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In what should have been Joshua Clottey's breakout performance against the future undisputed Welterweight Champion of the World and then WBC International Welterweight Champion, Carlos Baldomir, we saw instead another black eye, though largely unrecognised, for boxing in the form of a ridiculous, undeserved, disqualification loss, the first of Clottey's career (20-0 going into the fight) and one that put a tortuous halt on a stunning prospect that would see him have to wait seven long years before another title shot.
It was held in England, far from Clottey's hometown of Accra, Ghana and from the opening bell it was dominated by Clottey, who had pitched a shut out up to the time of the stoppage (the official scores all had Clottey up by four rounds or five discounting the point deduction). Two things were straight away noticeable. Clottey came to fight and take the title away from Baldomir and Baldomir came to hold and complain to the referee about infringements that were largely due to his constant holding throughout the fight.
What disgusted me was, while Clottey was trying to fight, Baldomir would straight away grab Clottey either around his arms or, which became the biggest cause of the headbutts, around the back of his neck with the left arm and this was only ever once brought up by the referee and that was at the very start of the fight sometime in round two. This would continue on undeterred throughout the entire fight without any more warnings and it would be Baldomir constantly complaining to a referee who, it seemed, either had absolutely no idea or was told to ignore any and all of Baldomir's tactics.
Something should be brought up here at the start, which is the way both guys fought, and was the primary reason, apart from the holding around the neck by Baldomir, that any head clashes became a problem. Clottey, like Hopkins and other defensive experts, throws his right and drops his head at the same time to avoid any counter shots whereas Baldomir fights with his head down and often straight out most of the time. This did cause head clashes, but what should be immediately obvious to any decent referee is that none of these are intentional and none were. What did cause the head clash and the cut over Baldomir eye was part of the same thing that had occurred throughout the night and was never brought up, which was whenever Clottey through a combination and tried to get in close for punching range, Baldomir would grab him which was, as aforementioned, either around each arm or around the back of his neck. This was the cause of the head clash, not an intentional head-butt by Clottey and certainly not something that warranted one point deduction and then immediate disqualification.
What was very apparent from the start was that Baldomir could not beat Clottey and I believe he knew this as quickly as Clottey did. Every time Clottey would try to engage he was pinned by his arms and as it became more apparent that the referee was not going to do anything about it, Clottey started to do the only thing he could, and that was try to push him off and throw punches with whichever hand could be freed.
What also happened at this time was that Baldomir started complaining about every little thing that happened. It was either a smart, calculated move designed to get the referee to ignore him and focus on Clottey's supposed infringements or simply the actions of someone who didn't have any other answers to what Clottey was giving him. Round after round Clottey was landing the cleaner, harder, more accurate punches and blocking the majority of shots by Baldomir. The one round that Baldomir did land anything significant, in the ninth he landed his only really solid shot which briefly stunned Clottey, it was still a round in which Clottey did the cleaner, better work overall.
In what should have actually been a very good fight, albeit dominated by Clottey, it instead turned into an affair that was marred by terrible refereeing and the complaining of the champion, even though it was himself instigating everything, who instead should have been trying to fight and win against an opponent who was simply much better.
What eventually stopped it in the eleventh round was a very minor head clash that was caused again by Baldomir pulling Clottey's head down and into himself as Clottey launched an attack and then as Clottey tried to pull his head up, which Baldomir had pulled into his own chest, he stood straight up into his chin. Baldomir pulled his head away as if to exaggerate something and the referee stepped in and stopped it.... ?
This had come after a round that had seen Baldomir's eye cut as he pulled Clottey's head into his own when Clottey had thrown a left, right combination and Baldomir had again tried to grab onto Clottey to stop him. The referee then deducted a point from Clottey and instead of warning Baldomir to stop holding and grabbing would go on to issue warnings to Clottey against something he really had no control over, unless he simply stopped fighting.
What should have stopped in round two with a few stern warnings to Baldomir for excessive holding and for clean fighting instead became a ridiculous and highly frustrating farce as Clottey would be issued with warning after warning for trying to fight against someone who desperately did not want him to fight and would grab, hold and complain to stop him. It also kept what should have been the new WBC titlist getting his rightful shot and a place among the best welterweights in the world for many, many more years as it would not be until 2006, nearly eight years later, when Clottey would become recognised after his dominant performance in a great fight over popular Diego Corrales in a brilliant exhibition of skill and hard fighting. He has since won his world title finally, but it has been long overdue and maybe too little, too late as the now 32 fighter is on the other side of prime.
Nonetheless, Clottey has now finally gained his reputation as one of the hardest, most skilled, and most avoided, welterweights of today and while he now holds an alphabet title for the first time in his career it should have come many years previous with a stunning performance over a fighter that would go on to get the biggest names in boxing after beating Zab Judah by unanimous decision, a fighter who was later broken down and stopped by Clottey, that celebrated his disqualification win as if he had truly triumphed as the better fighter when all he did was gain, undeservedly, the greatest lucky break in his life.
