Comments Thread For: Ceja Files Protest With WBC Over Stoppage Loss To Rigondeaux

[ShoulderRoll]

Apply the old days comment to which ever fight you want, it doesn’t matter to me, even if it’s a only 15 year old fight like Corrales-Castillo. It’s a comment aimed at any one who wants to talk about the “past”. That past can be a 15 year old fight.

Or it can be a 30+ year old fight like Mancini vs Kim, where Kim’s mother committed suicide and so did the ref of the fight, all over Kim dying due to the fight.

My point still remains the same. Ref’s are under a lot of pressure for the fighter’s health and the fans have no real care in the world for the fighters. They just want to see a “good fight”. They will not donate one cent to a fighter who’s under serious medical care but then they demand the most out of fighters and refs. “Get well soon” and sending prayers is not enough to keep a boxer alive.

This isn't a knitting competition, it's a fight. Boxers know what they are getting into when they choose this as a career path.

I don't want to see any of them get seriously hurt or suffer brain damage. So by all means stop the contest if a man looks like he can't defend himself anymore. Get the ringside doctor to check him out. The corner should always be ready to throw in the towel to stop further punishment.

But apart from that give these guys a chance to recover and fight to the end.

[STREET CLEANER]

I mentioned this before. We are being robbed of watching an epic comeback or a seesaw battle. Refs are jumping in to quick and some count too fast.

The biggest drama in boxing is how the opponent responds to adversity.

[champion4ever]

The WBC should let them run it back then. I don't know why he is protesting. He gave it his all and his best but yet he still couldn't so much as put a dent in Guillermo or put him away. Rigo kept standing and eating all of those brutal onslaught of punches he threw until he eventually got caught, dropped and stopped himself.

[moltres.]

its true that we wint have epic come backs like castillo corrales. the ref should of like ceja continue.

[CubanGuyNYC]

We should all know boxing is a very dangerous sport. In the case of Duk-Koo Kim (versus Ray Mancini), the coroner determined that the death was caused as a result of one punch. One punch. That’s all it took.

I thought the ref in the Rigondeaux-Ceja fight stopped it a little early, but he had the best view of the fighter’s condition. He was right in the guy’s face. Supposedly, Ceja’s eyes crossed. And although he appeared to do what was asked of him, Ceja looked clearly weak as he walked back to his corner. At least that was my impression. The biggest critique one can make is that the round was all but over. The ref may not have been cognizant of that.

But for all the criticisms, one thing is certain: too many men have died or been crippled by one punch that could’ve been prevented. Ceja got up quickly, yes, but the ref wasn’t convinced. No surprise. Ceja looked like he had been hit with a baseball bat.

[R_Walken]

I thought it was stopped early and Since it was the end of the round give Ceja the minute to gather his sh.it but....

Ref probably made the right call. I mean Ceja didn’t even complain when it was called off .He got up out of instinct not necessarily because he could continue

If the fight continued it would have most likely ended like the Charlo - Cota fight where he would have been viciously sparked out in the next round. And people would be crying why the ref let it continue

[CubanGuyNYC]

The chances of such a protest being successful are slim to none. Russell Mora had a decision to make, he thought Ceja was badly hurt and stopped the fight. It's a judgement call. There is no glaring mistake, like a knockout from a punch behind the head or after the bell. I thought it was a bad stoppage and if I was in Ceja's shoes I would be mad, but overuling Mora's decision would undermine the referee's function and set a bad precedent that would lead many other fighters to file protests every time they feel they have been on the wrong end of a premature stoppage.

The conspiracy theories are hilarious though. So the fight was fixed, but instead of simply having the judges rob Ceja - the good old method - they decide to take chances for fun and hope that Rigondeaux drops Ceja hard enough to give the ref an excuse to stop it. If Ceja doesn't get dropped, the plan goes out the window lol.

