~ A Message to Referee Marlon B. Wright ~ (Ref. for Andrade-Bute)

[Diane]

That's all well and good, if the fighter is moving toward the center of the ring, but he was standing in the vincinity of the corner, just as all fighters do. The ref clearly used that rule to his advantage to explain his incompetence.

[Diane]

And it's not irrelevent, because Wright failed to check Bute properly to see if he was able to continue. Even though the round was over, after giving the count, Wright was supposed to make Bute take a few steps forward, to see if Bute would be able to continue to fight, but he did not do that. Wright let the ropes continue to hold Bute up. If Bute would have step forward, it would have been obvious to everyone that he would not have been able to continue, thus it should have gone as a TKO.

The ropes saved Bute from going outside of the ring at least 2 times prior to the knock down, and he stopped defending himself with 35 seconds left! He was done!

I like Bute, don't get me wrong, and he was clearly winning the fight until the 12th round, but I'm not going to be blind to what occurred, just because I like a fighter.

[ICB]

And it's not irrelevent, because Wright failed to check Bute properly to see if he was able to continue. Even though the round was over, after giving the count, Wright was supposed to make Bute take a few steps forward, to see if Bute would be able to continue to fight, but he did not do that. Wright let the ropes continue to hold Bute up. If Bute would have step forward, it would have been obvious to everyone that he would not have been able to continue, thus it should have gone as a TKO.

The ropes saved Bute from going outside of the ring at least 2 times prior to the knock down, and he stopped defending himself with 35 seconds left! He was done!

I like Bute, don't get me wrong, and he was clearly winning the fight until the 12th round, but I'm not going to be blind to what occurred, just because I like a fighter.

Good points Diane i'll reply to this tomorrow tired right now can't think.

[awdleyfuturehalloffamer]

And it's not irrelevent, because Wright failed to check Bute properly to see if he was able to continue. Even though the round was over, after giving the count, Wright was supposed to make Bute take a few steps forward, to see if Bute would be able to continue to fight, but he did not do that. Wright let the ropes continue to hold Bute up. If Bute would have step forward, it would have been obvious to everyone that he would not have been able to continue, thus it should have gone as a TKO.

The ropes saved Bute from going outside of the ring at least 2 times prior to the knock down, and he stopped defending himself with 35 seconds left! He was done!

I like Bute, don't get me wrong, and he was clearly winning the fight until the 12th round, but I'm not going to be blind to what occurred, just because I like a fighter.

I agree too with your assessmnet. I too am a bute fan, but the ref pissed me off so much, throughout the fight, i began to cheer for andrade to knock him out. I like andrade too but i was neutral going into this fight. I expected bute to win because of his boxing skill, but my heart was with andrade also because he epitomizes will over skill.

[Spicoli]

Any I.T s around...pretty sure I am hacked to Shit,virus.Getting auto Boots after logging on not able to Post."Invalid Account" WTF, realize this is main page.sorry. Someones f!!!!G around hardcore,Not cool !!!Any assistance greatly Appreciated. Am I banned or

[Kirkland Laing]

Any I.T s around...pretty sure I am hacked to Shit,virus.Getting auto Boots after logging on not able to Post."Invalid Account" WTF, realize this is main page.sorry. Someones f!!!!G around hardcore,Not cool !!!Any assistance greatly Appreciated. Am I banned or

I recognise a fellow mescaline eater when I see one.

[OumaFan]

And it's not irrelevent, because Wright failed to check Bute properly to see if he was able to continue. Even though the round was over, after giving the count, Wright was supposed to make Bute take a few steps forward, to see if Bute would be able to continue to fight, but he did not do that. Wright let the ropes continue to hold Bute up. If Bute would have step forward, it would have been obvious to everyone that he would not have been able to continue, thus it should have gone as a TKO.

The ropes saved Bute from going outside of the ring at least 2 times prior to the knock down, and he stopped defending himself with 35 seconds left! He was done!

