Hall Of Shame Referee Screw Ups

[- Ram Raid -]

A lot of the moments I wanted to post have already been posted, so I'll do one which sould have caused much more furore, Steve Smoger's blatant favouritism and unprofessional behaviour throughout Hopkins/Murat fight, at one stage, he actually shoves his hand onto Murat's face and pushes him away. Despicable and an absolute disgrace from a once well regarded referee.

"You alright Bernard?"

It's unfortunate really because before that fight I had a lot of respect for Smoger. There were certain fights that when you knew Smoger was officiating it would add to the event. Particularly those involving fighters that would get at each other, where they had good recuperative powers. You knew Steve wouldn't stop it prematurely when it got close to the line.

I'll still respect the man but that fight really rankles and whenever I think of him now that comes to mind. A little like Mills Lane as I said above.

There's an interview here that possibly gets close to the root of his favouritism to Hopkins. I can understand his emotional attachment but that doesn't excuse his actions that night.

Apologies for it being a link. I can't emmbed from my tablet.

http://youtu.be/b6l9xpTcnWQ

[The plunger man]

Froch vs groves 1 and the Refs stoppage was way premature....groves was miles ahead and Howard foster just jumped in he never gave groves any chance Richard Steele with tyson vs ruddock springs to mind. Big uproar...LEWIS vs MCCall ......LEWIS was up at the 6 count...Lewis was a little hurt but was not given the chance to defend himself as a champion..which I thnk every champion should have...the ref waived it off without even giving him the full 8 count....McCall was a don king fighter and LEWIS was literally frozen out for over 2 years and lewis went to the WBC convention in Mexico to petition for a rematch and all he saw was Don king arm draped over the refs shoulder the whole night...proper skullduggery going on

[Ray Corso]

The "rules" change from state to state and federation to federation.
New Jersey (Atlantic City) could have separate rules on an 8 count being used or not compared to New York (across the river).
One of the responsibilities of a chief corner is to know the rules in place where your fighting!
One of my favorites to have as a ref was Mills Lane, I didn't mind Capuchino as long as he let fighters "work out" of clinches. I had Smoger a lot when I worked at the Tropicana in Atlantic City, he was to busy at times.
I get a kick out of seeing Mike Ortega being hired all over the world now, I knew him when he was a kid. He's Gaspar Ortega's son and has become a solid ref. Sometimes not letting the fighters work out but so few refs do that now.
Ray

[billeau2]

Isn't there a rule that a fighter who is knocked down, tries to get up and hits the ground gaain is ruled as an automatic KO? I seem to remember this happening to Judah but I'm a bit flaky on the issue.

yeah me also...

[JAB5239]

I saw Cole ref recently and he manages to keep getting worse.

What fight was it where he was giving one fighter advice?

[soul_survivor]

"You alright Bernard?"

It's unfortunate really because before that fight I had a lot of respect for Smoger. There were certain fights that when you knew Smoger was officiating it would add to the event. Particularly those involving fighters that would get at each other, where they had good recuperative powers. You knew Steve wouldn't stop it prematurely when it got close to the line.

I'll still respect the man but that fight really rankles and whenever I think of him now that comes to mind. A little like Mills Lane as I said above.

There's an interview here that possibly gets close to the root of his favouritism to Hopkins. I can understand his emotional attachment but that doesn't excuse his actions that night.

Apologies for it being a link. I can't emmbed from my tablet.

http://youtu.be/b6l9xpTcnWQ

I'll give that a watch later but whatever the reasons, I agree, there is no place for favouritism in professional sport on behalf of the officials. I liked Smoger a lot too but that fight just gets at me. It was horrible.

[soul_survivor]

yeah me also...

Hopefully someone will know (I could do some google research but haven't got any time for that lol), however, I do definitely remember Judah coming up and then going down again.

[Scott9945]

What fight was it where he was giving one fighter advice?

That was Juan Manuel Marquez. Can't remember the opponent though.

[JAB5239]

That was Juan Manuel Marquez. Can't remember the opponent though.

For some reason I was thinking Rafael Marquez but couldn't remember either. Oh well.

[just the facts]

i'll always hate jay nady for stopping judah / tzuyu, didn't use any sort of discretion IMO. if that we're smoger, that fight would have gone on.

Are you kidding me? Judah was rubber legging all around the ring, with an absolute puncher like Tzuyu stopping it was exactly the right call.