Abner Mares, the majority decision winner over Joseph Agbeko that gave him the IBF Bantamweight title and Showtime Tournament crown should thank referee Russell Mora. It was another low blow for boxing, as bad and obvious as the low blows Mares administered to Agbeko. However, boxing won?t investigate the outcome like baseball did last year when umpire Jim Joyce ruined a perfect game for Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga with a blown call in the ninth inning.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission and IBF, the official sanctioning body, were notified by the Agbeko camp that they will file a formal protest about the referee and outcome. Mares said he would offer a rematch, something Agbeko rightfully deserves. For now, though, boxing is once again under scrutiny and with another black eye. And no other sport follows this path because the regulations don?t permit outcomes like this to come under immediate investigation.
And not like Joyce did, offering an apology to Galarraga, Mora, will remain silent. His only comment came in the ring when Showtime commentator, Jim Gray interrogated Mora and asked for an explanation. Gray stands for no nonsense and his years of interrogating athletes, Pete Rose and his gambling issue with baseball come to mind, made Gray a hero with boxing fans. Because Mora was nervous, could not answer the questions, and this referee knew he made this fight into a mockery.
Mora, the Las Vegas based referee was defensive, but obviously questioning himself at times when Gray confronted him. ?The punch that I saw was a fair punch,? he said about the most severe of the dozen or so low blows of the fight that Mares hit Agbeko. The one that has the boxing world buzzing was the apparent low blow by Mares in the 11th round. And there was the questionable knockdown that was ruled for Mares in the first round.
Abgbeko could have won the fight. The final two rounds could have made the difference, but Mora took that from him. Not to take anything away from Mares, who may not be able to get away from his low blow punching if he has to defend his newly won title against Nonito Donaire, the Philippine native who many consider to be in the mix as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters as a bantamweight.
To his credit, Mares, realizing the controversial outcome, said, ?I?m open for anything. And I?ll fight anyone. If they want to do a whole tournament again, let?s do it. I?m here to fight.? His manager, the veteran Frank Espinoza Sr. commented that a rematch was warranted. And by all means, Espinoza had to say that. Mares had a rough time handling the right hand of Agbeko and a more competent referee in the ring Saturday night could have meant the title staying with Agbeko.
So instead of writing about how good of a fight this was, not in fight of the year consideration, we are centering the attention on a referee. The boxing skeptics are talking again and those who stay away from the sport look at this controversy and remain skeptical. You heard words about Mora being on the take, the old saying about the referee taking a bribe. Not so, this was just a case of an incompetent third man in the ring and had nothing to do with boxing politics.
