Ian John Lewis

[dookus]

Absolutely shít stoppage. Yes, Rose's legs had gone for the moment as he'd been clumped high on the side of the head, but a lot of fighters have come back from far worse. IJL is becoming - well, is - an embarrassment to the sport in this country and he needs to be quietly moved on.

[Boxerbeetle]

Rose was badly hurt, but an experienced referee, and Lewis is, would have realised that the round was coming to an end, it was the first round of a big fight, and both boxers were well prepared. We can argue about the stoppage, and I didn't see his personal friend and trainer making any motion to throw in the towel, but my point is that Lewis was in a complete state of panic and was unable to make an important decision. Please watch his reactions in the ring when Rose was first stunned. He was jumping around like a court jester -he'd lost the plot completely.
His scoring of the Hall fight was bizarre and not for the first time. He can't be trusted to referee or judge big fights.
Lewis is a decent man, I've met him several times, I also saw him box, and he was pretty good. I don't doubt his integrity at all, I think he just gets himself into a state at times and it effects his judgement.

Excellent summary of him. It's not like he just had an off night, he's got a ridiculous amount of form for this sort of thing. His stoppage in the first Enzo vs Ovil fight was exactly as you say above - IJL got himself into a panic, threw himself between the boxers & ended up stopping the fight because he didn't know what else to do.

[tony1234]

Watching the replay you could see IJL seemed shocked by it, he looked like a rabbit startled in the headlights

[palooka]

It went against what people imagined, I reckon the referred had an idea in his mind how the bout would develop and panicked when it unfolded as it did. Saying that Rose could have taken a knee and also the first Ovill v Enzo stoppage will never be beaten for amazement, maybe he was trying to outdo his best work?

[liamlion]

This is boxing. The referee has to give a fighter the chance to recover. Last night's performance from the referee was so poor.

Its just as well Nigel Benn's career never coincided with Ian John Lewis' referring career otherwise his fight record would have looked considerably different and he would not have ended with the particularly impressive legacy that he did.

[Sweet P]

With no standing eight count what is he supposed to do. Rose was badly hurt and would have been knocked out.
I agree he has had a few bad nights in the past as ref. That stoppage last night was not one of them.

You can't say Rose would have been knocked out you have absolutely no way of knowing that. It;s easy to say such things behind a computer screen but that is not a statement of fact. You might as well say a ref should stop the fight the second a fighter gets in the ring with Golovkin because you think he will get knocked out. Complete and utter nonsense.

You tell me how Bernard Hopkins was allowed to see out the last minute and a half of his fight against Kovelev when he was getting battered around the ring after eleven hard rounds and yet Rose was stopped in the first without even going down.

This is boxing not feather tickling. It's embarrassing to watch.

My opinion he was gone. No standing eight count. The ref has no choice.
Maybe the fact I work as a pro judge I see fights up closer. And have seen numerous times guys in the same position take 1 or 2 to many shots.

[ScottDetonator]

Terrible decision. This is boxing, guts and glory.

You can let lower tier fighters fight 3 x 3min rounds in one night, bust up, cut and bleeding before the semis/final fights even start but the minute the main event fighter takes a few shots you can jump in and wave the fight off? Rose didn't even get a chance to comeback.

Rose did turn slightly before the main assault from Jones and that did set the panic bells ringing but still, it's a big fight between two pro's. The end of the round was seconds away and Rose was still standing. IJL panicked and instead of letting the fight continue, his pride got in the way and he didn't want to look like he made a mistake, so he stopped it. He could've easily just stepped back and let it continue for the few seconds left.

Rose looked fine and after a minutes break, I'm sure he would've comeback firing. He did look to have the power to trouble Jones.

[Old bones Ian]

There's nothing stopping a ref from realizing his mistake and letting the fight continue, i have seen it a couple of times before. Obviously if your the fighter on the attack you might not be too happy if the ref lets it continue after jumping in.

[whiskey]

Shannon says Hi

[MightyWarrior]

Yeah another poor stoppage by IJL, You really can't trust him in a big fight , cause you just know there's a good chance he will cock it up. He panicked again.....to be honest, I think the main problem is he's very slow witted - not the brightest at all.

[gasman]

There was nothing wrong with that stoppage, he made a good call, he is there to protect the fighter in situations like that.

In that case then you would never have a classic bout again, might aswell scrap boxing all together and I will definitely stop watching is this keeps happening.

That's quite a stretch. These kind of stoppages happen all the time, although, unlike the last night, the opponent of the house fighter is always the one who gets 'stopped prematurely'. If it had been Jones who was stopped like that last night, there would hardly be a peep about it. I'd rather a fighter got stopped one or two punches early than late.

[bripez]

With no standing eight count what is he supposed to do. Rose was badly hurt and would have been knocked out.

This is a good point.

I didn't see the fight but to be fair the ref is in a very difficult position when this happens to the home fighter (it might not be fair to say, but I was one of the people who was shouting at the tv when Michael Watson was stopped (prematurely I thought at that moment) - but with hindsight ....).

Also, it must be the fighting spirit but I never understand why boxers don't take a knee as a tactical measure just to create some space and to give themselves a few seconds break.

