Last night on sky sports news I saw a short interview with the chairman of the British boxing board who stated "There wasnt anything wrong with the stoppage" "I re watched the fight and the scorecards were correct,Apart from the 1st round you could have given either fighter the share of the other 8 rounds" Now seriously what hope is there atsch
Thats worrying on many levels.. It could mean either: That the board have been bought off by Eddie. (I doubt it) That the board are incapabale of self review and critical analysis That the board dont want to give the world of boxing the impression we dont how to score a fight (Despite much evidence to the contrary but this i feel or want to believe is nearest the truth) That us fans and boxing pundits/fellow boxers cant score a fight The result was beneficial to British boxing from the Boards view (not sure how but there is a chance) Irrelevant of a ref/judges actions they will support them publicly, though the story behind closed doors maybe different (doesnt appease those who dont agree but is often a tact employed by bosses) I really hope they dont genuinely believe it wasnt bs in terms of a stoppage and they are still scarred by Eubank and benns fights when it comes to stopping bouts. However a lot of the reasons are above are more political than fair reasons and i hope internally they are are not carrying the same message.
Has Smith been taking lessons from Sepp Blatter? Don't expect fairness from a self-regulated boys club like the BBBofC.
Given that British refs are known for early stoppages... well yeah, you could see it as a normal-ish stoppage. Will some of the fans keep saying, "better too early than too late"? That's the wrong attitude imo. The right attitude is-- refs need to learn the correct point to stop fights. Boxing is a brutal sport. Fighters accept the risks, or they certainly should accept the risks anyway. If you are too protective, then you ruin the sport as a spectacle, and you create controversy over unfairness as we have just seen. We will not see so many great fights happen, if all it takes to get a stoppage in the UK is e.g. one knockdown and then a (mostly blocked) flurry of punches. I remember the Murray/Thaxton fight, and there wasn't even that. It was just stopped for no reason at all. Basically, I want the sport to be more brutal as it used to be. Of course the counter-argument will be, "you have to protect the fighters".
I can understand the guy using the safety first card with the stoppage but what was more of a concern listening to him was how he stated clearly that the scorecards were "fine" and after watching it back you could have given either fighter either of the rounds from 2-9 which was just MINDBLOWING
Looks like Groves himself could be in hot water over what he has said post fight also What a bunch of rotten crooks http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/boxing/article-2513394/George-Groves-faces-punishment-corruption-blast--Jeff-Powell-exclusive.html
U have to understand Robert Smith will allways say he agrees with a early stoppage. Look at the Perez fight the British board will allways side on caution. I do actually like Robert allways calm and collected. If I could ask him a few questions would ask him if he felt the ref positioning was wrong. What does he think about ref cam. Then 8 count rules could they be used in the future and finally the amount of people in the ring after the fight. Which I think Bunce was right about.
Man, the BBBoC must hate David Price. They could have easily counted Tony Thompson out of the second fight. He barely made it up by 10 ..... it was right on the line. I think the fact they didn't stop it as he expected made Price totally lose focus.
Shouldn't be that amount of people in the ring looked like getting nasty Board need to looki into it and take action. Something on those lines anyway. It was on boxing hour monday
Indeed. There is no hope for British boxing with these corrupt dinosaurs at the helm. It's sad to say but any good up and coming fighter should pursue a career in America. The quality of officials over here is appalling and these *******s are just trying to gloss over anything negative. According to them that farce was a "great advert for British boxing". I'm sure they're right. I bet Andre Ward and his ilk can't wait to come and put their titles on the line in Britain so that they can have them taken from them in farcical circumstances. Can you imagine? "I'm so glad the world class referee saved my career tonight. He caught me with a stiff jab and I just can't afford to take punishment like that in this sport".
I don't know why we don't just have 'Touch Boxing' in this country, most of our officials are clearly well schooled in such a sanitised version of the sport.