...what would your course of action be here? Fighter A has swept the first five rounds of the fight, punctuating his dominance with a knockdown, & possibly won the sixth as wel. Fighter B has come on through the last four rounds coming into the eleventh. Fighter A, still clearly up on the cards, is beginning to fade, & looking bloody. During the action, & after again getting the worst of an exchange, he steps back against the ropes, face bloodied & looks at you. He very slightly shakes his head, ostensibly indicating he's had enough of this, but when Fighter B approaches again, Fighter A continues to punch back, despite appearing discouraged & out-gunned. Would you stop the fight from that look he gave you?
I would guess it would depend on the history of the fighter. For instance, if it's Arturo Gatti or Rocky Marciano, you let the fight go on because these guys have shown they could come back. Then again, those aforemetioned fighters would never look at the ref with a look of discouragement on their faces. I would probably have to stop the fight. Another thing, how effective was fighter A when he started punching back? Was he fighting out of instinct or still fighting because he wanted to win the fight? You can tell when someone is just going through the motions just to protect themselves. Not to mention, the promotional underbelly may be involved, too. If fighter A is the house fighter and the ref has been given instruction behind the scenes before the fight, that may play a part as well.
At the risk of speaking for the starter of the thread, I don't think the idea here is to take into account the interests and influence of promoters involved. As posters in a forum, we're afforded the objectivity and ethical high-ground that promoters, and those whose pay-checks depend on them, are clearly without. It gets discouraging when fans on this site echo, and therefore sympathize with and approve of, the manipulations and manuevering of promoters in the name of maximizing profits, and in general, to the detrement of the sport's legitimacy.
I wouldn't stop it solely based on the fighter giving that look/slight head shake as described in the O/P. But if he did it in a completely defeated manner and with hands down by his sides in suggesting that he no longer had any intention of fighting back, then I'd jump in. Judging how much he fought back when Fighter B moved in could be irrelevant if the ref immediately reacted to Fighter A's initial gesture. But if that is to be taken into consideration, then I definitely wouldn't stop it, not at that split second anyway.
I got one too: You're the ref in a high profile PPV fight. Fighter A's been dominating fighter B for 7 rds when suddenly fighter A pulls back from an exchange with a huge gash over his right eye that has blood flowing down. As you seperate the fighters fighter A says it was a headbutt. Now: the whole world is looking at you wondering if the cut is from an accidental headbutt or from a punch. What do you do? Problem: You didn't actually see what happened because of any number of reasons. You happened to be on the wrong side of the exchange, you dropped your eyes because you thought you saw a low blow seconds before, or maybe you blinked. Fact is, you still got a decision to make so what do you do? You do what all the refs do when put into that all to reoccurring situation; you fucking guess. And why not, you got a 50/50 shot at being right. Right? Now can someone tell me why they haven't picked up instant replays for headbutts yet?
Valid point about promotional ties, to be fair, but as Double says, let's leave that aside for this particular topic. I know you said you'd already stop the fight, but I'll answer your Q just the same. A wasn't effective punching back, in the sense that he was doing damage --- he wasn't. He was doing enough to appear competitive, without actually being so. His shots had just enough in them to give B pause after landing some hard shots he could've followed up on. I guess it could come down to your individual regard for A shaking his head at you, whilst still being up on the cards & moderately effective in the moment, though clearly starting to lose ground.
If fighter A is either of Amir Khan or David Haye, I let it go on, and on, and on, and on, and on....and then on some more, and on and.......
Is fighter A landing his shots, or is he swinging and missing? If it's the latter and also if he's getting tagged a great deal, stop the fight.
Reading back... no, not really. Not saying I disagree with his post, but my response really isn't in line with his. Two different scenarios, if you think about. If a fighter is legitimately fighting back, you have to give him the benefit of the doubt until it's clear that he's to the point of no return. The head gesture could have been towards his corner, for all we know - to this day, there are still two different interpretations of Meldrick Taylor's reaction when Richard Steele was trying to determine if he could continue (regardless of how little time was left). I know the rule of thumb is to err on the side of caution, but a subtle head gesture - even if repeated - leaves way too much to interpretation.
Yes, I would stop the fight. No hesitation no second guesses. He is asking to be rescued and that would be my job.
