Last night thousands of boxing fans both inside the venue in Las Vegas and around the world watched Golden Boy’s Abner Mares take on Joseph Agbeko for the IBF Bantamweight title. Those who watched the fight witnessed a referee who refused to do his job and as a result of that incompetence he put Agbeko’s safety at risk. Fans around the world watched Abner Mares hit Agbeko with a plethora of low blows with absolutely nothing done by referee Russell Mora to stop it. Round after round, low blow after low blow, Mora stood and watched and did nothing except warn Agbeko of all people for pulling Mares head down.
This latest black eye for the sport comes just weeks after the shameful New Jersey Judges ripped off a young Cuban in Erislandy Lara. The judges were suspended but the suspensions did nothing for Lara’s record.
Last night after Russell Mora’s butcher job in the ring he was interviewed by Showtime’s Jim Gray. Even with watching the replay, Mora had the gall to say that it was a fair punch. Gray stepped up big time and really pressed Mora for answers. The look of disgust on Gray’s face was priceless. Gray looked like he wanted to pick up the referee and throw him off of the top rope onto the scorers table. Gray represented not only Showtime, but he stepped up and represented the fighter who was put at risk (Agbeko) and he represented the fans who all watched one of the worst refereeing butcher jobs in the sports history. No softball questions from Jim Gray folks. He should be given some kind of an award for what he did last night. It’s refreshing to see someone like Jim Gray hold an incompetent so called professional responsible. He took Mora to task on national television and never let up.
A formal protest will be filed by team Agbeko on Monday. The referee (Russell Mora) should be banned from ever stepping foot into another boxing ring again. Standing around in a boxing ring and letting a professional fighter blast another professional fighter in the crotch for 12 rounds should earn you a ban from the sport for eternity.
It goes beyond just a boxing match and someone’s record. Letting a fighter hit another fighter with low blows for 12 rounds puts a fighter’s health at serious risk. Mora for whatever reason failed as a professional referee last night and due to his inability to do his job, he put a fighter at risk and he further blackened an already blackened eye on boxing.
