Worst refereeing I have seen in years (spoiler)

[Old bones Ian]

Just watched the Mares v Agbeko fight, and the referee Russell Mora missed over 20 blatant low blows by Mares, he even called a full bloodied low blow a knockdown against Agbeko in the 11th.

What made it worse was he kept warning Agbeko for pulling the head of Mares down , I have never seen such inept reffing for years.

Mares won on points, but the amount of low blows landed should of cost him at least 2 points, the only shining light from the fight was the fact that Agbeko hardly complained about having his balls punched all night, the ref would of probably DQ'd him if he had.

Russell Mora shouldn't ref a title fight ever again.

Mora even said in an interview that he thought all the punches were fair punches. Disgusting

[crusader]

It was one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a ref.

[crusader]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsMO1uv82Fc

Mora's interview from 3:45 on.

[Old bones Ian]

I gave the benefit of the doubt to the ref for the 1st round knockdown, as sometimes they are at the wrong angle to see clearly what happened, and also Agbeko didn't complain when he was being given the count.

Mares should give Agbeko a re-match, but probaly won't as he can move onto a super fight with Nonito Donaire, also the low blows in this fight might come back to haunt Mares, as from now on every ref is going to be watching those body shots from him so closely. And that may effect how he fights.

[GlobalBox]

Got to be honest guys it was a dreadful perfomance from the referee and I am afraid it has to be considered it may have been more than an off night.

It was blatent from the first bell, warning for imaginary pulling down every time Mares went low, to take the focus off Mares low blows, the slip in the first round (that was ruled a kd) that you can almost guarantee would have been ruled a slip if it had happened to Mares.

The endless low blows that were ignored, the low blow knockdown, it was awful to watch and how Agbeko must be feeling after battling back from a bad back injury to be had over like that.

This game of ours has over many many years left me almost speechless with some of the poor decisions, this time its left me speechless in the sense that this was not down to the judges, they did what they had to do, given the position they were put in by the referee.

One word of praise would go to Jim Gray the ring interviewer who suitably told the referee his fortune in no uncertain terms and almost finished his interview with a silent just f**k off, as he headed over to Agbeko totally full of rage at the injustice he had seen.

[crusader]

You missed the obvious slip in R1, too.

He (Mares) was credited with two knockdowns, both of the bogus. The knockdown in R11 (or was it R10?) from the low blow came when Agbeko was winning the round, so if the judges scored that 10-8, which they probably did, that's a 3 point swing. You can add another point on to Agbeko for the earlier slip.
The cards themselves were;

113 - 113
115 - 111
115 - 111

Should the knockdowns have been officiated correctly the scores could have been (depending on scoring during the second "knockdown");

112 - 116
114 - 114
114 - 114

Majority draw. And that's without any point deductions, two of which would have seemed reasonable to me, though you could argue for three.

Yep, if Mora had done his job properly the result would have been different. Agbeko would not have been ruled down at any point (which means he wins the 11th), and Mares would have been docked at least 2 points. If these modifications had been made on the scorecards then Agbeko would have won, and even if Mora had counted the first round knockdown and deducted only one point Agbeko would have managed a draw.

There needs to be an immediate rematch; not only due to the controversial nature of the bout, but also because it was an entertaining and highly competitive bout (which is being adumbrated by Mora's ineptitude).

[Jon Saxon]

Just watched the Mares v Agbeko fight, and the referee Russell Mora missed over 20 blatant low blows by Mares, he even called a full bloodied low blow a knockdown against Agbeko in the 11th.

What made it worse was he kept warning Agbeko for pulling the head of Mares down , I have never seen such inept reffing for years.

Mares won on points, but the amount of low blows landed should of cost him at least 2 points, the only shining light from the fight was the fact that Agbeko hardly complained about having his balls punched all night, the ref would of probably DQ'd him if he had.

Russell Mora shouldn't ref a title fight ever again.

Mora even said in an interview that he thought all the punches were fair punches. Disgusting

Worse that Tilman?

[Final round]

A despicable performance. I can't get my head around it, is he corrupt?, incapable of doing the job...or partially blind.
I think somebody had a little word is his ear before the event

[Old bones Ian]

Just watched the Mares v Agbeko fight, and the referee Russell Mora missed over 20 blatant low blows by Mares, he even called a full bloodied low blow a knockdown against Agbeko in the 11th.

What made it worse was he kept warning Agbeko for pulling the head of Mares down , I have never seen such inept reffing for years.

Mares won on points, but the amount of low blows landed should of cost him at least 2 points, the only shining light from the fight was the fact that Agbeko hardly complained about having his balls punched all night, the ref would of probably DQ'd him if he had.

Russell Mora shouldn't ref a title fight ever again.

Mora even said in an interview that he thought all the punches were fair punches. Disgusting

Worse that Tilman?

