Earth to Referee Marlon Wright: No One Paid To See You!

By Cliff Rold

Before getting to what was an otherwise thrilling fight, the one big negative in the ring on Friday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal needs to be addressed:

Referee Marlon Wright.

Certainly he had a tough job and Librado Andrade (27-2, 21 KO) supplied plenty of stuff to be warned for with liberal use of his head and elbows.  However, the illegal tactics went both ways and IBF titlist Lucien Bute (23-0, 18 KO), who held constantly, didn’t begin hearing serious warnings for it until the last third of the fight.  For most of the twelve rounds, Wright’s judgment appeared questionable and his officiating unquestionably one-sided. 

How bad was it? 

He blew a knockdown call against Andrade on a clear trip/slip in the tenth; warned Andrade following Bute enacting a clinch and lift of Andrade’s left leg; applied excessive quickness in breaking the fighters anytime Bute was buzzed and clinched but more relaxed about breaking when Bute was locking in headlocks…and that wasn’t the worst of it. 

In round eleven, just past the halfway mark, Andrade landed a hellacious left hand.  Sweat exploded from the head of Bute and his body reeled beneath him.  He did the sane thing and reached to hold while Andrade looked to find room for the blow which could deposit Bute on the floor.  Andrade swung Bute around in the corner and Wright called a break to warn him.  No problem there…but the break resulted in a lengthy admonishment allowing Bute close to 15 second recover time.  It was clear Bute was surviving with the seconds ticking towards the twelfth.

The twelfth would have greater controversy of its own.  Andrade was well behind on points; it was obvious.  With both eyes swelling shut though, it was Bute who looked the part of whooped.  In the final minute, with his knees wavering, Andrade piled on punishment wherever he could.  At the :37 mark, Andrade landed a left hook and Bute clinched, Andrade eating three more lefts to the temple as Bute held his right arm.  Wright yelled break, pushing hard on the chest of Andrade and holding him at arm’s length for a solid two or three valuable seconds.

Andrade landed another series of rights and lefts, chasing a flailing Bute across the ring and Bute clinched again.  Wright broke them at the eight second mark but was out of position, standing directly in Andrade’s path on the right side as Andrade was forced to move through him to get to Bute for what would need to be a miracle blow.  With two seconds to go, Andrade landed that blow, a right hook that dropped Bute like a log in the corner. 

To his credit, Bute was up at what would have been eight, but he couldn’t stand straight and leaned over the top rope.  Wright didn’t see it because he was busy making sure Andrade was standing exactly where he wanted him to in the neutral corner, which Andrade was near in the first place.  It was the strictest enforcement of the rule seen applied perhaps since Dempsey-Tunney II.  By the time he returned to the count, at least nine seconds later, Bute could at least stand straight up and the question of whether he could have declared himself fit to continue within a normal count was gone.  Wright’s assertion after the bout that he didn’t feel Bute could have beaten the count without what he saw as the need to harshly warn Andrade didn’t decrease the certain chatter among fight fans.

There is no question Bute deserved the points decision, but controversy in a town that operates as home turf can dog a fighter long after the final bell.  Good for fans; it’s the sort of dogging rematches are made for.

Let’s go to the report card.

Speed:  Early on, Bute’s hands were blazing, his southpaw right jab snapping out and setting up hard combinations.  While the grueling bout slowed him down late, his ability to zip his hands through the holes Andrade gave him kept him in the bout and halted momentum.  He employed his speed intelligently, locking Andrade up on the inside and using breaks to rest his feet and the geography he wanted with Andrade at range.  Andrade, slower, established a well-timed right lead in the third and used it to create room for his harsh left hook in capturing the fourth and fifth rounds.  Bute’s likely sweep of the sixth through tenth showed off his own timing and ability to adjust.  Pre-Fight Grades: Bute B+; Andrade B-/Post-Fight: Same

Power:  As noted in the pre-fight report card, “Andrade has the lower knockout percentage but may be the harder hitter.  And, as noted, Andrade throws hard all night.”  That’s what the world witnessed in a nutshell.  Andrade ate some hard shots but walked through them.  Bute caught him every bit as clean as Yusuf Mack did in dropping Andrade last year but to lesser result.  As the fight wore on, Andrade resembled the man he’s often compared to, Welterweight Antonio Margarito, as his relentlessness and willingness to hit any piece of flesh available wore Bute down.  Had he done more to go to the body, and less head hunting, perhaps he wouldn’t have needed to sweat the final thirty seconds.  Bute showed real grit in standing for as long as he did, and Andrade showed off again the heaviness he carries in both mitts.  Pre-Fight Grades: Andrade B+; Bute B/Post-Fight: Same

Defense:  Bute showed some solid head, foot and upper body movement early but as fatigue set in the bulk of his defense became stall tactics.  They were smart if not endearing to those beyond the adoring local masses.  Andrade blocks with his face too often but was effective at taking away Bute’s right hook, smothering it with wisely, highly held left glove.  By the end, this was a war so what does that say about defense?  Pre-Fight Grades: Bute B; Andrade C+/Post-Fight: Same

Intangibles: Opinions about the end of the bout will lead some to disparage Bute.  It would be a mistake.  He showed guile (and knowing when to hold is often just that) and guts on Friday night.   In rising at all from the floor, he also showed pride and will to win.  Bute was in the toughest fight of what is to date only a 23-fight career and, if he learns from the night, could well become an even greater force at Super Middleweight.  And, it’s important to note, he did win at least eight rounds straight up.  For Andrade, what more can be said?  He’s the type of warrior fight fans fall in love with the sport for, proof that athletic talent is not always the best judge of a fighter.  He is what some in Boxing call a ‘truth machine,’ able to expose the line between a good and very good fighter.  Bute was good and left the ring battered; a year ago Mikkel Kessler was very good and remains the best fighter in the division after the exit of long reigning champion Joe Calzaghe.  Andrade told fight fans the truth about both fighters and is a sort of truth every time he steps into the ring.  Now, if only he’d be willing to double the jab just a little…   Pre-Fight Grades: Andrade B+; Bute B+/Post-Fight: Andrade A; Bute B+
 
As emotions cool, the role of referee Wright and debate about the carrying out of his duties will continue but for a reason: because the fight was damn good.  If it wasn’t, the controversy would fade because no one would care to see a rematch.  This bout begs for it.  Whether Bute’s handlers would be keen on the idea in any immediate sense remains to be seen. 

What also remains to be seen is whether Bute could be seen as vulnerable enough for a bigger money option.  Kessler (40-1, 30 KO) defends his WBA belt on Saturday in Germany.  The massive crowd Bute brought in at the Bell Centre, easily one of the best and most consistent crowds in the sport and God Bless the Montrealites for it, could turn into a massive mixed Euro/Canadian crowd for a Kessler-Bute unification.  Could enough TV money be generated for such a bout?  Speaking with Kessler’s handlers earlier in 2008, Bute wasn’t seen as a primary option but near defeat against a man Kessler handled for all of twelve rounds could change minds. 

No matter what happens, Bute and Andrade kicked off the post-Calzaghe era at 168 lbs. with a massive bang and were, as fighters, a credit to their craft on Friday night.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com