Comments Thread For: Referee on Deontay Wilder: I Was Close To Stopping The Fight

[Monty Fisto]

Having watched the fight again, I think Bayless did a good job.

Not an easy job, but he stayed in command, constantly reminded them to listen to him when he told them to break, and gave fair warning that he would deduct points if they didn't do what he said.

I initially thought the point deduction from Fury was harsh, but looking again, there was a dodgy attempt to land a big upper cut by Fury clearly after they'd been told to break and that was what led to the deduction.

You can see what a close eye Bayless was keeping on Wilder in the 7th and I think at that point he was right to let the fight keep going (just). Wilder looked like he was right on the verge of being properly done -- his corner did the right thing, but if they hadn't thrown the towel in, it probably would have only taken about two more unanswered punches for Bayless to call it off.

[D4thincarnation]

Sure Kenny, you were going to stop the fight by DQing Fury for hurting Wilder too much.

[archiemoore1]

How is his torn earlobe the reason blood was coming from inside his ear? Perhaps even stevie wonder can see it was coming out of his ear canal and not from his earlobe.

[Bigchip]

That’s the problem Bayless. By saying “you gotta show me something” it subconsciously puts it in your mind that the next big shot and you are stopping it. Referees need to do their damn job and stop trying to steal the spotlight. Stop the fight or don’t. But kill all that show me something jive.

[Silver Spear]

I am neither fan of Wilder, nor of Fury, both are clowns. My post just states the truth -- Fury's KO ability is very limited, especially in comparison to his overall body strength. Any HW with serious hitting power would have finished Wilder much earlier.

P.S. Two clean knockdowns ? LOL. Especially the body knockdown when Wilder tripped over his own feet ?

Name one heavy weight today with serious hitting power.

[Blond Beast]

I would have loved to see a prime Fury against a prime Vitali - I honestly believe they are the two greatest Heavyweights of all time other than maybe Ali because of his jab and movement. I saw Vitali who has never been dropped run Lennox into retirement and I saw Fury school a Wlad on a huge win streak.

Damn straight. Vitali has a good chance vs any fighter in history, as does Fury. Vitali puts it on his opponent like no other. He doesn’t load up on his punches, but mathematically he dishes out a lot of punishment. He’s probably more likely to kill you than anyone else. Fury with his slickness could reduce that amount. It would be very intriguing. I think we’d need to see them fight a few times.

[Dariusz]

Name one heavy weight today with serious hitting power.

Joshua, Dubois, Joyce, Kownacki, Hrgovic, Ruiz, Povetkin, hell even grandpas Ortiz and Kliczko just to name a few would have finished Wilder earlier in Fury's shoes in this partiucular fight. Fury beat Wilder like a dog but his blows have no fast finishing power.

[Blond Beast]

Goddamn! Wilder has to be one of the toughest SOB's ever. I've never witnessed anything like it before in a boxing ring.

Bleeding from both the mouth, nose and ear and still finishing the fight on his feet but wants to go out on his shield anyway. Also, while eating punch after punch by a 273 lbs man and still throwing back at the time of the stoppage.

Damn, he has a chin and a tremendous amount of balls. Even while taking an asswhooping he still never gave up.

I always thought Wilder had a good chin and heart. He showed both in the fight. Still it can’t be like nothing you have never seen in the sport surely? Foreman v Lyle? Vasquez v Marquez fights? Tex Cobb vs Larry Holmes? George Chuvalo? Wilder didn’t give up, but tons of fighters have taken beatings and not quit. This is the highest level where they get paid multi millions. He needed to show a lot more than just being tough at this price range. Fury showed he knew how to beat Wilder in a rematch and Wilder showed he wasent prepared even though Fury said he’d take it to him. He also said no excuses but mentioned a bunch of excuses. That’s just boxing though, excuses work, they always have, so I don’t blame that. Tyson stood in vs a devastating puncher in Lennox until he got planted. He made no excuses after. Being tough was the least Wilder could do as he did little anything else in there.

[Noelanthony]

Goddamn! Wilder has to be one of the toughest SOB's ever. I've never witnessed anything like it before in a boxing ring.

Bleeding from both the mouth, nose and ear and still finishing the fight on his feet but wants to go out on his shield anyway. Also, while eating punch after punch by a 273 lbs man and still throwing back at the time of the stoppage.

Damn, he has a chin and a tremendous amount of balls. Even while taking an asswhooping he still never gave up.

Hmmmmm..... reading that back do you think Wilderlites will take great encouragement from that moving forward? I would just run with the excuse of the costume being heavy with the battery included leaking battery acid in his ears before the fight

[Toffee]

The referee actually doesn't have to stop the fight if a cornerman throws in a towel. The ref can ignore it and throw the towel back out and let the fight continue. In this fight though, it looked like Wilder was going to get tko'd or ko'd close to the time of the actual stoppage.

He can. But the act of throwing the towel isn't a signal to end the fight. It's a signal to get the ref's attention that they are on the apron and want to pull their fighter out. They're not really supposed to throw a towel.

If you look at the scorecards it doesn't mention the towel, it says the corner were on the apron.