LAMBASTED LAURENCE COLE TELLS HIS SIDE
Dallas, TX-Although Cliff ?24-Karat? Rold wrote the piece that ripped referee Laurence Cole for his actions Saturday night on HBO?s Boxing After Dark, I will write the response. This is mainly due to the fact that I had a Monday afternoon conversation with Cole, this as ?24-Karat? was tied up on other matters. The charge made by Rold is that Cole, a veteran official, was beyond inappropriate when he told Juan Manuel Marquez that, ?he was ahead on points,? this as the fight was stopped in the eighth round pending the Dr. looking at a Marquez cut.
REF EXPECTS TO BE DISCIPLINED
Said Cole, ?I screwed up. At first I wasn?t sure if I had said it, as someone told me right after the fight. I didn?t realize what I was doing, I was dead wrong. I expect some action from the commission. I?m not making an assumption, but I think I?ll get suspended. And I deserve to. When I saw it for myself last night, I was shocked. I couldn?t believe I did that. There was no intention on my part to do anything that would negatively impact the fight. I?m sorry, what more can I say, I screwed up.?
WHAT ABOUT HIDING THE MICROPHONE?
When referees are discussing a fighter with a Dr., or in Nevada when Marc Ratner ruled the Commission roost, he had the referee cover his lapel microphone. And if you look at a lot of today?s referees, when they are talking with a Dr. or another official, some cover the mic. As a reporter, fan, and once a fighter, I can see the need for confidentiality at times. Las Vegas taxi baron and referee, Jay Nady, the big man refuses to wear a microphone for television.
COLE HAS DETRACTORS, BUT HE HAS CLASS TOO!
Rarely do regular people, let alone boxing officials, rarely do they come clean about things. How many times has it been said, the cover up was worse than the act? Well, Laurence Cole surely didn?t have to come clean. But the fact that did so and admitted a God-awful mistake, I think that shows character and class!