[Old bones Ian]

I've now watched the fight, not the worst stoppage i've ever seen. Can Rose get back in the ring in a couple of months,? yes. This is the most important thing.

[Josh1111]

Poor stoppage but Rose was in a worse state that George Groves was in the first Froch fight, much worse. Shit happens

[ringtoneboxing]

and also the first Ovill v Enzo stoppage will never be beaten for amazement, maybe he was trying to outdo his best work?

First thing I remembered when IJL stopped Rose on Saturday. Truly shocking stoppage of Enzo, much more so than stopping a stiff legged Rose getting battered and returning nothing on Jones. Perhaps it's was a bit early but I've seen worse.

Glad to hear that Brian is going to carry on, there's no shame in dropping down to euro level - maybe he'll think Culcay is beatable?

[orbtastic]

I think I read something (BN?) last week where he said he's gone past domestic level and at European level it's often high risk for low reward as a lot of decent, unknown boxers compete at the weight. I'd be surprised to see him in for the EBU title.

[Tarkus]

That was not the worst stoppage I have ever seen. In fact it was a typical British premature stoppage. Remember Howard Foster and Froch Groves 1? Compare to that this was a beatdown. And head of BBBoC then said it was a good stoppage and ref did nothing wrong. You see where the problem is right?

[dalcumly]

The great Italian football referee, Colina, used to watch videos and read everything he could about the teams he was about to referee. For big fights the referees are appointed some days beforehand. Preparation like Colina's should be routine.

[orbtastic]

Conversely, you could argue that Maccarinelli's high profile stoppage defeats is what led IJL to jump in against McKenzie in their first fight when it looked like he was momentarily headed for another stoppage as his head was bobbing around, seemingly lost control.

You're not telling me he hadn't seen the Haye, Swaby, Lebedev, Olafabi losses and that absolutely brutal KO loss to Frenkel where that last burst of 3 punches were totally unnecessary and left the crowd simultaneously gasping, oo-ing, grimacing and head in hands.

It's like saying Paul Thomas (or any other referee) shouldn't have stepped in because Carl Thompson has a reputation for "coming back" in fights he's taking a steady drubbing in.


The referee is there to enforce the rules and protect the boxers from unnecessary punishment, and that shouldn't be based on a boxer's previous form or showings.

[Boxerbeetle]

The great Italian football referee, Colina, used to watch videos and read everything he could about the teams he was about to referee. For big fights the referees are appointed some days beforehand. Preparation like Colina's should be routine.

Collina was superb, really showed how officiating should be done. I read an interview with him a few years ago - once he knew he'd been appointed for a game, he'd even go so far as to visit the stadium in advance & do a few laps of the pitch to make sure he was comfortable & fully aware of the surroundings, just to make sure he didn't get surprised by anything on the day. As you say, he should have set the standard & similar preparation should be routine; but clearly he's still the exception.

[Datsue]

The referee is there to enforce the rules and protect the boxers from unnecessary punishment, and that shouldn't be based on a boxer's previous form or showings.

Also, FFS, fvck blaming the fvcking ref for this stuff.

Just like after the stoppage in the Andy Lee vs Korobov fight, I refer everyone once again to the great Kennedy McKinney, king of the "Fvck me, that hurt, I'm gonna take a walk, then take a knee & sort my shite out, then I'm gonna fvckin' do you, bruv" comeback.

Vs Ncita: took a shot, tried to walk it off, found he didn't have the legs, took a knee.

Vs Barrera: took about a billion shots, thought "Fvck this for a game of soldiers", took a knee.

Vs Junior Jones: Took a shot, found he didn't have the legs, took a knee.

Saying that referees should legislate/compensate for a fighter's defects/lack of nous is... a bit strange, imo.

[fightfaninfrance]

Rose did himself no favours at all. I'm sure IJL was looking for Rose to show some signs of defending himself like trying to run away, hold up on the ropes or cling on for dear life. Instead he did a poor dance routine for 10 seconds and left himself open to being clipped badly again.

Having said that, I still think it was a poor stoppage, another 5 seconds or so to see if Rose was going to compose himself.

Can IJL seriously say that he had no doubt at all that Rose was about to get badly hurt? Not sure

[whiteboy]

It was terrible. Not quite as bad as Enzo-Ovil but almost, it did not need to be stopped at that point.

[ste1983]

Premature stoppage in my view but not the worst by a long stretch.

Funny how Sky don't make such a big deal about it when its the away fighter getting stopped.

[TheCobra]

Ian John Lewis - how many more times? I agree it wasn't just that it was a premature stoppage, which I think it was definitely, it was the fact that Ian just looks so panicked, so out of control.

Refs need to be calm under pressure, like a good pilot of a plane in an emergency, they need to be staying calm even when the action is hotting up around them. IJL just flaps around and looks terrified, he should just step out of the limelight and do something else within boxing cos reffing is not his talent!

Rose should have been given a chance to see if he recovered his legs, as if you watch it back he didn't take many more flush punches he still had his gloves up for the most part, it was the second big stumble that did for him. Andy Lee did a similar, less goofy stumble against John Jackson and then chinned the fella.

Rose was obviously in a bit of a state but I just think these 'safety' stoppages are a really controversial thing in the sport right now, especially in UK, it's like our OTT health and safety culture is even pervading the sport we all love.