I notice that the commentary actually complains a little when a Brit gets stopped early in Germany. Normally, when foreign fighters get stopped early over here, the commentary team and pundits do everything to justify the ref! When do they actually speak out? I remember Barry McGuigan complaining about the Calzaghe / Manfredo stoppage. I remember Al Bernstein quite recently complaining about a Tyson Fury stoppage, but that's an American not used to our British ways! For the most part, commentary and pundits do **** all to address this problem. If anything, I think they are actually part of the problem supporting a lot of bull**** stoppages. Another thing, is that I don't believe stoppages should be being justified on the grounds of, "they weren't throwing anything back". As long as someone is still making a reasonable effort to defend themselves, then they shouldn't need to punch back. It's a bad principle, for one thing, because the smart thing to do in some cases is just to cover up, and try not to get hit clean. On the "you weren't throwing anything back" principle, fighters may be getting stopped for doing the tactically correct thing.
What do you suggest commentators/pundits do to "address" the problem? What powers over officials do you suggest they should have?
I don't think they should have "powers over officials". But they should stop defending bad stoppages. And they could be highly critical of refs that repeatedly do it.
I don't think they are that bad, on the whole. I can think of a couple of times when refs have stopped fights arguably a bit early and commentators have expressed a difference of opinion on whether they should have or not. I also think that most refs that do stop the action do so with the health of the fighter as the main priority. I'd much rather they stopped it a little bit too early rather than a little bit too late. It's a huge responsibility. I can't think of any refs that repeatedly stop fights early.
Calzaghe vs Manfredo is one of the worst stoppages of all-time. That took the term Brit stoppage to a ridiculous new low. The ref should've been demoted to officiating 4 rounders.
Those British stoppages in Germany lately really shifted attention on bad officionating from the US to them again. Certainly the way they screwed Sprott and Thompson lately and Danny Williams last year against Charr. Looks like Germans are thinking, "it's a British boxer so we need to have a British stoppage" :!:
The Thompson one wasn't as bad as some i have seen, although it was still pretty premature. I've seen worse.
I suppose it's easier to criticise a no-name Polish bloke than someone who you'll work next to every week. Funnily enough, considering their reputation, the most disgraceful performance by a Britref in recent memory was Ian John Lewis allowing Shannon Briggs to be beaten into a stay in intensive care by Vitali. It seems some of them just don't know the right time to step in full stop.
