atsch

 

Decision:

80-75?
80-73
80-71

all for Cote.

WTF? Those should all be 80-72. Obviously none of them gave Navarrete a round, so how did they arrive at such diversity? 8 rounds to none, simple math.

8 x 10 = 80 for Cote.
8 x 9 = 72 for Navarette.

The first two judges must have given some even rounds, and the third one must have given Cote a 10-8 at some point.