Referee Saves Adonis Stevenson

[Holler]

The second half off the fight was Stevenson clinching almost the whole time and not one warning. No wonder Jack socked him late on.

There was a fair bit of clinching from Adonis but I noticed Jack was quite happy to lock his arms up and get some sneaky blows in on the inside. It looked to me that part of his strategy was to use his weight to tire out the older man. There was a point in rounds 3-4 that I thought this would ruin the fight but from 6 onwards it became a bit more open.

I didn't have a problem with the ref, I think he's been justly criticised in the past but I thought he did a decent enough job in this one. It became an epic contest by the end and I think the ref played a part in that and doesn't deserve to be hung out to dry.

I think one factor is that just like the Degale fight Jack finished in a very dominant way, so in control that one more round and he'd have forced a stoppage. That made both scorecards more controversial and left a sour taste, but if you reviewed the fight round by round they were at least arguably fair?

[b00g13man]

The ref annoyed me. He broke things up to early, too often while punches were being thrown by both parties. I was watching the fight with my brother, and asked him at one point about refs getting ko'd about a couple of rounds before he got hit.

[Superbee]

Stevenson had the upper hand on body work the whole fight... So yeah I wish the ref would have let them fight...

[THEFRESHBRAWLER]

They just didnt look all that good to me last night at all. Stevenson looked slow and gassed. A young skilled powerful fighter like Bivol would be his downfall. And Jack...there is a reason he dropped that WBA title, Bivols style is all wrong for him too, awkward puncher-boxer with a **** load of stamina. If Stevenson wasnt 40 but 30 i doubt Jack would survive it. And Jack couldnt finish Stevenson when he was gassed the **** out and holding on for dear life when this is the fight he had been preparing for for so long. Lets admit it these guys are toast when going against guys with Real Power, Skill and Stamina

Badou Jack is 36 yrs old not sure that’s a big difference.
He dropped the WBA title because it was a stipulation that was put in place by Hearn before the contract was signed. Bivol would probably be an easy fight at that time for Jack. Stevenson has A solid chin, you acting like we’re talking about Amir Khan. That’s what happens when you actually step up in competition it’s harder to knock guys out. Bivol will figure that out once he starts facing some real competition. He did go the full distance with a couple of bums who were 8-5 and not ranked in the top 100. I think you pretty much said it yourself

“and holding on for dear life“

Rightttt if it was a competent ref then Stevenson would of dropped.

[THEFRESHBRAWLER]

There was a fair bit of clinching from Adonis but I noticed Jack was quite happy to lock his arms up and get some sneaky blows in on the inside. It looked to me that part of his strategy was to use his weight to tire out the older man. There was a point in rounds 3-4 that I thought this would ruin the fight but from 6 onwards it became a bit more open.

I didn't have a problem with the ref, I think he's been justly criticised in the past but I thought he did a decent enough job in this one. It became an epic contest by the end and I think the ref played a part in that and doesn't deserve to be hung out to dry.

I think one factor is that just like the Degale fight Jack finished in a very dominant way, so in control that one more round and he'd have forced a stoppage. That made both scorecards more controversial and left a sour taste, but if you reviewed the fight round by round they were at least arguably fair?

Trust me if it was your favorite fighter fighting on Saturday night you’d be complaining about the ref. If the ref helped Linares like that against Loma it would be hundreds of threads

[Holler]

Trust me if it was your favorite fighter fighting on Saturday night you’d be complaining about the ref. If the ref helped Linares like that against Loma it would be hundreds of threads

I don't have any great investment in either of the fighters concerned to be honest. If anything I favour Jack, I was rooting for him on Saturday and at the final bell I thought end he'd just about done enough to win whatever influence the ref had on the fight.

I honestly think the whole question of how much to allow on the inside is very subjective. There's a wide discrepancy amongst referees on this so the main thing I look for is consistency within the fight. I've only watched it once but I didn't see this double standard you're referring to.

[THEFRESHBRAWLER]

I don't have any great investment in either of the fighters concerned to be honest. If anything I favour Jack, I was rooting for him on Saturday and at the final bell I thought end he'd just about done enough to win whatever influence the ref had on the fight.

I honestly think the whole question of how much to allow on the inside is very subjective. There's a wide discrepancy amongst referees on this so the main thing I look for is consistency within the fight. I've only watched it once but I didn't see this double standard you're referring to.

Fair assessment. It’s not really a double standard but definitely an incompetent ref. I think we can both agree on that.

[ADP02]

Was the ref biased?

Hard to say he was because Jack was warned several times and still hit Stevenson enough times below the belt that he should have been deducted a point but wasn't.

Stevenson did more of the holding. He was warned but nothing more.

When Jack was in trouble (10th and 11th) he was holding. Ref warned him too ....


It just looks like this ref didn't want to pull the trigger and deduct any points. He probably could have for both fighters.


.

[ADP02]

The ref annoyed me. He broke things up to early, too often while punches were being thrown by both parties. I was watching the fight with my brother, and asked him at one point about refs getting ko'd about a couple of rounds before he got hit.

If the ref's name was Kenny Bayless and the one holding was Floyd Mayweather you would have seen NOTHING!!!

Nice to know that you are not blind .... just when it's your hero.

[DuckAdonis]

Badou Jack is 36 yrs old not sure that’s a big difference.
He dropped the WBA title because it was a stipulation that was put in place by Hearn before the contract was signed. Bivol would probably be an easy fight at that time for Jack. Stevenson has A solid chin, you acting like we’re talking about Amir Khan. That’s what happens when you actually step up in competition it’s harder to knock guys out. Bivol will figure that out once he starts facing some real competition. He did go the full distance with a couple of bums who were 8-5 and not ranked in the top 100. I think you pretty much said it yourself

“and holding on for dear life“

Rightttt if it was a competent ref then Stevenson would of dropped.

"Face some real competition"

...when Bivol beat Barrera more impressively than Ward (supposed number 1 p4p at the time) did