Mercante Jr. sets a bad precedent

What Mercante, Jr. did set a bad precedent for refs faced with a future decision. Mercante, Jr. admitted post fight that he did not know who threw in the towel. Before the towel incident, Foreman was clearly injured and 1) should have been given the chance to be examined by a ring-side doctor and 2) should not have been egged-on by the ref to fight by Mercante, Jr. saying "suck it up". A ref should keep his emotions to himself and should refrain from encouraging or discouraging either fighter...this is the job for the corner. Foreman initially looked like he was really hurt and admitted post-fight he was, but Mercante, Jr. by trying to encourage Yuri to fight, convinced Foreman to continue on. Foreman was clearly injured and his whole advantage of lateral movement was clearly gone. And regarding the towel...Mercante, Jr. said he was unsure who threw in the towel. He should have clearly found out who it was before he decided to continue on with the fight. At post fight, we find out that Yuri's cornerman DID throw in the towel, effectively stopping the fight. It was fortunate that Foreman was not seriously hurt subsequently or else we could be discussing how irresponsible Mercante, Jr. is.

Comments (20)

alonsomosely

He never asked the cotto corner to mop the floor. That would have been important

15y ago

KO79

The end result was favorable for the fans watching the spectacle but I'm not a fan of his style. He should tone down the act. It's not an audition, Artie.

15y ago

Pugilistic

I thought Mercante did a great job last night. The rules stated that only the ref could stop the fight, and he chose to let it continue after the towel came in. Also include that he asked Foreman multiple times if wanted to continue and Foreman wanted to keep going. Foreman was clealy affected by his knee but he wasn't getting badly beaten up till and even after that point so i thought it was a good decision. I really like Mercante as a ref. No bullshit sort of ref.

15y ago

Devils_Advocate

Co-sign............... I agree as well, it was a bizarre situation but Merchante definately knows how to control a situation in my book, he called time removed everyone from the ring including the commissioner and asked Yuri if he wanted to continue. Can you imagine if Jay Nady would have been in that situtation, he would have DQ'd Foreman and reminded the masses why boxing is supposedly losing it luster. Instead everyone left feeling they got their moneys worth and Foreman left with a bigger fan base and a guarranted return to HBO despite only having 8KO's not bad. The kid has heart

15y ago

Blooper

no he isnt. he's usually an overbearing, over-involved, heavy-handed ref, but he did the right thing this time. he gave yuri a chance to fight for his title. good answer. we're talking about the job he did on this fight alone. not what our opinion of him as a ref based on his history.

15y ago

Siggy

He is the best ref in the buisness no he isnt. he's usually an overbearing, over-involved, heavy-handed ref, but he did the right thing this time. he gave yuri a chance to fight for his title.

15y ago

AddiX

Smoger is a fans ref, he understands the fight is for the fans entertainment. Mercante did a hell of a job imo, people were pissed when they thought the fight was over. Mercante just went down in my book as a damn good ref. This is boxing, there is to much training and build up to a big fight like this for a guy to just quit. People spend their hard earned money to go to these fights.

15y ago

Blooper

mercante was within his right to do what he did. in his judgement, yuri was still fighting his ass off and granted his knee was a problem, it wasn't a life threatening one. don't you ppl like to say "fought like a champ?" well that's what the ref gave yuri a chance to prove. now he's getting bashed for it? did any of you notice how close mercante was to the action after his call? same as bayless in the pac-cotto fight in the later rds. he was literally on top of both fighters waiting for that moment where if yuri was hurt and showed that he really had nothing left he would step in. mercante had complete control of the situation and not every ref in the biz would have the guts to do what he did. props to him.

15y ago

_v_e_t_

walk it off walk it off http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=395514

15y ago

Frighteous

walk it off walk it off

15y ago

Mr_Philadel

the ref acted like he had some major bread bet on this scrap.....I've NEVER seen a ref tell a fighter "I won't let you lose like that" :nonono:

15y ago

OhMane24

Mercante Jr. didn't do anything wrong, he allowed Foreman to go out on his own. Foreman was the Champ and Mercante Jr. did the right thing buy not letting a championship fight end that way.....Foreman still wanted to fight, and Mercante Jr. allowed him to continue, great job by Mercante Jr.

15y ago

AKATheMack

I saw absolutely nothing wrong with what he did. They give him the authority to decide when the fights over and he didnt feel like it needed to be stopped. I say props to him for showing the balls to stick up for what he actually felt.

15y ago

jrosales13

Both Smoger and Mercante Jr did a great job last night. And, the suck it up comment. He did the same thing with Cotto-Clottey. Where Clottey started complaining about his leg. Mercante said "suck it up like a champ." Or something like that.

15y ago

King_of_Sting

I found it disrespectful to Yuri's corner, especially to the head trainer of Yuri Foreman who actually throw in the towel. In essence, Mercante actions communicated to Yuri's trainer that he didn't know his fighter and that he is ill equipped to exercise proper judgement as it relates to Yuri's ability or inability to fight competitively. Yuri's knee brace isn't a fashion statement or decoration and his head trainer knows more than anyone whether the fight should be stopped or not. Knowing when to stop a fight is just as much of a trainers job as it is to do padwork and build strategy. That man (head trainer) critiques Yuri's performance for 3/4 hours everyday, who is Mercante? I agree. And when the fight continued, we also saw that it was only a matter of time. I mean, it made no difference whether the towel was thrown or not. The fact is, Yuri no longer had the ability to perform 100%. There was no purpose for the fight to continue only to endure more physical damage.

15y ago

pelonxsoldier28

I don't think he did the wrong thing at all though. The corner should have consulted with someone ring side. Then the doctor or whomever should have stood on the ring apron and waved the fight off to the ref. But I'm glad he let Yuri go off on his own terms. It was good for boxing in my opinion. Even though most people probably won't know, cause like in the post I just made ESPN did a horrible job of covering the fight, so mainstream fans won't reall yknow exactly how it went down. Co-sign...............

15y ago

lee_majors

15y ago

alonsomosely

The corner cannot stop the fight dude in NY, get it?

15y ago

intoccabile

The corned did say they did throw the towel. But in NY the law is that only the ref can stop the fight so makes no difference if the corer throws a towel or not. However Y's corner should have been step up to force to stop the fight Merchante Jr is a horrible ref, already 1 boxer Beethowen died in 2001 under his ref-ing/ He remained vocal as he should have. You guys don't seem to understand the rules of the sport. Yuri could have quit, Merchante ASKED yuri if he wanted to continue and he granted him the wish. He wasn't going to stop it unless Yuri was legitimately knocked down at least (which is what he waited for). Yuris corner could have stopped the bout at any time after the round, and they decided to let it continue. You're pointing your fingers at the wrong people.

15y ago

mrdeewill

Bad Precedent? Why? He was using his authority as a referee to allow the fight to continue. Foreman was exchanging though he might have been on the short of the exchanges, he was not hurt. He allowed Foreman time, the doctor's allowed him to continue. Him losing his advantage of lateral movement advantage is not an excuse to stop the fight. In Mercante estimation Foreman wanted to fight, could fight and was not taking extraordinary punishment. In my opinion, his stoppage was kind of crappy, as soon as Foreman hit the mat, he waved it off, like he assumed his knee buckled again, he didn't even count. If you're going to let the guy continue, count him out. Tha was a punch that floored him not the injury.

15y ago