Clottey was lucky the fight wasn't stopped

[Kev]

When he writhed around on the floor in agony for several minutes following his fall to the canvas I wonder if many ref's would have just waved the fight off then and there?

I just figured he had snapped his knee and if I was reffereeing would have stopped the fight immediately and got him urgent medical attention as watching it live I thought he was in incredible pain.

I've never seen a fighter make a meal of something like that other than a low blow.

It reminded me a bit of Anthony Bonsante when he was floored by Adonis Stevenson and lay sprawled out on the canvas with his eyes closed as if unconcious only to spring back to his feet on the count of 8 apparently fine. Unfortunately by that stage the ref had already waved the fight off.

How many of you guys thought when he went down it was a serious injury and that the fight was over? Had you been in charge, would you have just instinctively waved it off and got in the doctors immediately to attend to him and his apparent busted knee?

[Kev]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIqM6bm7n4w you can see it again from around the 2:30 mark.

Mercante Jr did a great job refereeing this fight imo, I'm sure Joe Cortez would have done what Clottey had wanted, stop the fight and immediately disqualify Cotto

[Youngblood]

He hollywooded it, along with several other things during the fight. Seemed to me he was thinking more about the paycheck then actually winning. Which was backed up, imo, by his weak finish.

I haven't watched Clottey fight before, just some random youtube clips. But I know heart and fire when I see it. And I didn't see it.

Is almost like the ref. knew it too.

[JazMerkin]

He wasn't trying to get the fight stopped, in the post-fight interview he said that he slipped & landed on his knee. Anyone whose ever done any sport knows that kills for a couple of minutes & I'm sure Mercante knew that as well.

Also, there was NEVER any chance of Cotto being disqualified in New York on the weekend of Puerto Rican Day Parade, Cotto would have had to rape Clottey in the ring to even lose a point, no sensible ref is going to risk it.

[Spicoli]

Rewatched it a few times.It was a crazy string of events.At the exact same time Mercante appeared to trip on the bottom rope/or stepped on a camera...the bottom of shot was cut off but he looked down and yelled.

At the same time,Clottey throws a straight right that misses and hits the top strand and the rope gos absolutely ape-shit....starts snapping wildly.Clottey goes into corner,turns and as he stepped down with left he slips forward on the black Tecate painted....and it looks like his back ankle is hit off bottom rope putting him in an upward lurch.We've seen more guys get messed up on those slick logos than we can count.He may have milked it,but he didn't write the script ........or this hmmm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kEh3...eature=related

I do think Mercante got a little carried away with the coaching and Tony robbins speech.Encouragement is fine and keeping his ring in order expected but he had zero idea if Clottey was seriously injured or not.Is there any doubt that had that been Cotto he would have sent Clottey to a neutral corner and called for the 5 minutes right away with out the "What are you a man or a mouse" speak?

Injuries happen.And as a championship fighter you should do everything in your power to fight through them.Tried to find vids of Hopkins dominating a round with only one arm after Echols power-bombed him or Derrick Jefferson standing on one foot and throwing punches vs, Maskaev after his ankle was torn but no luck........Clottey recovered and blew it.Point blank.He sat on his lead and let it slip away.He does not possess the mind set of a finisher when a guy is showing signs.No one too blame but himself!!

[Kel]

I agree Bilbo the ref did a great job!

[bzkfn]

I agree Bilbo the ref did a great job!

Me 2.

[Gandalf]

I agree Bilbo the ref did a great job!

Me 2.

Me 3.

Clottey was acting like a total clown. Writhing away like that was lame. I've injured my ankles quite badly in sports but you would never catch me wailing away on the floor in front of everybody. Sure it wasn't his ankle, and he probably knocked his knee fairly hard. But that was over the top. The fact that he was okay within 6 minutes says so too.

The ref did a decent job out there as Clottey was playing up more than a couple of times. Clottey should join the theatre, or else play for Manchester United.

[Bomp]

I agree Bilbo the ref did a great job!

Me 2.

Me 3.

Clottey was acting like a total clown. Writhing away like that was lame. I've injured my ankles quite badly in sports but you would never catch me wailing away on the floor in front of everybody. Sure it wasn't his ankle, and he probably knocked his knee fairly hard. But that was over the top. The fact that he was okay within 6 minutes says so too.

The ref did a decent job out there as Clottey was playing up more than a couple of times. Clottey should join the theatre, or else play for Manchester United.

