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REST IN PEACE WILLIE PEP…BUT NO REST FOR LAURENCE COLE!
26 November, 2006 by Cliff Rold
SAYING GOODBYE TO AN IMMORTAL!
REFEREE COLE MARS SOLID NIGHT FOR B.A.D!
If the Association of Boxing Commissions is ever to be taken seriously, there should be no rest for one referee Laurence Cole. Nepotism or not, (**** Cole, Laurence’s father runs the commission) his license should be immediately suspended in his home state of Texas and he should be forced to answer for his actions Saturday night. It should be…that’s unlikely though so the ABC must step in. On a night when HBO Boxing After Dark, live from Hidalgo, Texas, was finally showing a compelling bout worth the fees they pay between Mexico’s Juan Manual Marquez (46-3-1, 35 KOs) and Jimrex Jaca (27-3-1, 12 KOs) of the Philippines,
DID YOU SEE THE REFEREE COVER HIS MIC?
Cole inserted himself in a way that questioned the credibility of the game. Late in the eighth round, following the third accidental clash of heads in the fight, he escorted a cut Marquez to his corner. Cole placed his left hand over the microphone on his lapel (but well within ear-shot of the boom mics) before Cole asked Marquez “Habla ingles (speak English)?” Marquez responded affirmatively. Before the MD was able to check the cut or ask Marquez if he could see, Cole informed him “You’re ahead on the scorecards.” WHAT?
WHAT WAS LAURENCE THINKING HERE?
This was wrong on so many levels it’s hard to fathom and begs serious questions. Let’s ask a few.
1) The referee collects scorecards at the end of a round but typically isn’t privy to the score of a fight so how did Cole even know the score? Did he actually know the score?
2) If he did know, what in the great blue hell was he doing telling a fighter he was ahead in the fight? A cut fighter can either physically continue to fight or he can’t. The scorecards are not supposed to be a factor. Can you imagine if Rocky Marciano had been told by the ref that he could stop after the 8th in the Ezzard Charles rematch? Was Cole was letting Marquez know that if Marquez wanted to stop, physically able to continue or not, then that would be okay?
DID COLE TAKE SHOT AT SPORT'S CREDIBILITY?
I could go on and on. If Cole was telling Marquez that he could end the fight, that ‘hey, you’re winning so don’t feel like you have to go on’ then Cole crossed a credibility line. Marquez was the ‘star,’ the ‘draw’ and the stock player for the show promoter Golden Boy Promotions. Fans in any sport know that stars sometimes get favorable calls. However, you would NEVER see a ref tell a wide receiver in the NFL to let him know when pass interference happened. Cole is supposed to officiate, not be part of the story.
COLE'S CREDIBILITY QUESTIONED BY HAUSER!
This is not the first time Cole has been the center of controversy. Laurence remains a constant question of conflict of interest in Texas because his father **** Cole is the boxing director for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. He also, by all accounts, is still one of the primary insurance agents for the sport (for more on this, see this great piece by the inimitable Thomas Hauser:Click here to read and then hit return to come back! This isn’t the first time a cut has figured into controversy with Cole either as he was the referee on a night when a nick to the eye of Jesse James Leija saw an early end to Leija-Mickey Ward in the Texan Leija’s favor. So one more question emerges:
3) Was Cole the insurance agent for the card Saturday night? If he wasn’t, this is still an egregious call. If he was...
ABC MUST SHOW SOME TEETH HERE!
All of these questions demand inspection and we can’t expect Cole’s Daddy to be the one to ask them. The ABC must intervene and no network or major card should go forward with Cole in the ring until it does. Fans pay their money to see fighters fight if physically able to do so. They have swallowed terrible decisions and lots of non-competitive bouts while still accepting the sport on that premise. If that now too is up for grabs, boxing is in worse shape than ever imagined. Cole should never again referee a boxing match until he explains what he was thinking, and doing, when he took it upon himself to advise Marquez that he was leading on the cards (with his left hand in my opinion clearly reaching to cover his microphone as he did).
24-KARAT NOTEBOOK...
THE VALUE OF MERCHANT: If you ever want to know why real journalists like Larry Merchant and Jim Grey are so valuable, ask yourself if they would have let Cole out of the ring without being interviewed Saturday? WAS CUNNINGHAM ROBBED? Haven’t seen it yet, but it looks from the cards like Steve Cunningham may have been jobbed in Poland for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk...ELEVEN IS NOT FIVE MAX! Oh, and Max Kellerman, you’re right that Manny Pacquiao blitzed Marco Antonio Barerra, but it was 11 rounds, not five as you kept repeating Saturday night. The five rounds you’re thinking of is the Barrera loss to Junior Jones. I can see the confusion. One is a ripped Filipino and the other a lanky African American.
