YOU THINK TONY PESONS SUCKS? RUSSELL MORA WAS FAR WORSE!
By Ed de la Vega, DDS
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 14 Aug 2011
At the fight between Tyson Cave and AJ Banal, held recently at Cebu City referee Tony Pesons was chastised by the many that saw him ?lose control of the fight.? Some called the alleged poor performance of Pesons as ?incompetent.?
Be that as it may, what we saw today (Saturday, Las Vegas Time) on Showtime at the fight between Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko made the performance of Pesons really nothing to worry about.
It was worse.
Russell Mora the third person on the ring tonight showed total bias for Abner Mares. If it wasn?t that, then it?s either he is blind as a bat or just a poor referee.
But what made his situation worse was his utter arrogance. When confronted by the Showtime announcer and showed what appeared to be a clear low blow, he insisted he made a good call in declaring it as a clean shot. With such evidence, what was so wrong in admitting his mistake? That would have earned him points in spite of his poor performance.
Mora must have been in a different fight.
The blow was a clear low blow and Mora not only missed it- he refused to believe what the TV slow-mo clearly showed.
From this writer?s perspective, it seems that Mora was biased. For some reason or another he wanted Mares to win. What else could it be?
Mora did not stop the fight to deduct a point on Mares in spite of the numerous low blows Mares clearly delivered tonight. The best he did was warned Mares. Mares did the same thing with his
fight with Vic Darchinyan. He threw numerous low blows.
To sum it all, Mora?s performance tonight did not speak well of his skills as a referee. If he did correctly what he was paid to do, the fight could have ended differently. Perhaps with the scores so close as they were, the fight could have ended in a draw.
What a shame!
Now, with the turn of events tonight it is Golden Boy Promotions? responsibility to right the wrong. They should immediately set a rematch to determine who really is better between the two.
That is the only fair thing to do.
Oh yes, no more allowing guys like Mora to be involved in fights of this magnitude.
Incidentally, if what Mares and Agbeko showed tonight was their best, there is no reason or even a rush to match anyone of them against the Filipino Flash, Nonito Donaire, Jr. Either of them do not deserve to be in the same ring as Donaire. They are not yet at the class level of Donaire.
Photo: Abner Mares (L) of Mexico is directed to a neutral corner by referee Russell Mora (C) as IBF bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko of Ghana kneels on the canvas during the 11th round of the IBF title fight at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada August 13, 2011. Agbeko argued he was hit by a low blow but Mora ruled it a knockdown. Mares took the IBF title by majority decision. REUTERS/Steve Marcus (UNITED STATES - Tags: SPORT BOXING)
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