I like Bute, don't get me wrong, and he was clearly winning the fight until the 12th round, but I'm not going to be blind to what occurred, just because I like a fighter.

That was definitely a glaring omission, Wright should have definitely made him do that. I still don't think it was a horrible call not to stop it before Bute went down (although like I've said its not like it would have been unjustified to do so, I just think that late in the fight he should at least be put down before you stop it or be completely out on his feet) but even though I think it would have been harsh to stop it after he got up and the time ran out still there's no saving a fighter by the bell and he should have made him walk forward and checked him more carefully.

Maybe the outrage seems a bit excessive to me because I didn't see the whole fight and apparently Wright was coddlinig Bute the whole way. Just as far as the end goes, it was bad but I've definitely seen worse.

[CutMeMick]

first off how in the hell did the ref help Lucian Bute early on ? yes he let Lucian Bute hold a bit too much, but he wasn't clinching that much

Somehow I'm dumbfounded by this...
I read this about 35 times and I just couldn't get past it.
Looks like you just went in circles there...

Either I'm an idiot or your trying to sneak one past me, cause everytime I read that I found myself scratching my head and starting over with "First off..."

At one point in the 35 readings I found myself agreeing with you just cause I was confused with the 1st part of it...

Anyone else having this problem or Am I the only one?

[Diane]

first off how in the hell did the ref help Lucian Bute early on ? yes he let Lucian Bute hold a bit too much, but he wasn't clinching that much

Somehow I'm dumbfounded by this...
I read this about 35 times and I just couldn't get past it.
Looks like you just went in circles there...

Either I'm an idiot or your trying to sneak one past me, cause everytime I read that I found myself scratching my head and starting over with "First off..."

At one point in the 35 readings I found myself agreeing with you just cause I was confused with the 1st part of it...

Anyone else having this problem or Am I the only one?

No, you're not the only one!!!

I was confused when I read it, but I let it go, because I had other things I wanted to address first.

I'm glad you said something though.

[Plopeater]

CMM, have you calmed down now mate

[CutMeMick]

CMM, have you calmed down now mate

No not really...
I don't think I will let this one go that easy.

[ICB]

first off how in the hell did the ref help Lucian Bute early on ? yes he let Lucian Bute hold a bit too much, but he wasn't clinching that much

Somehow I'm dumbfounded by this...
I read this about 35 times and I just couldn't get past it.
Looks like you just went in circles there...

Either I'm an idiot or your trying to sneak one past me, cause everytime I read that I found myself scratching my head and starting over with "First off..."

At one point in the 35 readings I found myself agreeing with you just cause I was confused with the 1st part of it...

Anyone else having this problem or Am I the only one?

What i was basically saying is that you was making a big deal, out of the holding like its one of the worst things ever witnessed in the sport. He let him hold a bit too much which i agree on, but its hardly like it was helping or would have changed the outcome of the fight. And its hardly like Bute was clinching all the time was it ? and Andrade was also allowed to get away with fouls on the inside especially using his elbows, and he was never warned for that. So like i said it works both ways doesn't it ?

[JonnyFolds]

Bute could never have taken 2 steps forward after an 8 count.

Going back to JCC Taylor, the ref (God bless Richard Steele) asked Taylor if he was ok... he didn't respond... had Taylor responded, he woudl have told him to take a couple steps forward. Had he done that he would have won the fight. Unfortunately fro him, he was staring at his corner wondering why they were in hysterics.

Bute would not have been able to do either of these. If this is a sanctioned title fight (which it is); I think there should be an appeal made to change it to a NC. THAT is how up in arms I am about this.

[ICB]

Bute could never have taken 2 steps forward after an 8 count.

Going back to JCC Taylor, the ref (God bless Richard Steele) asked Taylor if he was ok... he didn't respond... had Taylor responded, he woudl have told him to take a couple steps forward. Had he done that he would have won the fight. Unfortunately fro him, he was staring at his corner wondering why they were in hysterics.

