3 PBC Fights, 3 Questionable Stoppages

[downklown]

Ugonoh literally got knocked out of the ring.
Washington, who's 250lb's, was wobbling all over the ring with his hands down & had to be held up by the ref. Very dangerous.
Harrison spit out his mouthpiece on purpose after getting up.

The key to all three though was the fact that none of them complained about the stoppages. They all looked defeated, were glad it was over & quite frankly they all just weren't the better fighters last night.

[bigjavi973]

Only one I didnt like was the harrison one. Ref asks question, harrison answers and mouthpiece accidentally falls out ref stops fight.

[Beercules]

Hill Billy refs

[JAB5239]

I was working so I couldn't pay much attention to the early fights, but I did see the lad few rounds of the Wilder fight. I don't think Washington was getting out of that round even if he was given the chance. As pointed out, he was fighting Beck and Deontay was unloading. That said, Wilder looked as sloppy as I've ever seen him and will need to tighten up his punched and stop being so gun shy. The punches at the end were horrific to watch they were so sloppy. We can chalk it up to being out and coming off injury, but it's clear he still needs a lot of fine tuning.

[Motorcity Cobra]

Watching last night's PBC fights, I couldn't help but notice how poor the refereeing was last night. I haven't been following boxing too closely for the last 6-8 months so maybe this is the norm nowadays. Here's my take:

Breazeale-Ugonoh - great heavweight scrap between two lower tiered fighters. Dom Breazeale is not the most agile, mobile and skilled fighter but he has always shown his grit, toughness and heart - he doesn't quit, and I like that about him. This is the first time i've seen Izu Ugonoh and he's a solid prospect that has a nice jab and throws good combinations and body punching.

This fight was great; it was back and forth HW action with big punches being landed and some good knockdowns. However, as Breazeale knocked Izu down the second time in the 5th round, the referee automatically waived the fight off without even assessing his condition. Watching the fight in real time, Izu look like he was OK and able to get up. However the ref never gain him the chance.

Hurd-Harrison - This was a good competitive fight where Harrison appeared to be winning the early-to-mid rounds based on his output and accurate punching. Credit to Hurd for making some adjustments and finding a way to land his much harder shots. He turned around the momentum of the fight, started walking Harrison down and pressing for the knockout.

Also, in this fight i thought the ref did a poor job. After being knocked down, Harrison beat the count, responded to the refs questions and looked able to fight on. Harrison then unintentionally or intentionally spit his mouth piece out to the consternation of the ref and the fight was called off. Why was this? Harrison should have been docked a point but not TKO'd.

Wilder-Washington - I've been a fan and apologist of Wilder's since he went pro but last night Deontay looked really awful. He was overly tentative and cautious and his punches looked constricted (maybe due to his muscular physique). Washington looked decent, to my surprise, but not any spectacular and there was never any doubt that Wilder would get his man outa there.

Of the 3 fights, this was the worse stoppage by far. Washington was buzzed but at no point was he helpless or defenseless. Given that this was a title fight, Washington should have been allowed to fight on and survive the round. It was a total overreaction to stop this fight at that point.

Thoughts/opinions? Am I totally off the mark or just in my criticism?

Were the officials from Alabama? Might be an issue of inexperience.

Jeff Dodson did the Breazele vs Ugonoh fight and the Caleb Plant fight last night. He's from Mississippi. He's reffed 21 fights all in Mississippi and Alabama. He also did the Breazeale vs Kassi fight

Michael Griffin did the Wilder vs. Washington fight. He's from Montreal He's reffed 325 bouts and did the Wilder vs. Szpilka, Alvarez vs. Chilemba, Stevenson vs. Williams, Kovalev vs Pascal II, Klitschko vs. Jennings. He's a very experienced ref. But he wasn't on his game last night

Jim Korb did the Hurd vs Harrison fight. He's from Georgia Over 300 fights on his resume. He did the Zlaticanin vs Redkach fight. Spitting out the mouthpiece was a sign of giving up. Remember Harrison gave up in his last loss against Willie Nelson by turning his back. Harrison didn't protest and walked right over to congratulate Hurd. No problem at all with this stoppage. If the fighter doesn't complain I won't complain

[bopbopbbe]

Just watched all 3 none were egregious. The worst one was the Wilder fight but he was stumbling around after so.

[sicko]

Izu, Harrison and Washington was DONE! Yeah Alabama refs are a little quick with the Stoppage but nothing controversial because I think ALL was likely going to get knocked out or knocked down again. I get it people want to see clean Knockouts but people are reaching trying to calling these stoppages questionable

[bojangles1987]

I had the same reaction about Washington initially, but the guy could hardly stand after the ref waved it off. He stumbled across the ring and nearly fell over. It was a good stoppage, I think.

Harrison was questionable, but I think Harrison spitting the mouthpiece signaled to the ref that he was not actually ready to fight on.

No problem at all with the Ugonoh stoppage. That dude was exhausted and finished.

[HanzGruber]

I disagree. They were done. Harrison's fault for dropping his mouth piece. He would have gotten ice if he continued

[Loque-san]

The Harrison-Hurd stoppage was unusual but I personally have no problem with it and I think stopping the fight was the right decision.

Harrison blatantly spit his mouthpiece out right in front of the referee, who saw that as Harrison quitting. He should have spit it out when he was down or getting up to at least make it look unintentional.