Mares-Agbeko, What I Saw

[captainanddew]

good post
I saw Mares winning the fight , even if he had a 2 point deduction , and the second knockdown being called a low blow.

Mares was the better fighter simply, altought the referee was unfair to Agbeko, Mares still presented more skill and talent

See this is what makes this referee's performance so unfortunate because you can't say how this fight turns out if he takes points. Mares was given a pass to attack the body without discretion when he wasn't penalized for the numerous low blows. Who knows how this fight changes on that alone. Also another thing that no one has mentioned is the effect it had to have on Agbeko MENTALLY! He showed true heart but fighting two people had to weight on him so to say that Mares was simply the better fighter is not a fair assessment........oh yeah, not to mention the physical impact the low blows had on Agbeko

this is why the fight will be controversial no matter what. I still think Mares is the better fighter based on the fight. He was better simply. ( low blows werent as bad as they seemed- they deserved penelty- but werent very painfull as we saw Agbeko react. He wasnt in pain. ) Mares woudlve won without these fouls- my point

how do we know if Agbeko was in pain? I am not a huge Tarver fan but he is a long-time fighter and he said sitting ringside that when you get hit low that often it will have an effect on you. Despite that Agbeko arguably was winning most of the rounds over the 2nd half of the fight.

And it is easy to attack the body when not only are the body shots legal, but the borderline low shots are legal, and the clearly low shots are fine according to the ref.

[ICB]

I really like Abner Mares but he could of been DQ'ed for his antics last night, he must of landed atleast 30 low blows. And the worse thing is that a clear low blow was called a knockdown an absolute disgrace.

Abner Mares was winning the early rounds, but Joseph Agbeko was coming back and could of been on the verge of stealing the decision, had that ridiculous 11th round not happened.

1 Mares 10-8
2 Mares 10-9
3 Mares 10-9
4 Agbeko 10-9
5 Mares 10-9
6 Mares 10-9
7 Agbeko 10-9
8 Mares 10-9
9 Agbeko 10-9
10 Agbeko 10-9 it should of been 10-8
11 Mares 10-8 BS though
12 Mares 10-9

That's how i had it but in reality, Joseph Agbeko should of had two 10-8 rounds. In the 10th and 11th rounds for 100 percent.

[marbleheadmaui]

I watched the fight a second time, this time with the sound on. Al Bernstein is usually a really, really reserved guy so it was shocking to hear just how bad he thought the events of the evening were.

Agbeko was in contact with Mares's upper body/head many of the times Mares landed low, but it looked to me like that contact was incidental only and that Agbeko was not pulling on Mares' head. Mora made terrible errors in my view by not understanding what he was seeing.

If one takes away two penalty points from Mares, a reasonable call in my view over the course of the fight, and properly calls the second knockdown a low blow, it doesn't change the judges decision. Mares still wins by a point on two cards.

Of course that fails to account for the deterrent effect that referees warnings/deductions would have had on Mares overall body attack, the clean part of which was dazzling. Nor does it account for how the low blows must have sapped Agbeko's energy.

More and more I wonder what the hell Agbeko was doing NOT retaliating. At the championship level "protect yourself at all times" doesn't just mean prevent one's self from getting hit. It means in cases like this policing the fight when the referee can't or won't. There is no question Mares was outside the lines, but Agbeko failed in a way as well.

[THE THIRD MAN]

When will we see a referee actually referee again? I like Abner Mares, he is a great fighter, but he is being misinformed by his handlers if he thinks he will get away with this all the time. I thought Vic was just being a sore loser last time, i have changed my mind after the Agbeko fight. Mares should've been DQ'd and until we get a referee who has the guts to just say enough is enough then these controveries will continue. I want to see rematches with either Vic or Agbeko. There is unfinished business here before any of the three take on Nonito!

[IamInuit]

In addition Russell Mora is a totally incompetent ref and had no business being their. That in and of itself warrants a rematch. He was sure quick to take a point off Pederson.

[marbleheadmaui]

I really like Abner Mares but he could of been DQ'ed for his antics last night, he must of landed atleast 30 low blows. And the worse thing is that a clear low blow was called a knockdown an absolute disgrace.

Abner Mares was winning the early rounds, but Joseph Agbeko was coming back and could of been on the verge of stealing the decision, had that ridiculous 11th round not happened.

1 Mares 10-8
2 Mares 10-9
3 Mares 10-9
4 Agbeko 10-9
5 Mares 10-9
6 Mares 10-9
7 Agbeko 10-9
8 Mares 10-9
9 Agbeko 10-9
10 Agbeko 10-9 it should of been 10-8
11 Mares 10-8 BS though
12 Mares 10-9

That's how i had it but in reality, Joseph Agbeko should of had two 10-8 rounds. In the 10th and 11th rounds for 100 percent.

One can make a pretty good argument that Mares could, and perhaps should have been penalized at least two points prior to the 11th round. Then that shot in the 11th could have made the ref call a DQ.

[ICB]

I really like Abner Mares but he could of been DQ'ed for his antics last night, he must of landed atleast 30 low blows. And the worse thing is that a clear low blow was called a knockdown an absolute disgrace.

Abner Mares was winning the early rounds, but Joseph Agbeko was coming back and could of been on the verge of stealing the decision, had that ridiculous 11th round not happened.

