Refs who stop fights to early : The most annoying thing in boxing ?

[CFH]

Too early?
Cooks relatively young and there's no need to let him go on and continue to get hammered.
He was done.

Your JMM comparison does not work and here's why.
JMM at NOT point did he look groggy or out of it.

knockdown#1 JMM get's up at the count of 2.
knockdown#2 JMM get's up at the count of 2.
knockdown#3 JMM get's up at the count of 8.
(I'm certain JMM could have gotten up sooner but he was leying there just thinking to himself... Ohhh! shit I better get it together)

So you see the knockdowns JMM suffered were not as brutal and devastating as Cookies.

You said and I quote:
"He gets knocked down (Not particularly heavily) twice"

Watch knockdown#1 and notice how he's trying to get up by holding on the rope and notice his RIGHT leg kicking a bit trying to get it to go but it wouldn't which is why it took him until the count of 9 to get up.

For knockdown#2 he goes in dive mode and almost lands face 1st on the canvas but his forearms hold him from that. He beats the count but you can see he's hurt. To let him continue would be like to tie his hands up and let Martinez take free shots.

I just think it would have been useless to let him continue and yes this is boxing BUT a boxers safety comes 1st and he'll be fine. He goes home losing the title and nothing more which he should be thankful for.

This.

Cook was finished, he was badly hurt both times. The ref did the right thing and I can't believe someone would complain about it. Any decent ref (Smoger, Bayless etc.) would've stopped that fight.

[holmcall]

He was wandering all over Queer Street

[Tilt A Whirl]

Cmon he barely made the count both times,we arent talking a 4 count stoppage,we're talking 2 9 + counts within seconds of each other

[Howlin Mad Missy]

It was a good stoppage. He would not have been able to defend himself if the ref let it go on he could have been seriously hurt.

[HattonTheHammer]

Bad stoppage if you ask me

Im all for refs protecting a fighter from getting badly hurt, but this still boxing and a certain amount of punishment has to be sacrificed in order for it not to lose its entertainment value.

No way Nicky Cook would of won that fight from there on in had the ref of allowed him to continue. But if your up at 9 and hold your gloves up i see no reason why the fight should be stopped


Where would the history of the sport today have been had the ref of stopped buster douglas who got up at a very late 9 and looked completely out of it but went on to KO Mike Tyson 2 rounds later

[Memphis]

No way Nicky Cook would of won that fight from there

So good stoppage no?

The way Cook went over particularly from the second one was quite frightening actually, he literally wilted.

[Tins06]

Watched this a few times.Difficult to call. Maybe we should change the quistion.

A fight should be stopped when a fighter is deemed "unable to protect himself"

Did cook look unable to protect himself when he got up?

He looked ok to continue to me.And this is hardly one of them Cotto VS Gomes match-ups.I'd give the champ a proper chance to defend his title

[holmcall]

Not to be trite, but better early than late.

[Tilt A Whirl]

Watched this a few times.Difficult to call. Maybe we should change the quistion.

A fight should be stopped when a fighter is deemed "unable to protect himself"

Did cook look unable to protect himself when he got up?

He looked ok to continue to me.And this is hardly one of them Cotto VS Gomes match-ups.I'd give the champ a proper chance to defend his title

If your down for two 9 counts in a row,you are unable to protect yourself

[HattonTheHammer]

Watched this a few times.Difficult to call. Maybe we should change the quistion.

A fight should be stopped when a fighter is deemed "unable to protect himself"

Did cook look unable to protect himself when he got up?

He looked ok to continue to me.And this is hardly one of them Cotto VS Gomes match-ups.I'd give the champ a proper chance to defend his title

If your down for two 9 counts in a row,you are unable to protect yourself

No you arent

Marquez stumbled up to 2 very lazy larthargic 8 counts
Buster Douglas barely made the 10 count and was all over the place
Eubank was completely gone against watson and even at 8 was all over the place
Benn needed a good 20 seconds to climb himself through the ropes and back into the ring to knock out gerald mcClellan

Theres no mercy rule in a sport such as boxing, the only time a fighter should not be allowed to continue is if the ref feels he is completely unable to protect himself!!!

[JazMerkin]

Watched this a few times.Difficult to call. Maybe we should change the quistion.

A fight should be stopped when a fighter is deemed "unable to protect himself"

Did cook look unable to protect himself when he got up?

He looked ok to continue to me.And this is hardly one of them Cotto VS Gomes match-ups.I'd give the champ a proper chance to defend his title

If your down for two 9 counts in a row,you are unable to protect yourself

No you arent

Marquez stumbled up to 2 very lazy larthargic 8 counts
Buster Douglas barely made the 10 count and was all over the place
Eubank was completely gone against watson and even at 8 was all over the place
Benn needed a good 20 seconds to climb himself through the ropes and back into the ring to knock out gerald mcClellan

Theres no mercy rule in a sport such as boxing, the only time a fighter should not be allowed to continue is if the ref feels he is completely unable to protect himself!!!

Which the ref, and most of the posters on here, clearly felt he was unable to do. The way he stumbled back into the second knockdown showed he was done.

[Mark TKO]

The hardest job in the world at times.

I had no complaints about the Cook stoppage to be fair - was just one of those.

Two that always stand out to me are Tyson Ruddock I and Lewis v McCall I.

[Macho]

The big Question is what is the job of Refs , to Protect the Boxers or be a Model into the Ring ? , cmon....Cook was hurt very badly twice , if Refs would not stopped that fight what you think would happen then ? , that is the big problems of most of fighters that doesnt recognize when is badly hurts , prefer to died in the line , to me that is not Healthy.......

[ono]

I suppose Cook had his chance to hold after the first kd, and he didn't so there is nothing to suggest that he would have survived getting kd again in that round.

At the time i thought he probably could continue but i can't fault the ref for stepping in and calling it. It did seem however, that Bradley Pryce was given more of an opportunity to get back into the fight earlier on in the night. Maybe the brutality of his KO played on the ref's mind slightly. Had the potential to be a cracker aswell seen as though they both clearly were capable of rocking eachother.

Cook should have tried to hold on at least instead of trying to fight back. Ah well i never thought he was good enough to be a world champ and at least now we don't have to watch a Cook, Arthur, Mitchell, Foster Jnr WBO title merry-go-round.

[C.J.Rock]

The referee called that fight exactly right Cook was in no fit state to continue.It was a tragedy for Cook but all credit to Martinez what an uppercut that was.
I truly think many of the people that becall referees saying they stop fights too early have never boxed themselves. I'd much rather a referee stops a fight a bit early than a bit too late. Think back to Gerald McClellan Beathavaen Scotland, Duk Koo Kim etc. Thats what can happen when fights are let to go too long