It was held in England, far from Clottey's hometown of Accra, Ghana and from the opening bell it was dominated by Clottey, who had pitched a shut out up to the time of the stoppage (the official scores all had Clottey up by four rounds or five discounting the point deduction). Two things were straight away noticeable. Clottey came to fight and take the title away from Baldomir and Baldomir came to hold and complain to the referee about infringements that were largely due to his constant holding throughout the fight.
What disgusted me was, while Clottey was trying to fight, Baldomir would straight away grab Clottey either around his arms or, which became the biggest cause of the headbutts, around the back of his neck with the left arm and this was only ever once brought up by the referee and that was at the very start of the fight sometime in round two. This would continue on undeterred throughout the entire fight without any more warnings and it would be Baldomir constantly complaining to a referee who, it seemed, either had absolutely no idea or was told to ignore any and all of Baldomir's tactics.
Something should be brought up here at the start, which is the way both guys fought, and was the primary reason, apart from the holding around the neck by Baldomir, that any head clashes became a problem. Clottey, like Hopkins and other defensive experts, throws his right and drops his head at the same time to avoid any counter shots whereas Baldomir fights with his head down and often straight out most of the time. This did cause head clashes, but what should be immediately obvious to any decent referee is that none of these are intentional and none were. What did cause the head clash and the cut over Baldomir eye was part of the same thing that had occurred throughout the night and was never brought up, which was whenever Clottey through a combination and tried to get in close for punching range, Baldomir would grab him which was, as aforementioned, either around each arm or around the back of his neck. This was the cause of the head clash, not an intentional head-butt by Clottey and certainly not something that warranted one point deduction and then immediate disqualification.
What was very apparent from the start was that Baldomir could not beat Clottey and I believe he knew this as quickly as Clottey did. Every time Clottey would try to engage he was pinned by his arms and as it became more apparent that the referee was not going to do anything about it, Clottey started to do the only thing he could, and that was try to push him off and throw punches with whichever hand could be freed.
What also happened at this time was that Baldomir started complaining about every little thing that happened. It was either a smart, calculated move designed to get the referee to ignore him and focus on Clottey's supposed infringements or simply the actions of someone who didn't have any other answers to what Clottey was giving him. Round after round Clottey was landing the cleaner, harder, more accurate punches and blocking the majority of shots by Baldomir. The one round that Baldomir did land anything significant, in the ninth he landed his only really solid shot which briefly stunned Clottey, it was still a round in which Clottey did the cleaner, better work overall.
In what should have actually been a very good fight, albeit dominated by Clottey, it instead turned into an affair that was marred by terrible refereeing and the complaining of the champion, even though it was himself instigating everything, who instead should have been trying to fight and win against an opponent who was simply much better.
What eventually stopped it in the eleventh round was a very minor head clash that was caused again by Baldomir pulling Clottey's head down and into himself as Clottey launched an attack and then as Clottey tried to pull his head up, which Baldomir had pulled into his own chest, he stood straight up into his chin. Baldomir pulled his head away as if to exaggerate something and the referee stepped in and stopped it.... ?
This had come after a round that had seen Baldomir's eye cut as he pulled Clottey's head into his own when Clottey had thrown a left, right combination and Baldomir had again tried to grab onto Clottey to stop him. The referee then deducted a point from Clottey and instead of warning Baldomir to stop holding and grabbing would go on to issue warnings to Clottey against something he really had no control over, unless he simply stopped fighting.
What should have stopped in round two with a few stern warnings to Baldomir for excessive holding and for clean fighting instead became a ridiculous and highly frustrating farce as Clottey would be issued with warning after warning for trying to fight against someone who desperately did not want him to fight and would grab, hold and complain to stop him. It also kept what should have been the new WBC titlist getting his rightful shot and a place among the best welterweights in the world for many, many more years as it would not be until 2006, nearly eight years later, when Clottey would become recognised after his dominant performance in a great fight over popular Diego Corrales in a brilliant exhibition of skill and hard fighting. He has since won his world title finally, but it has been long overdue and maybe too little, too late as the now 32 fighter is on the other side of prime.
Nonetheless, Clottey has now finally gained his reputation as one of the hardest, most skilled, and most avoided, welterweights of today and while he now holds an alphabet title for the first time in his career it should have come many years previous with a stunning performance over a fighter that would go on to get the biggest names in boxing after beating Zab Judah by unanimous decision, a fighter who was later broken down and stopped by Clottey, that celebrated his disqualification win as if he had truly triumphed as the better fighter when all he did was gain, undeservedly, the greatest lucky break in his life.
Ciminale Franco. Never heard of him.
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