It wasn't overt, but Ndou got screwed...

[Tito BHB]

He wasnt terrible..

Its plain to see that yes.. He did break them up.. And that did blatantly favour malignaggi..

But for one... Technically holding is not allowed in boxing so you cant hold it against him thats just his own style of refereeing..

And aside from that

For one..If cotton hadnt broke them up so consistantly i promise you it would have been the most boring frustrating fight ever..

And its all Ndou's fault anyway..

He walks right in.. Hardly trying to even slip shots .. He waits till he gets close to punch..

If he had half a brain he would have at least tried to jab his way in and work of the jab to land some decent shots..But he just walked in and fell in trying to pound Paulie with shots..

So i have absolutely no sympathy for Ndou that he couldnt 'fight his fight'..

Because at the end of the day..His fight wasnt even a fight..I doubt very much he could have won if he was to get close and pound away and make it a boring inaffective fight

But Tito, Ndou wasn't holding YET. The clinch hadn't even got to the holding stage yet, the guys were still punching.

Saying that Ndou had 'no fight' today is like saying that Hatton had no fight when he fought Tszyu. Hatton's strategy was to get in as close as he could and maul Tszyu with short shots inside, inside of Tszyu's range.

Hatton was allowed, Ndou wasn't and I think it was because the organizers of the event wanted Malignaggi victorious.

Now I'll say it again: I think Malignaggi wins NO MATTER WHO REFS AND IN WHAT STYLE.

But Ndou was a victim in there tonight of some highly dubious refereeing that allowed no infighting to take place whatsoever, and that is not right.

As far as i remember i saw cotton break them up a few times without bieng in a serious clinch.. a few times also when they were just stood shoulder to shoulder but with noone holding..

but also in my opinion if he had not have broken up the clinches that some may have said were not worthy of bieng broken up.. then i dont believe there would be an issue with the refereeing for the fight

Perhaps cotton was over anxious..I do remember the better part of him breaking them up early..
Perhaps it was just the referee settling in..

But for me the referee did a good job and what he did or didnt do right in the fight was not really an issue