By Michael Amakor | November 27, 2013
In Boxing, we usually have three blind as mice judges score fights so badly leaving a bad leftover taste in the mouth of the fans and savagely victimizing the losing combatant at the receiving end.
This time however, the culprit was the referee who stopped the explosive fight between Carl Froch and George Groves who knocked down the defending champion in the very first round and went on to win all the rounds before wilting in the ninth round and getting swarmed by the desperate Froch, leaving him momentarily defenseless which prompted the over-cautious referee to jump in and wave off the fight even though a furious and devastated Groves did not and was not in any real or apparent trouble.
As is typical in boxing tempers boiled over in the ring with a face off between the teams, and fans calling for the referee’s head while exclaiming that the fix was in. The only grim satisfaction for all is that Froch has unofficially conceded to a rematch from the resultant clamor, we can only wait to see if it will happen.
However just a few weeks ago some of these same critics where calling for the head of all the officials who oversaw the heavyweight fight between Magomed Abdusalamov and Mike Perez, that resulted in Magomed receiving a severe and seemingly one sided beating over 12 rounds that has left him in a medically induced coma presently, so sometimes in retrospect it is better to be safe than sorry.
“Mike Tyson – Undisputed Truth” premiered on HBO with the former heavyweight champion doing stand-up comedy and taking us through some of the highlights of his life delivered with a light hearted humorous candor that almost everyone enjoyed and which elicited rave reviews, so make sure to check it out.
Just a few days ago Manny Pacquaio returned after a long absence from the ring and dominated Brandon Rios in Macao, even stepping off the gas in the 12th round. His victory has inflamed previously fading calls for him to face Floyd Mayweather. Pacquaio has hinted he will return to the ring in April 2014, but the million dollar question is against WHOM – the world of boxing waits with baited breath.
Typical in boxing, and because of all the smoke from the Pacquaio/Groves fights most fans except Germans missed IBF cruiserweight Hernandez’s 10th rd knockout of his challenger, but we saved a clip for you on FB.
Please make sure to check our recently updated Cruiserweight, African, classic fights and our Hall of fame boxing pages and Hang on to your remote as there are still more (check) scheduled fights to close out 2013 with a bang. 11/27/13
As in September, I once again ran out of gas in the 10th & 11th championship rounds of October & November with this column, but I recovered to complete them and will unleash a few more flurries to close out the 12th and final round.
In the first week of October, Hassan N’Dam won a UD over Curtis Stevens in an eliminator for the right to challenge Jermaine Taylor who defeated aging Sam Soliman to regain the IBF Middleweight title. How Taylor even earned this title shot is another story altogether, but it is all irrelevant as he is now the champion. However he will not have too much time to savor his victory as he has assault and battery charges pending against him and an upcoming court fight that may turn out to be the toughest fight of his life, just when things started to look up for him in boxing, we wish him luck.
