Comments Thread For: Referee Having Sleepless Nights Over Stevenson Outcome

[Boxing Goat]

It’s his fault.

No it's not. Happened too fast. Had he stopped the fight 2 seconds earlier and cost Stevenson his title, people would be saying it was an early stoppage. Stevenson was still up and the ref acted accordingly.

That said......I hope Stevenson makes a full recovery and can enjoy the rest of his life even though it seems that the chances of that are very, very slim now.

[Tony Trick-Pony]

Referees bear a lot of the blame for the decline of boxing. The A-side favoritism has caused a lot of dangerous situations. One thing that comes to mind is Benn-McClellan. That British ref created the situation and caused the lifelong damage by for one not counting Benn out, but two, he continued action right away after McClellan was badly butted. All fight, the ref was trying to help Benn. People forget that part of the story.

I'm glad this ref feels some guilt about the outcome. I don't think he handled that poorly so he's not really at fault IMO. These refs hang out after parties when they reflecting on the life or death responsibility they have like a doctor.

I didn't forget that part of the story. I remember watching it way back then and thinking the same thing. Atrocious refereeing and definitely led to McClellan's condition.

[Robyn Banz]

God Bless You Bro!

[jas]

Just a really sad situation all round

This is a brutal sport with very fickle, uncompassionate and ignorant casual fans who are the overwhelming majority since they outnumber hardcores so much. They constantly complain about early stoppages. Hopefully more is looked into medical assistance following fights. Even UK,which has a reputation for having the best provisions in place for the wellbeing of fighters, still can improve. Many say Bellew should not have given a post-fight interview following the usyk knockout for example. And it is ridiculous how vada-banned substances such as the one billy joe saunders tested positive for are permitted under ukad up until day of fight.

[deanrw]

No it's not. Happened too fast. Had he stopped the fight 2 seconds earlier and cost Stevenson his title, people would be saying it was an early stoppage. Stevenson was still up and the ref acted accordingly.

That said......I hope Stevenson makes a full recovery and can enjoy the rest of his life even though it seems that the chances of that are very, very slim now.

Not only that, but the damage could have been done way sooner in the fight. We don't know. It could have been a punch in any of the late rounds, or even the headbutt they had 1 round before the stoppage. Brain bleeds can be slow, or fast.

[DuckAdonis]

The ref did nothing wrong tbh...

If he stopped it earlier then the fans would cry that it was an early stoppage. He did his job, it's just unfortunate the way things went.

[buge]

The world is probably a better place without Stevenson in it.

Rocky Ivan GIF from Rocky GIFs

[Ray*]

Referees bear a lot of the blame for the decline of boxing. The A-side favoritism has caused a lot of dangerous situations. One thing that comes to mind is Benn-McClellan. That British ref created the situation and caused the lifelong damage by for one not counting Benn out, but two, he continued action right away after McClellan was badly butted. All fight, the ref was trying to help Benn. People forget that part of the story.

I'm glad this ref feels some guilt about the outcome. I don't think he handled that poorly so he's not really at fault IMO. These refs hang out after parties when they reflecting on the life or death responsibility they have like a doctor.

Yeah how Benn wasn’t counted out is still a mystery to me. This is why I laugh now at this Fury “Long count” allegations. That Benn fight should have been over. But the rest is history. Because we know if that fight was over at that point then we would have a different history to what we have today.

[Dramacyde]

The WBC shouldn't of have put this inactive 41 year old man against a young killer!

[SteveM]

Mental anguish for him but he is bringing it on himself. You would hope other refs or even someone from the WBC (although that would prob be hoping for too much) would give him a call to reassure him. It would be nice if he called Stevenson's family if he hasn' already.
Perspective
Every week, ambulance drivers, police and especially firemen see much much much worse. Time after time.
Even worse, imagine being a soldier in the first world war and in the trenches and see the guy standing next to you, your colleague, who has become a friend over the preceding months, and then you see a bullet, or stray piece of shrapnel, blow his brains out at 3 feet distance from where you are. No wonder vets come back fucked up. The word trauma was hardly in the language 50 years ago. Not much support back then.