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After rewatching the Berlanga Sheeraz fight, I felt as if the ref gave Berlanga an inordinate time to recover after the first KD. I didn't think this was a matter of intentional favoritism, rather he did the now common routine of having Berlanga step to his left, then step towards the ref, in order to check if he was okay.
I know this topic has been broached before, but this seems to be a bit overboard for me. I understand it is done in the name of fighter protection and safety, but this is somewhat in antithesis to the nature of the sport as is- the goal is to win and one of the methods of achieving that goal is to knock an opponent out, if you give the knocked down and opponent additional time than what is established by the rules to recover than you fundamentally alter the sport itself.
I get that there is more looking to be done to protect athletes in general and boxers are no different, and I am not asking to go back to the pre 1920s days where an opponent could just hover over a downed opponent. But can we get the ref to check that the fighter is okay while he is getting up from the knock down, and then if he is not good by the 10 count its a KO (as it was for about a century), as opposed to them now getting a count of about 15-20? Or is there no getting that genie back in the bottle?
I know this topic has been broached before, but this seems to be a bit overboard for me. I understand it is done in the name of fighter protection and safety, but this is somewhat in antithesis to the nature of the sport as is- the goal is to win and one of the methods of achieving that goal is to knock an opponent out, if you give the knocked down and opponent additional time than what is established by the rules to recover than you fundamentally alter the sport itself.
I get that there is more looking to be done to protect athletes in general and boxers are no different, and I am not asking to go back to the pre 1920s days where an opponent could just hover over a downed opponent. But can we get the ref to check that the fighter is okay while he is getting up from the knock down, and then if he is not good by the 10 count its a KO (as it was for about a century), as opposed to them now getting a count of about 15-20? Or is there no getting that genie back in the bottle?
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