Joe Cooper - Worst Referee Performance of the Year?

[P4P Opinion]

I can't think of a thing he did right.

* Pre Fight - takes more time shouting his lame catch phrase than giving instructions to the two fighters

* Round 1 - puts himself in a bad position and trips up Peterson.

* Round 1 - scores a knockdown against Peterson incorrectly.

* Round 7 - deducts a point from Khan having not given a hard warning about pushing.

* Round 12 - deducts a second point from Khan, again without a hard warning.

* All Fight Long - inconsistent with pushing. It's ok for Peterson to push Khan against the ropes. It's ok for Peterson to hold and hit Lennox Lewis style. It's not ok for Khan to push Peterson.

Peterson was awesome and I don't begrudge him the victory, but it's a real shame that those two point deductions decided the fight. The best referees are barely noticed, except in tough call situations, and Joe Cooper seemed to want the attention. Terrible performance.

[u.b.r.]

He let them fight on the inside. There were many warnings against the pushing. Don't act like the deductions came out of nowhere. Whether or not you agree with that rule being enforced so strongly, Khan was told many times not to do it yet he kept at it.

[PlayerKiller]

Pre fight I Did find him weird. I was like WTF.

Ok the first deduction I agree, the 2nd? Peterson also had his head in Khans body, and to me that isn't right.

What I found annoying was he would say break it up.

Sorry but you should say fight your way up.

Break it up sounds like break...

Also ue urged Peterson to keep his head up a lot, and Peterson kept his head low every round, so why no deduction?

[Danny Gunz]

He should have been more clear about the pushing for both guys

[Hougigo]

Not even, lol

[P4P Opinion]

He let them fight on the inside. There were many warnings against the pushing. Don't act like the deductions came out of nowhere. Whether or not you agree with that rule being enforced so strongly, Khan was told many times not to do it yet he kept at it.

All he had to do was take Khan to one side and warn him that the next time it happens he deducts a point. A good referee like Steve Smoger would have. The inconsistencies prove he wasn't just taking a hardline on pushing as well, neglecting the pushing Peterson did on the inside.

[Steak]

he was pretty incompetent, but not the worst. He let the fighters fight on the inside instead of having a heart attack every time they got close.

at least he helped make an exciting fight while ****ing up, instead of making a boring fight while ****ing up ala Joe Cortez.


and guys, Khan was pushing down on Peterson's head for long periods of time, not just quick shoves for positioning. Its a grey area in general, but theres a difference in what they were doing.

[ThePunchingBag]

Terrible ref.

There was one point where he said break it up, immediately followed by fight it out. Peterson was confused as I'm sure most would be, he glanced at the ref and caught a huge right hook from Khan.

There were a couple instances where this happened in reverse and Khan was the one taking the punishment for the refs lack of clarity.

I never want to see that ref again. That catchphrase in the beginning while they were touching gloves made me facepalm and I knew then what was about to happen.

[Young Money]

Russell Mora easily.

[bojangles1987]

Not even close. Russell Mora had the worst refereeing performance arguably ever.