ali and holmes held just as much, if not more then wlad, and always pulled there opponets heads down if you want to critcize wlad for excessive holding, go watch a couple ali and holmes fights you bloody hypocrite
Holding occurs in every single fight in the history of boxing. Some guys have mastered the use of the hold and the refs have never done anything to stop it! Why? Because it's impossible to regulate and has naturally evolved in Boxing. Wlad doesn't even hold that often. John Ruiz used holding to win titles, and that was the only way he won. How did people beat John Ruiz? They didn't let him hold, and that's what you do. You can't expect the ref to save the day.
To be fair Mormeck was running head first into Wlads chest for the whole first round practically, begging for the much bigger Wlad to lean on him, and the referee did warn him on multiple occasions. This isn't the biggest scandal in boxing by a long shot imo
If I were fighting Wlad I'd be throwing low-blows left and right. Fair play is fair play. Who's to say one continuously violation is worse than the other?
I'll ask again, are you saying it's legal? Holding once or twice a round is fine. Holding excessively, as Wlad did, is strictly against the rules. Tell me a fight which had more holding than the fight tonight did.
What was Mormeck trying to do in that first round though? He looked like he wanted Wlad to hold without initiating the clinches himself