Ali-Bonavena question

[Mr. David]

My knowledge generally lacks when concerning boxing history. I just caught snippets of Ali-Bonavena, and have a question of opinion.

Is it just me, or should the referee have forced Ali to go into a neutral corner between knockdowns in the fifteenth and final round?

I'm unsure how much of a difference it would have made to the end result, but it would've at least given Bonavena a couple more seconds between reception of power punches.

Any well-informed opinions are appreciated.

[KidBlackie]

[[[Is it just me, or should the referee have forced Ali to go into a neutral corner between knockdowns in the fifteenth and final round?]]]
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Yes, the ref did a bad job. Ali had a lot of suspicious and controversial bouts in his career that he benefitted from. That was a legit KD and Oscar was hurt, but he wasn't smart enough to know how to take a count. Ali stood in the middle of the ring instead of being in a neutral corner, but regardless the scoring was stacked badly against Oscar in spite of the fact that he was terrorizing Ali for most of the fight. My guess is that the money for the Frazier bout was too big for Ali to be derailed, sorta like Sturm/Oscar.

[salsanchezfan]

Wouldn't have made any difference anyway, as Ali was ahead at the time of the stoppage, and personally, without going back over my tape of the fight, I really don't remember anything wrong with the handling of the bout. Let's face it. Bonavena was done after the first knockdown. The stoppage occured at 2:03 of the 15th round, which still left a lot of time on the clock. Ali would have finished the job no matter what. Even if he hadn't, he'd have won on points.

[DuncanJL]

I just don't like the refs that get on Ali for holding a guys head down. He likes to do it and it helps him win so let him do it...who wants to see Ali lose? really..

[Skydog]

Ali's postition at the KD at Bonavena's fight is nothing compared to how he was against Liston. He was hovering right above him, taunting him, and pushing the ref out of the way.

[Dynamite76]

I saw parts of this fight on ESPN2.It was hilarious with them too jawing at each other at the time before the fight.

[RAESAAD]

Yeah I watched it last night and was thinking the same thing the ref should have stopped counting and turned around and forced Ali into a neutral corner the guy had no time to recover at all before Ali was bashing him again.

[butterfly1964]

I believe Ali should have went to a neutral corner. However, Bonavena would still have lost as he showed almost no stamina in the 15th round.