1 Mares 10-8
2 Mares 10-9
3 Mares 10-9
4 Agbeko 10-9
5 Mares 10-9
6 Mares 10-9
7 Agbeko 10-9
8 Mares 10-9
9 Agbeko 10-9
10 Agbeko 10-9 it should of been 10-8
11 Mares 10-8 BS though
12 Mares 10-9

That's how i had it but in reality, Joseph Agbeko should of had two 10-8 rounds. In the 10th and 11th rounds for 100 percent.

One can make a pretty good argument that Mares could, and perhaps should have been penalized at least two points prior to the 11th round. Then that shot in the 11th could have made the ref call a DQ.

Especially if he would of been deducted points way before the 10th round, which in reality he should have. I mean some of those shots were to the leg it was ridiculous.

[marbleheadmaui]

I really like Abner Mares but he could of been DQ'ed for his antics last night, he must of landed atleast 30 low blows. And the worse thing is that a clear low blow was called a knockdown an absolute disgrace.

Abner Mares was winning the early rounds, but Joseph Agbeko was coming back and could of been on the verge of stealing the decision, had that ridiculous 11th round not happened.

1 Mares 10-8
2 Mares 10-9
3 Mares 10-9
4 Agbeko 10-9
5 Mares 10-9
6 Mares 10-9
7 Agbeko 10-9
8 Mares 10-9
9 Agbeko 10-9
10 Agbeko 10-9 it should of been 10-8
11 Mares 10-8 BS though
12 Mares 10-9

That's how i had it but in reality, Joseph Agbeko should of had two 10-8 rounds. In the 10th and 11th rounds for 100 percent.

One can make a pretty good argument that Mares could, and perhaps should have been penalized at least two points prior to the 11th round. Then that shot in the 11th could have made the ref call a DQ.

Especially if he would of been deducted points way before the 10th round, which in reality he should have. I mean some of those shots were to the leg it was ridiculous.

Given the number of times Mora chided Mares? I thought he could/should have begun deducting points pretty early, like rounds 4-5.

[captainanddew]

I really like Abner Mares but he could of been DQ'ed for his antics last night, he must of landed atleast 30 low blows. And the worse thing is that a clear low blow was called a knockdown an absolute disgrace.

Abner Mares was winning the early rounds, but Joseph Agbeko was coming back and could of been on the verge of stealing the decision, had that ridiculous 11th round not happened.

1 Mares 10-8
2 Mares 10-9
3 Mares 10-9
4 Agbeko 10-9
5 Mares 10-9
6 Mares 10-9
7 Agbeko 10-9
8 Mares 10-9
9 Agbeko 10-9
10 Agbeko 10-9 it should of been 10-8
11 Mares 10-8 BS though
12 Mares 10-9

That's how i had it but in reality, Joseph Agbeko should of had two 10-8 rounds. In the 10th and 11th
rounds for 100 percent.

Point 1: shouldn't we all start with the premise that getting hit low that many times changes a fight and takes something out of a fighter?

Point 2-the judges sitting ringside had it 113-113, 115-111, 115-111 and round 11 changed the outcome of the fight.

Agbeko was winning the round. It should have been clearly called a low blow and a point taken away. Thus, Agbeko 10-8.

It was likely (haven't seen the cards) scored 10-8 Mares by all 3 judges because there was a shot that landed and was called by the ref a knockdown.

How many pts would change if the ref got the call right, penalized Mares a point, and then Agbeko wins the round 10-8 on the cards as it should have been? 4 pts.

Thus, the official scorecards would have been: 115-111 Agbeko, 113-113, 113-113. DRAW!!!!!

[Majesty]

Those saying what the decision could have been given the point deductions or not.

A bigger argument could be made that if the ref was penalizing Mares properly the fight wouldn't have even went to decision, he'd have been DQ'd by the 10th or 11th round at MOST.

[marbleheadmaui]

Those saying what the decision could have been given the point deductions or not.

A bigger argument could be made that if the ref was penalizing Mares properly the fight wouldn't have even went to decision, he'd have been DQ'd by the 10th or 11th round at MOST.

Yup. Of course once we start down that road one wonders if Mares even throws that punch had he been penalized earlier.

[johnsebastianmiran]

I watched the fight on tape after I got home and expected to see a really good fight. I was not sleepy so I watched it. As round one came to a close I was wondering where the real referee was hiding. All I could say was that I saw this man impersonating a boxing official before in The Rios-Peterson fight. They should have let his seeing eye dog call the shots. I have been a fan since I was five years old and for about two years before Vietnam got in the way of my having fun in those small tournaments I was involved in. Remember this saying, "You can't fight a war on two fronts." That referee, if he wasn't blind as a bat, he was incompetent at worst. He also left his actions open to accusations of corruption and his history shows in my eyes that it is possible. There was another ref that castigated even Felix Trinidad during a fight or two, Jay Naydee comes to mind and his redemption in my eyes never came even In the Tyzu-Judah fight. The low blows were bad enough but the indifference and the underlying hostility ruined the fight and left a bad taste in fan's mouths. I think the referee should start looking for another line of work. You miss one low blow or even four but I lost count after thirty and I was wondering if I could get a match worth that stupid ref. In closing I'd like to say in all fairness that this ref wasn't the only disgraceful piece of steaming hot shit on this list of misfits but to date this fool should remember what Abraham Lincoln once said,"You can fool some of the people all the time but yopu can't fool all the people all the time." He tried it on HBO of all places.