It was a soccer roll around, quite patetic. Whenever I've been proper injured in football/rugby (broken arm and snapped ligaments in ankle) the pain is searing, but the reaction is more of an 'oh fuck, what have I done'. The writhing around is only justified for a david Busst type injury, even then I'd just expect them to be white with shock.

There was a delayed reaction to the back of the head shot in the 12th, as if to say he realised'wow that may have been a foul', and by the time the low blow landed, which may have been genuinely painful, well he'd cried wolf too much by then.

[SweetPea]

Mercante Jr. is a very solid ref. He worked the Cotto-Judah fight too and did a great job. That fight had the low blow fouls, plus Judah's rep for losing control, and Mercante kept that fight on the up-and-up.

Mercante is up there with Bayless and Smoger among the top refs.

[C.J.Rock]

When he writhed around on the floor in agony for several minutes following his fall to the canvas I wonder if many ref's would have just waved the fight off then and there?

I just figured he had snapped his knee and if I was reffereeing would have stopped the fight immediately and got him urgent medical attention as watching it live I thought he was in incredible pain.

I've never seen a fighter make a meal of something like that other than a low blow.

It reminded me a bit of Anthony Bonsante when he was floored by Adonis Stevenson and lay sprawled out on the canvas with his eyes closed as if unconcious only to spring back to his feet on the count of 8 apparently fine. Unfortunately by that stage the ref had already waved the fight off.

How many of you guys thought when he went down it was a serious injury and that the fight was over? Had you been in charge, would you have just instinctively waved it off and got in the doctors immediately to attend to him and his apparent busted knee?

No I would have DQ'd Cotto for blatently slamming Clottey to the canvas not to mention the blatent punch to the back of Clotteys head. Cotto is done. Another injustice done to Josh Clottey

[ElTerribleMorales]

When he writhed around on the floor in agony for several minutes following his fall to the canvas I wonder if many ref's would have just waved the fight off then and there?

I just figured he had snapped his knee and if I was reffereeing would have stopped the fight immediately and got him urgent medical attention as watching it live I thought he was in incredible pain.

I've never seen a fighter make a meal of something like that other than a low blow.

It reminded me a bit of Anthony Bonsante when he was floored by Adonis Stevenson and lay sprawled out on the canvas with his eyes closed as if unconcious only to spring back to his feet on the count of 8 apparently fine. Unfortunately by that stage the ref had already waved the fight off.

How many of you guys thought when he went down it was a serious injury and that the fight was over? Had you been in charge, would you have just instinctively waved it off and got in the doctors immediately to attend to him and his apparent busted knee?

No I would have DQ'd Cotto for blatently slamming Clottey to the canvas not to mention the blatent punch to the back of Clotteys head. Cotto is done. Another injustice done to Josh Clottey

yea, how dare Cotto not let Clottey jump on his back trying to get the clinch!!! Clottey took a page out of Camacho Jr's book, remember one fight he got hit "low" but he was jumping up in the air, Clottey tried to desperately get out of the corner and Cotto wasn't having it, end of, there was no need for a DQ

[El Kabong]

....you know, Cotto COULD have just gone to the cards after that cut opened up

[OumaFan]

When he writhed around on the floor in agony for several minutes following his fall to the canvas I wonder if many ref's would have just waved the fight off then and there?

I just figured he had snapped his knee and if I was reffereeing would have stopped the fight immediately and got him urgent medical attention as watching it live I thought he was in incredible pain.

I've never seen a fighter make a meal of something like that other than a low blow.

It reminded me a bit of Anthony Bonsante when he was floored by Adonis Stevenson and lay sprawled out on the canvas with his eyes closed as if unconcious only to spring back to his feet on the count of 8 apparently fine. Unfortunately by that stage the ref had already waved the fight off.

How many of you guys thought when he went down it was a serious injury and that the fight was over? Had you been in charge, would you have just instinctively waved it off and got in the doctors immediately to attend to him and his apparent busted knee?

No I would have DQ'd Cotto for blatently slamming Clottey to the canvas not to mention the blatent punch to the back of Clotteys head. Cotto is done. Another injustice done to Josh Clottey

LOL, no referee in boxing would have dq'ed Cotto and rightfully so, neither of those were even close to being worthy of a disqualification.

[Jesse James]

I don't see why a ref would stop the fight over that. I never thought he was hurt that bad. He just fell on his knee for Christ's sake. My one year old son does that every day and he just gets up and walks it off! I thought Clottey won the fight, but that was sheer acting IMO.