It was a pensive mood and a weekend of suspense last Saturday night when Ghana’s Isaac Dogbe scored a fifth round stoppage over Mexico’s Cesar “Corazon”Juarez at the Bukom Boxing arena in Accra.
Boxing Ghana represented on the night and presents to you a comprehensive analysis on whether referee Tony Weeks exercised too much hastiness in stopping the fight or not.
By the beginning of the fight, it was psychologically obvious that the Mexican, who came on the tables with a lot of paper credentials, had perhaps waded in confidence. It was not clear if the crowd chants and deafening cheers for the natives played a role. But quite frankly, he had already withered by the second round which saw him visiting the mat in what appears to be an inevitability.
Boxinghana.com predicted correctly that this particular fight was going to see a knockdown or a knockout. And it did happened.
I was not convinced enough about his corner. The aggressiveness with which they were supposed to render their coaching instructions was minimal. Even before the commencement of the very first round, the body antics and vicious eye rendition the Mexican exhibited suggested some sort of ‘I don’t fear ‘attitude.
On a few occasions especially inside the third and fourth rounds he was very definite and nearly began to exhibit his fearless approaches. Am sure a few of his pumping shots had a telling effect on Dogboe who visibly became tired in the fourth round.
I think his exhaustion too was early to call but well he had other options.
With all intent and purposes, the fifth round was a very fearful call. The toe-to-toe banter which I had earlier warned the Ghanaian to desist from came to play. I felt it was very scary for the diminutive Ghanaian on that occasion.
With an eagle’s eye, Dogboe’s right-left combo was a Ghanaian delight. It was a quick flash of a right hit-followed by a left uplift that sent the Mexican flat on his back. At that material moment, Ghanaian’s were anxiously praying that the Mexican would not come back. Tensions were high. Lo and behold referee Tony Weeks had already embraced the weary and dizzy Mexican-an indication of a pure and refined knockout victory for the rising star of Africa.
This is where boxingghana.com comes in with the discussion about whether the world renowned center man halted the fight that too early? Let’s discuss.
Well, it might just be a difficult question to answer. But boxing Ghana can justify the blinking decision of the experienced referee on that particular occasion. We believe he was firmly right.
You could recall the moment Juarez landed on his back he got dazed. A follow up by Dogboe was in serious waiting. And that would have spelt danger for Juarez at that second .Stoppages are instinctive. And at such instances it is only the center man who can salvage any unforeseen circumstances.
Stopping a fight too late can prevent dire and potentially tragic circumstances in a ring. But of course it’s early stoppage could at least offer an opportunity for a lucrative re-match which is far more logical than losing a boxer.
A typical example of a fight Tony Weeks officiated, was the cracker between Denis Kovalev and Andrew Ward in 2017. Though Kovalev was allegedly fouled on low belts in course of the fight, he was obviously out and cold in tiredness and it was becoming something else which called for referee Tony Weeks to intervene to bring proceedings to an amateur end.
In fact by the time Weeks stopped the fight Kovalev was wearily resting on the ropes-which could have counted as a knockdown.
Weeks, according to reports, could have given Kovalev some 5 minutes to rest as a result of the persistent low blows from Ward. The rabbit punches from Ward were also very evident from Kovalev. The American pugilist wasn’t happy, pundits thought the referee stopped the fight too early.
Weeks again instinctively stopped the fight between Mike Tyson and Lou Savaresse. He was in the news again for stopping the fight in the WBA Cruiserweight title match between Russian, Denis Lebedev and Guillermo Jones in May, 2013.
Referee Tony Weeks again was in the middle of the ring when Alfredo Angulo-(22-4, 18) KOs encountered Canelo Alvarez-(43-1-1, 31) KOs in March, 2017.Weeks again stopped the fight in round 10 when a brutal left uppercut snapped Angulos head. In fact, Weeks had indicated to ringside doctors on round 9 he was going to stop the fight if things continued that way. And he did that in 10.
Referee Richard Steele might have made a few mistakes in his career on similar circumstances. Do you remember the Julio Caesar Chavez-Meldrick Taylor epic battle in 1990? It was a Light welterweight championship over 12 rounds.
Pundits had accused the American referee of protecting Taylor to a possible win in a fight Steele could have stopped way back in the earlier rounds. Taylor, who was hanging on to life under Richard Steele was dreaming to victory two seconds away from the final round and the unexpected happened. Chavez battered him with a 10th round brutal stoppage to kill of Steele’s intentions. Rumors had it that Steele had wined and dined with the American corner prior to the fight.
Do you again remember this same Richard Steele who was in the middle of the KIM Deuk-Gu vs Ray Mancini fight? Kim had already been to hell and back before the referee decided to stop the fight. Can you believe that?
In fact within minutes the South Korean was in coma for 4 days and died later. Again it was rumored Steele was in Don Kings pocket.
LESSONS LEARNT:
Tony Weeks stopping this particular fight was absolutely legitimate in the eyes of boxingghana.com. A microscopic view of the Mexican in the ring upon recovery from that left hook from Dogboe was enough to tell that he was worn out and within any second of a continuation from Weeks, anything could have happened.
In fact boxing experts believe that it is better to stop a punch one too early than a punch one too late. Absolutely.
The skepticism’s, confusions and contradictions surrounding this particular bout about whether the fight was stopped too early are elementary and should be ignored. Weeks was excellent on the day.
The referee is always closer to the action and is able to decipher a boxer’s ability to box and defend himself. The pressure a boxing referee goes through is more than that of a Premier league referee.
It would have been a dangerous folly to have allowed Juarez back into the ring.
Dogboe had done enough to be credited with the decision.
Isaac ‘’the royal storm ‘’Dogbe has fast established himself with burgeoning success and needs to be courted and showered with the needed adulation for his endeavor in the ring.
Dennis Kweku Moore
Boxing writer/analyst
Enjoy more stories by this writer on– boxingghana.com.