Terence wrote:pundit wrote:Terence wrote:Like it, lump it or loathe it. McClellan lost because he was not good/smart enough to win.
This is oversimplistic. McClellan did of course lose the fight (and his health) because of his inability to finish a stunned Benn off -- but Benn was much less stunned than he would have been had the ref officiated correctly. Would McClellan have KOed Benn IF Been had not been given also this extra recovery time? This is a matter of judgement, I personally have no doubt that the answer is yes -- given how Benn struggled in spite of all the gift time -- but of course noone can know the counterfactual for certain.
It's like a guy climbing a montain with a backpack. The regulation says the backpack should have a weight of 50 pounds, but someone manipulates it and puts 100 pounds in there. The guy fails to make the mountain top and has to abort the attempt. Did he fail because of the manipulation, or because he isn't good enough to climb the montain with a backpack? You say "definitely the latter", but what makes you so certain?
No it is not, especially given that I have contributed other posts on this topic and you only choose to reply to that one. Why launch a topic if you are unable to respond to most of the arguments against you? Would you throw a party and ignore your guests?
Well, first of all the one who doesn't read and reply to previous posts is you. All the points you bring up have long been discussed in this thread. You may not have bothered reading, which is OK, but then don't throw the mud you're sitting in on other people.
Did Benn get extra recovery time? You do generally get extra seconds if you go out of the ring. Benn had 18 seconds to recover. The ref actually got the action underway rather swiftly considering the circumstances.
No he didn't. Benn came back into the ring early, which was his choice - probably because he was stunned. Many stunned fighters signal that they're ready to fight too early and get knocked out.
But when Benn was back, the ref had checkd him out and both fighters were ready to continue, the ref delayed the fight for several MORE seconds. This is plain illegal. The ref also delayed the fight afte the next three clinches (all initiated by Benn) -- which is illegal too.
What you are saying is that Benn recovered so well that eight seconds (for arguments sake) turned the fight? Even though Gerald had a further two minutes plus to finish what you claim he had started? You say the ref killed the time when that is not the case, Gerald killed his own time.
Benn was down on the ropes and the ref was slow to get in and stop Gerald punching a striken man through the ropes. The ref actually put Benn in danger and Gerald took advantage of slack refereeing to tee off on a man whose hands were down, in fact one fist was practically scraping the canvas.
What then happened was down to Gerald, he tries to shove the ref aside at one point thereby wasting valuable time himself. Benn is warned a few times in the round for infringements, I trust that you feel that ref should have thrown rules aside and allowed McClellan to attack? In other words he should have stopped being a ref eh?
This is how you get it right: the ref should have followed the rules
and therefore have allowed McClellan to attack.
There is no rule whatsoever that a ref should delay the fight after the knocked down fighter is checked out and ready to cointinue. There is also no rule whatsoever that a ref should delay the fight after a clinch. This ref did both, and the secdon thing repeatedly. And of course only one fighter profited from this: Nigel Benn.
I now move onto other areas beyond this 18-second pivotal moment, it is like Douglas-Tyson all over again.
As for rule breaking, well Benn was ducking low but is that any excuse for Gerald to hold his head down with the left then swing with the right when he releases Benn's head? No. This move also lead to Benn stumbling forwards with a low stance with the result being excessive clinches. McClellan did not work the clinches and Benn did, that is not a foul. Plus the referee quickly broke the clinches and this favoured Gerald yet he did not make the most of this.
He broke the clinches (=legal), pushed Gerald back a couple of meters (=illegal), held him back again when Gerald wanted to come back in (=illegal), and thus gave Benn several additional seconds (=illegal).
So the clinching was a two-way street, especially as Gerald at one point went right hand crazy and did not throw the left after it, this, coupled with Ben ducking low, lead to Gerald falling into more clinches, again he failed to work them, looking for a quick break from the ref.
Gerald fell into clinches?? Seems we haven't seen the same fight. Benn clinched at every opportunity, and he was right to do so -- this is what stunned fighters do to gain time. Not right though was that Benn got even more time than he had asked for after each clinch because the ref found reasons to delay the fight further.
The silly analogy you use is nonsensical, the ref favoured both men at different times in the fight. Refs make little mistakes in every fight, this one was leapt on by fans who did not understand what was going on in the ring.
Oh boy, you talk about silly. The ref favored Benn massively when Benn was at the edge of being knocked out. This helped turn the tides in this fight, if it didn't turn the tides all by itself.
Sure, if you look long enough, you may also find situations here and there where the ref ruled in favor of McClellan, but none of this had a significant impact on the bout's outcome.
To suggest that both things would have been about equal is not only silly but delusional.
You babble about running hills and weight-laden sacks. Poor analogy.
Why poor?
Take it to the running track instead. Two guys are running a race, it turns out to be the 1500m race and Gerald ran it like it was a 100m race.
Now this is a poor analogy. It wasn't a 1500 meter race from the start. Here is how the analogy works: you can run the first 100 meters under 11 secs and you win (=KO 1). You can run the first 200 under 24 secs and you win (=KO2). And so on. If push comes to shove you need to run a mile under 4 minutes for victory (=decision).
McClellan settled for the 100 meter option, started off with blistering speed, and it seemed as if he would make it. But then ref placed all kinds of obstacles onto the racetrack, and because of these McClellan did not beat the clock.
That is why he lost, the result was always going to the same. Benn was better than him and if you put a guy through the ropes with 2:15 left in a round then cannot finish him plus blow a gasket in the process you are shit out of luck.
McClellan couldn't finish Bennoff BECAUSE the ref gave Benn plentiful illegal time to recover. This is the entire point.
Cheers,
P