Bute would not have been able to do either of these. If this is a sanctioned title fight (which it is); I think there should be an appeal made to change it to a NC. THAT is how up in arms I am about this.

Bute walked to his corner fine after the fight, so how couldn't he have taken 2 steps forward ? plus Taylor did actually respond to Steele, he nodded his head then looked at his corner and by the time he looked back. The fight was over because Steele gave Taylor no chance to respond.

Plus Steele broke the rules by not checking Chavez was in the neutral corner, when he clearly wasn't. Plus his count was super quick like he was trying to count Taylor out which was ridiculous. Its obvious he was favoring Chavez like he had favored over Don King fighters in the past.

Im not saying the ref in the Bute fight wasn't favoring Bute, but he didn't actually break any rules to my knowledge. And the ref making sure Andrade is in the neutral corner may sound ridiculous, to everyone else but thats in the rules and he didn't break any rules by doing so. Andrade slightly walked out of his corner so he has to take some blame for that.

Im not saying it was right for the ref to tell off Andrade like that, because Andrade was in the neutral corner although he slightly walked out of the neutral corner. But this is all irrelvant because the time in the round was over, so Andrade had no chance to finish Bute. And had the ref stopped the fight with no time left in the fight that would of been a bigger robbery than Taylor vs Chavez IMO. I still think this controversy is being overrated, when i see this thread i was expecting one of the biggest crimes ever in boxing history.

But when i watched the fight myself, i was actually shocked because i didn't see anything bad. Other than the ref telling off Andrade about not being in the neutral corner, but that was irrelvant because the time in the fight was over.

[Kev]

Bute could never have taken 2 steps forward after an 8 count.

Going back to JCC Taylor, the ref (God bless Richard Steele) asked Taylor if he was ok... he didn't respond... had Taylor responded, he woudl have told him to take a couple steps forward. Had he done that he would have won the fight. Unfortunately fro him, he was staring at his corner wondering why they were in hysterics.

Bute would not have been able to do either of these. If this is a sanctioned title fight (which it is); I think there should be an appeal made to change it to a NC. THAT is how up in arms I am about this.

First off the Meldrick Taylor stoppage was a robbery plain and simple.

Second you simply cannot state as a matter of fact that Bute couldn't respond.

He did what was asked of him. He got up before 10 seconds had elapsed. (I'm not talking about the ref's 10 seconds i'm talking about the real 10 seconds) so he made it to the end.

You miss the point that the fight was over at this point. All Bute had to do was stand up. It sounds like you are trying to suggest the referee should have counted Bute out of the fight because YOU think he was unable to continue even though the fight was over.

If you want the referee to be so pedantic and picky that he would stick to a ruling and say the fighter must be counted out because he's in no position to fight, even though the fight was over and he wouldn't need to fight then how can you contradict yourself and say he should have exercised a common sense approach to Bute not going back to the neutral corner?


If according to the strictest interperation of the rules Bute should have been stopped because he was unable to fight on (even though I don't agree) then according the the strictest interperation of the rules Andrade didn't go straight to the neutral corner and so delayed the count, and then he walked away from the corner and so further delayed the count.

Do I think Marlon was over pedantic to delay the count, yes I do. It was a bad call. BUT it would have been an even worse call to KO Bute when he was up at 10 and the fight was over!

Watch the replays. When Bute went down there were 3 seconds on the clock. He got up at 9 so the fight is over, even without the extra 15 seconds of delay.

So yes. the ref handled it poorly imo, but the right guy one the fight and Andrade's rally came too late.

If anything this has helped Andrade imo. If the ref hadn't made the delayed count, Bute would have got up and the fight would have been over without controversy, (at least as to who one).

This delayed count has given Andrade ammunition for a rematch, which I think we all really want to see.

But in my opinion the right man got the win.