Excellent post. I agree with everything you wrote. Even if the stoppage was a little early, it’s highly doubtful any ruling body would overrule the ref’s on-the-spot decision. It would have to be a pretty clear botched job. People here, even the commentators on TV, disagree about the decision. It’s not clear-cut; it’s debatable. In such cases, the higher authority almost always allows the initial decision to stand.

[HeadBodyBodyBody]

I will take a refs word over a ringside doctor on whether or not a fighter can continue or not. The ref has to initiate a check up on a fighter, for the ringside doc can check on him. I don’t think a doctor can jump on the ring apron, call time out, and check on the fighter’s welfare, that is all up to the ref. And the corner can do that, I think only to stop the fight.

So it really all falls on the ref to protect the fighters.

My point is, as the ref there’s a lot of pressure to not stop a fight prematurely and to not let a fight go on for too long to the point where you just allowed a fighter to become brain damaged. I can see why after the Magomed, Colon, and Maquinto fights, refs are probably urged by athletic commissions to protect fighters more than ever, and stop fights before a fighter even looks badly hurt. I don’t think we’re going to see fights where fighters are fighting hurt, exhausted and look out of it anymore, out of fear of lawsuits against the athletic commissions. Seems like a battle they will lose as you saw with the Magomed family winning their lawsuit against the NYSAC over the Perez-Magomed fight, and boxing changed all over the US right after that fight. Just like it always does after something big happens, for example 15 rounds being eliminated after the Mancini vs Kim fight.

Definitely agree that the athletic commissions are more risk-averse than ever before. I'm just saying that there's levels in place to make sure that a fighter doesn't get hurt, the ref, the doc, the trainer, the fighters themselves... I don't like the idea, in any fight, that you might have:

(a) both fighters ready to continue;
(b) both teams happy to continue;
(c) a doctor who would've let it continue;
(d) an audience who think a stoppage is premature;
...leaving only (e) a referee who stops the contest, against the wishes of practically everyone involved.

I'm not saying that's exactly what has happened in this contest, because we don't know what the doctor would've said. I think a good ref, a more aware referee, would've let the fight continue. Meh, I dunno, in the amateurs, I fully appreciate referees being much more safety-conscious, but at elite pro-level, it's just a shame to see these early stoppages. I guess we never shall see great comebacks again. Sheeit, even the Fury knockdown against Wilder, we got people saying the fight should've been over at that point, for Fury's own safety (lmao), EVEN THOUGH he got up and was fine. It's getting too much. I'm just saying there needs to be a balance. Too safe, it's gonna kill off some of what makes boxing so special

RE. 15-rounds, I've heard it said that preferences of the TV Networks were as much to blame as anything else, 12-round fights being more amenable to tidy time-slots, etc, the Kim fight just being 'convenient' in that sense

[KillaMane26]

It was obvious bs. Reminds me of that Berto/Lopez stoppage

[garfios]

I do think it was a quick stoppage. He was doing well in the fight and it was actually somewhat of a sudden flash knockdown and he got up quickly. I don't see what else he could have done to show that he wanted to continue. He really did not even look out and punch drunk. If a fighter gets up and they are slightly unbalanced that is not a means to stop the fight. If they are stumbling all over the place fine stop the fight but if they get up quick at 8 and they want to continue you should let them.
There's one other factor that has me concerned about this and that is Russell Mora.

He participated in the most dirty refereeing job I have ever seen in 25 years of watching boxing. It was during the bantamweight tournament and it was a fight where Abner mares landed nearly a hundred low blows and never had a point taken it was the most low blows ever landed in a fight I am sure. You guys can YouTube the fight or look it up but I know some of you remember this.

I have never seen a referee do a fighter so dirty as that. The broadcasting team commented on it quite a bit they were amazed that a point or disqualification hadn't been served to Abner Mares. So Russell Mora is definitely a suspect referee.

Flash knock down? Ceja have his eyes closed when he hit the floor. When he got up he didn't respnded to the ref questions and had his eyes crossed. His eyes was the main reason the ref stopped the fight.