Tilman is/was inept. And is probably inept in anything he does outside of the ring.

There was something else with Mora last night

[bfchunk]

Just seen this. Absolute shocker. Remove both knockdowns (OK 1st is arguable) and result would be different. Mares should have lost a point at least too, which would have given it to Agbeko.

REMATCH!!!!

[Jon Saxon]

Just watched the Mares v Agbeko fight, and the referee Russell Mora missed over 20 blatant low blows by Mares, he even called a full bloodied low blow a knockdown against Agbeko in the 11th.

What made it worse was he kept warning Agbeko for pulling the head of Mares down , I have never seen such inept reffing for years.

Mares won on points, but the amount of low blows landed should of cost him at least 2 points, the only shining light from the fight was the fact that Agbeko hardly complained about having his balls punched all night, the ref would of probably DQ'd him if he had.

Russell Mora shouldn't ref a title fight ever again.

Mora even said in an interview that he thought all the punches were fair punches. Disgusting

Worse that Tilman?

Tilman is/was inept. And is probably inept in anything he does outside of the ring.

There was something else with Mora last night

I am only at the 3rd round and I am shocked Ian.

Surley this must be called a no contest? with an immediate rematch ordered?

How can someone be so bad at their job?

[Old bones Ian]

Worse that Tilman?

Tilman is/was inept. And is probably inept in anything he does outside of the ring.

There was something else with Mora last night

I am only at the 3rd round and I am shocked Ian.

Surley this must be called a no contest? with an immediate rematch ordered?

How can someone be so bad at their job?

I bet your swearing at the computer by the end of the fight

[MightyWarrior]

Didn't get the impression he was in any way corrupt ( not sure why ) just a bit incompetent, or had a very off night.

For instance, the fact he thought Agbeko was faking some of the earlier low blows - and I think he was, some of those Bernstein were yelling about, where shown to be on the belt line on replay - probably clouded his judgement when it came to that TERRIBLE call in the 11th round.

But he certainly f****ed up last night that's for sure.

[Old bones Ian]

I did think Agbeko started poorly anyway, but i didn't feel he faked any of the low blows.
Seems he had trouble making the weight, so maybe that was the reason for his lethergic start.

[Jon Saxon]

I did think Agbeko started poorly anyway, but i didn't feel he faked any of the low blows.
Seems he had trouble making the weight, so maybe that was the reason for his lethergic start.

An I right in saying that the judges dont have to accept the refs low blow call when scoring a fight? I think I might be.
To be fair to Mares the ref let him away with it so he kept doing it.

I think the result could have went either way but i was plain wrong what the ref did, Agbeko should not have had his title taken from him last night but he did not fight a great fight.


The ref should be exiled though.

[witherspoon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsMO1uv82Fc

Mora's interview from 3:45 on.

Well done Jim Grey, I'd like to buy that man a drink.

[Scottrf]

Disgraceful.

[Deserter]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsMO1uv82Fc

Mora's interview from 3:45 on.

Well done Jim Grey, I'd like to buy that man a drink.

x2 some of the boys from Sky could take a leaf out of that book.

[allahsnackbar]

sadly, you would never see ed robinson asking those questions. they are questions that need to be asked though. the officiating was horrific. i felt so sorry for agbeko who was close to tears in this post fight interview

[Deno1986]

sadly, you would never see ed robinson asking those questions. they are questions that need to be asked though. the officiating was horrific. i felt so sorry for agbeko who was close to tears in this post fight interview

I really couldn't imagine the British refs or judges giving interviews post fight. Ed was fairly strong in his questioning when interviewing Robert Smith after the Cook - Burns fight.

[ArtOfWar]

It goes back to the Williams/Lara fight a couple of weeks ago. I said that it would be forgotten about a few days after and nothing would be done. The same will happen here. Lara isn't even getting a rematch as far as i'm aware and that wouldn't be enough anyway. The fight should have been changed to a no contest and the same should happen here. It won't be though, because this sport has no one in power to enforce anything like that. No structure whatsoever. It's just a quagmire of bulls**t.

[Jon Saxon]

sadly, you would never see ed robinson asking those questions. they are questions that need to be asked though. the officiating was horrific. i felt so sorry for agbeko who was close to tears in this post fight interview

No but Gary Newborn would get right fukin in there and ask him if he was paid off.

Get Newborn back asking the question he was hardcore.

[stujones]

Are we allowed to interview the ref? Something tells me its been outlawed in British rings. We have some very different rules when it comes to the media....another one being that the fighter has to be out of the ring to be interviewed - a good rule, as we don't want a media frenzy if another fighter is receiving medical treatment in the ring.

[Crease]

It was one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a ref.

I agree... Agbeko has every reason to feel hard done by.

[crusader]

Here's a summary of the bout. The last three seconds crack me up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mr4LIC6Bj4