Pretty hard to watch at times, should have been stopped a lot, lot earlier. This content is protected
I looked up that referee and there doesn't seem to be any kind of chastisement for his inactions. He just resumed getting plum assignments and had a 40 year career refereeing from everyone from Sugar Ray Robinson to Marvin Hagler. Amazing. Hate to say it was the sign of the times. Maybe I'll dig deeper
From a 1996 New York Times article: "The fight ended only because Collins's corner stopped it. Indeed, Rawson was counting over the fallen fighter at the time. Later, Rawson was to explain, 'I thought it my duty' to let the fight continue because it was a championship. Rawson was cleared of negligence by a Massachusetts commission, and Collins himself absolved the referee of any wrongdoing. But the bout, which was quickly dubbed the 'Boston Massacre,' prompted switchboards to light up at newspapers across the United States as viewers protested the brutality of the match. Joseph W. Martin Jr., the Republican Speaker of the House, said he supported a Federal investigation into the safety of the sport."
They certainly deserve their share, for sure. He'd been dropped about 7 times in 1 round and also walked to the wrong corner, he had no clue where he was.
You can’t judge past standards by the way things are viewed today. A fighter who could get up was generally allowed to continue. Some came back from hopeless situations to win. I know people act horrified about it now ... but at the same time look at how people question every stoppage today — when it’s their guy, that should be the exception, haha.
I think it's the corner's duty to stop the fight. They could have thrown the towel in or invaded the ring and stopped it. The referee was just following the old school principle, it a man beats the count in a championsip fight he's allowed to continue.
Collins had a reputation for being to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, having come off the mat to beat former lightweight champ Lauro Salas to get the shot, and having come from behind to beat Willie Pep. Think that might have worked against him in this case, because Rawson knew of his rep and as such gave him every possible chance to continue...and then gave him some more after that.
