Smoger is great ! what do you want the ref in the Froch Groves fight ? :lol:
That's because Smoger is a classic sycophant. So many of these refs are. Smoger would have never allowed it when Jones was in his prime.
I think really Smoger is getting old near retiring & wants to feather his nest. Cast your mind back to Margarito- Cotto II when HBO showed Smoger giving pre fight instructions t o each fighter individually. He greeted Cotto with a big embrace & hugs all round. When he got to Margarito he was all business hardly even shook his hand. My grandson said " You can tell who he wants to win can't you"
I see what you mean about stopping the guy that is throwing punches but Smoger stopped that fight so half heartedly, he stopped it like it was a clinch and he was scared to get hit and because when he did that Tapia put his gloves down and looked at him (dazed and hurt but not out on his feet) then Kirkland got a free shot and Tapia was out on his feet
I'd say that Smoger is simply one of the old school referees who will let a fight go as long as possible and give a fighter every chance to fight their way out. Sometimes he goes too far with that and gives too much benefit of the doubt, which I feel is the case in Kirkland-Tapia. He could have been better when he jumped in to stop the bout, but really the whole thing was a cluster**** between the doctor, the corner, and the fight not being stopped sooner. Sadly, Tapia didn't do himself any favors either, because he would try to rally and come back every time I thought the fight was about to be stopped. At least Smoger was staying close to the action. I've seen refs who were practically out in the third row when a fighter is in trouble. Imagine if it was Tony Perez: [yt]L_ZkaM7NR5E[/yt] or Mercante Jr. (7:59) [yt]FfhLQ2QALW8[/yt] or this **** for brains scumbag from the REAL old school days. (5:45) [yt]OBIs09wpbIw[/yt]
That's probably because Cotto is a good dude by all accounts and Margarito is a greasy, cheating piece of ****. :deal
I do think the fight should have been stopped sooner, but Smoger has always hugged the guy getting stopped. Kisses em sometimes too. As for Kirkland, Smoger grabbed his right arm as he leapt in and hugged Tapia. He was putting himself between the 2 fighters. Kirkland got off that last shot, which was questionable, even in real time. I think it's on Kirkland more than Smoger.
The corner were to blame. You could see Tapia was spent before the final round. At one point he just wanted to close his eyes but his corner were like "open your eyes, come on suck it up!! look alive" just when the doctor came to have a look. I believe Smoger is one of the best refs out there but he misjudged the stoppage by a few punches yeah. Hope Tapia is ok; that kind of fight shortens (or halts) careers.
Though I did think Smoger's stoppage was a punch too late, the ref is not the only one with the power to stop the fight, the corner and or the doctor could have stopped it. In fact when Tapia's corner told him "show me a little pep" and Tapia just stared into space and wobbled as he came out in the 6th round, I believe his corner should have seen he had no fight left. You can blame Smoger for an untimely stoppage, but it should never have come to that, as Tapia's corner should have stopped it before then.
What you and so many others are missing is corners do this all the time. You can't leave it up to them. Hell, Abdusalamov's own family was right there in his corner telling him to keep fighting. It is up to boxing officials to make the prudent calls. That means the ref, first and foremost, and the doctor who examines the fighter between rounds in situations like this. Yes, the doctor should have stopped the fight but Smoger was right there and was way late on the call. Lastly, as a ref, if you are smart and on top of your game you take certain things into account. This means you know Kirkland is an animal, that he is going to try to kill the guy in front of him if he can. Second, you know Kirkland is left-handed, so when you go in to stop the fight you go in from Kirkland's left side so he can't get off another big shot as he did here. And, lastly, as I said before, you grab Kirkland so he can't throw any more punches. Smoger is an f'ing ***** who was afraid he might get popped himself. It made me sick the way he half-assed his way into stopping this fight. God bless Tapia. I hope the kid is OK. Too tough for his own good. Boxing is a tough enough sport as it is. The last thing these fighters should have to worry about is whether the ref is going to look out for them.
