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Matchups like Briedis vs Glowacki, two championship level, prime punchers with skill and durability, come along maybe a couple times per year, but every time fights like this happen, fans get shortchanged. We wait years for matchups like these, only for incompetent officials to ruin them 90% of the time anyway.
DSG-Matthysse, uncalled elbow to Matthysse's orbital bone ruined the fight.
Lemieux-Stevens, Lemieux missed the IBF weigh in, Stevens didn't, and that surely gave Lemieux an advantage in taking punches and delivering power.
Bradley-Provodnikov had a good referee, but the judges gave it to the American vs the foreigner like they do 99% of the time so there's no way to know if that was a legitimate outcome or if the judges were in the bag for the A-side as usual. A great fight without a legitimate outcome.
And there are so many other examples of similar things happening that I can't even remember them all. I know Floyd-Maidana rematch was highly anticipated, only for the ref to allow holding all night. Kovalev-Ward II was turning into a *****ing classic, and Tony Weeks stops the fight on a low blow just as Kovalev was being pushed to the limit and we were about to see if he could come back and push Ward to his or not, which would have made the fight one of the best fights of all time between P4P talents, but instead it became one of the biggest jokes of all time due to the ref. All that build up, all that waiting, and the fight is actually living up to it all, and then the ref steps in to make sure the American wins, ruining the fight in the process.
Over and over. Fans get so worked up hoping the best fights get made, but does it even matter if they get made if they're not going to be allowed to play out fairly, and competently?
DSG-Matthysse, uncalled elbow to Matthysse's orbital bone ruined the fight.
Lemieux-Stevens, Lemieux missed the IBF weigh in, Stevens didn't, and that surely gave Lemieux an advantage in taking punches and delivering power.
Bradley-Provodnikov had a good referee, but the judges gave it to the American vs the foreigner like they do 99% of the time so there's no way to know if that was a legitimate outcome or if the judges were in the bag for the A-side as usual. A great fight without a legitimate outcome.
And there are so many other examples of similar things happening that I can't even remember them all. I know Floyd-Maidana rematch was highly anticipated, only for the ref to allow holding all night. Kovalev-Ward II was turning into a *****ing classic, and Tony Weeks stops the fight on a low blow just as Kovalev was being pushed to the limit and we were about to see if he could come back and push Ward to his or not, which would have made the fight one of the best fights of all time between P4P talents, but instead it became one of the biggest jokes of all time due to the ref. All that build up, all that waiting, and the fight is actually living up to it all, and then the ref steps in to make sure the American wins, ruining the fight in the process.
Over and over. Fans get so worked up hoping the best fights get made, but does it even matter if they get made if they're not going to be allowed to play out fairly, and competently?
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