26 November, 2006 by Cliff Rold
SAYING GOODBYE TO AN IMMORTAL!
REFEREE COLE MARS SOLID NIGHT FOR B.A.D!
If the Association of Boxing Commissions is ever to be taken seriously, there should be no rest for one referee Laurence Cole. Nepotism or not, (**** Cole, Laurence’s father runs the commission) his license should be immediately suspended in his home state of Texas and he should be forced to answer for his actions Saturday night. It should be…that’s unlikely though so the ABC must step in. On a night when HBO Boxing After Dark, live from Hidalgo, Texas, was finally showing a compelling bout worth the fees they pay between Mexico’s Juan Manual Marquez (46-3-1, 35 KOs) and Jimrex Jaca (27-3-1, 12 KOs) of the Philippines,
DID YOU SEE THE REFEREE COVER HIS MIC?
Cole inserted himself in a way that questioned the credibility of the game. Late in the eighth round, following the third accidental clash of heads in the fight, he escorted a cut Marquez to his corner. Cole placed his left hand over the microphone on his lapel (but well within ear-shot of the boom mics) before Cole asked Marquez “Habla ingles (speak English)?” Marquez responded affirmatively. Before the MD was able to check the cut or ask Marquez if he could see, Cole informed him “You’re ahead on the scorecards.” WHAT?
WHAT WAS LAURENCE THINKING HERE?
This was wrong on so many levels it’s hard to fathom and begs serious questions. Let’s ask a few.
1) The referee collects scorecards at the end of a round but typically isn’t privy to the score of a fight so how did Cole even know the score? Did he actually know the score?
2) If he did know, what in the great blue hell was he doing telling a fighter he was ahead in the fight? A cut fighter can either physically continue to fight or he can’t. The scorecards are not supposed to be a factor. Can you imagine if Rocky Marciano had been told by the ref that he could stop after the 8th in the Ezzard Charles rematch? Was Cole was letting Marquez know that if Marquez wanted to stop, physically able to continue or not, then that would be okay?
DID COLE TAKE SHOT AT SPORT'S CREDIBILITY?
I could go on and on. If Cole was telling Marquez that he could end the fight, that ‘hey, you’re winning so don’t feel like you have to go on’ then Cole crossed a credibility line. Marquez was the ‘star,’ the ‘draw’ and the stock player for the show promoter Golden Boy Promotions. Fans in any sport know that stars sometimes get favorable calls. However, you would NEVER see a ref tell a wide receiver in the NFL to let him know when pass interference happened. Cole is supposed to officiate, not be part of the story.
COLE'S CREDIBILITY QUESTIONED BY HAUSER!
This is not the first time Cole has been the center of controversy. Laurence remains a constant question of conflict of interest in Texas because his father **** Cole is the boxing director for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. He also, by all accounts, is still one of the primary insurance agents for the sport (for more on this, see this great piece by the inimitable Thomas Hauser:Click here to read and then hit return to come back! This isn’t the first time a cut has figured into controversy with Cole either as he was the referee on a night when a nick to the eye of Jesse James Leija saw an early end to Leija-Mickey Ward in the Texan Leija’s favor. So one more question emerges:
3) Was Cole the insurance agent for the card Saturday night? If he wasn’t, this is still an egregious call. If he was...
ABC MUST SHOW SOME TEETH HERE!
All of these questions demand inspection and we can’t expect Cole’s Daddy to be the one to ask them. The ABC must intervene and no network or major card should go forward with Cole in the ring until it does. Fans pay their money to see fighters fight if physically able to do so. They have swallowed terrible decisions and lots of non-competitive bouts while still accepting the sport on that premise. If that now too is up for grabs, boxing is in worse shape than ever imagined. Cole should never again referee a boxing match until he explains what he was thinking, and doing, when he took it upon himself to advise Marquez that he was leading on the cards (with his left hand in my opinion clearly reaching to cover his microphone as he did).
24-KARAT NOTEBOOK...
THE VALUE OF MERCHANT: If you ever want to know why real journalists like Larry Merchant and Jim Grey are so valuable, ask yourself if they would have let Cole out of the ring without being interviewed Saturday? WAS CUNNINGHAM ROBBED? Haven’t seen it yet, but it looks from the cards like Steve Cunningham may have been jobbed in Poland for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk...ELEVEN IS NOT FIVE MAX! Oh, and Max Kellerman, you’re right that Manny Pacquiao blitzed Marco Antonio Barerra, but it was 11 rounds, not five as you kept repeating Saturday night. The five rounds you’re thinking of is the Barrera loss to Junior Jones. I can see the confusion. One is a ripped Filipino and the other a lanky African American.
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