Steve Smoger was a disgrace and should be retired

[Boxing Goat]

Smoger was sick and tired of Murat's antics and lashed out. Murat was a garbage fighter and kept punching after Smoger was breaking them up at least ten times. At the end of the fight, and one other occasion he intentionally tried to head butt Hopkins. At least he didn't DQ him. Smoger reacted out of character for sure but he's a top 3 ref in the world and doesn't need to retire. He just needs to leave his emotions out of the fights.

That said, the ref pushing a fighter back to his corner with his face is not acceptable and should at least be scolded publically and allowed to apologize for this.

[Boxing Goat]

The problem I had with Smoger is that even when he did see it, he wasn't interested. It seemed like he had so much respect for Hopkins, that he lost sight of his own neutral position. I think Smoger is one of the best, but he didn't have a good night.

Talk of retirement is wide of the mark though. If we retired a fighter, ref or judge every time they had a bad night we'd have none left.

Great post, well put.

[Derranged]

Hopkins is the matter of leading with his head.

[Luilun]

Hopkins is a master of fighting dirty without getting caught.

So is Floyd

[southpaw_07]

Murat said that it was like he was fighting 2 guys in the ring

[NachoMan]

The problem I had with Smoger is that even when he did see it, he wasn't interested. It seemed like he had so much respect for Hopkins, that he lost sight of his own neutral position. I think Smoger is one of the best, but he didn't have a good night.

Talk of retirement is wide of the mark though. If we retired a fighter, ref or judge every time they had a bad night we'd have none left.

I think Smoger's age is catching up to him though. He seemed indecisive and behind the action most of the fight. Based on what I saw last night I wouldn't want to see him in another major fight; particularly one in which he happens to be a fan of one of the fighters. Very unprofessional IMO.

[thuggery]

#BanSmoger

[IronDanHamza]

It's Hopkins to tell you the truth, a lot of what Murat was doing was in retaliation. Hopkins was hitting him low when Smoger was blindsided, Hopkins is also an expert at hitting his opponents during the break...all without being seen. Yeah it's messed up but admittingly those are some of the things I admire about Hopkins, he knows how to get into his opponent's head. Not only is he tricky at fighting dirty, he's quick to play victim. That said I really enjoyed watching Hopkins, his reflexes have slowed considerably and I think sooner than later he's gonna end up getting hurt, maybe even seriously hurt.

What about when he does it right infront of the referee and the referee watches him do it and maybe even throws in "Good job, Bern".

[-PBP-]

Hahahaha....Smoger told Murat "I'm tired of your ****". Dude is a G.


Always been my favorite ref. Pure throwback.