Steve Smoger should be "Pistol Whipped"

perhaps, but even if so, it was necessary for the sake of balance, as Lampley spent every free moment prior to Berto's fight gushing about Miranda to anyone within earshot.

I agree with Mitchell Kane in that the only way Smoger could've handed the situation w/ the mouthpiece any better was by taking it as a sign that Miranda didn't want to continue. And to make it clear, I'm not suggesting that Smoger SHOULD HAVE stopped the fight - just that if he did it strictly by the rulebook, he could have.

Otherwise, as mentioned earlier in the thread (I think it was Arben), Smoger handled it as well as you could have. He immediately ushered Miranda to his corner, and while they rinsed off and re-inserted the mouthpiece, Smoger yelled out to all three judges that he was docking a point.

At the end of the round, he by himself walked over to each judge to remind them that a point was being docked. He didn't call time and escort Miranda from corner to corner as most other refs do - THAT would've granted Miranda extra rest time.

The only thing Smoger could've done different (without actually stopping the fight) was stick his hand up and shove the m/p back in Miranda's mouth the moment Edison attempted to spit it out.

I thought the stoppage was fine as well. He could've stopped it after the 2nd knockdown in the 6th, but from my recollection there wasn't much longer left in the round. In the corner, Bonilla yelled at Miranda that if he didn't show him something, he himself was stopping the fight. He spent the entire 7th round (however long it lasted), on the corner steps, ready to climb up one more step to stop it. Smoger stepped in as soon as Miranda collapsed.

I thought he used his discretion well. Far less experienced refs would've had a panic attack probably beginning with the mouthpiece issue.

 

Exactly. Plus, he spared us any excuses from the Miranda camp about an early stoppage by letting it go until the brutal end.

 

...and press releases.

 

Their "best" was the Friday morning edition, where they claimed Miranda stole the show at the pre-fight presser. I didn't check my e-mails until after the weigh-in, at which point my response was "Amidst all that gabbing, Pantera accidentally swallowed an extra pound." ::

To his credit, though, Miranda took the beating like a man, both in the ring and after the fight. He didn't have much to say to the media, other than a random quote to a Florida newspaper writer that he got his ass-whipped, and that great fighters always come back.

 

dsimon writes:

You don't read Merchant right Neil. Merchant is cantenkerious but he is not a Jack London journalist (white hope). He was wrong about Smoger but lets not go off the opposite end here.

 

In just watching the replay, the only part where Smoger did mess up is in not calling time out. He himself allowed little time to be wasted in the process and not giving Miranda any more recovery time, but the process denied Pavlik an extra :13 to possibly finish him off in that round.

Miranda went down again about :15 after action resumed, which means Kelly would've possibly had close to :20 left in the round by the time action once again resumed following the second knockdown.

 

Smoger, one of the best refs in the sport, did a good job as usual. Larry was probably just drunk again or something.

 

Don't be too hard on Sly. All he can really do is repeat what he's heard other people say.

 

Actually, my complaint with Steve Smoger is a different one to which Larry Merchant was complaining about... (if you short term memory would allow you to remember the first post of the thread)

I'm not talking about the whole spitting out of the mouthpiece and the way that was handled. I don't care about that to be honest.

My complaint is that he didn't stop the fight sooner. Mirander could have been badly hurt. He was DONE two rounds before the stoppage and really didn't want to fight...but with too much pride to quit he kept plodding back and trying to throw punches although his expression oozed discouragement as he knew he was outgunned.

His head was just a punching bag at the end and Smoger should have realized this and not wait for a third (or was it fourth) knowdown before jumping in like the hero....

 

2 rounds before Miranda was KO'ed he had a decent round 5. Then he was doing OK in round 6 when he got bashed and dropped 2 times. if you think it should have been stopped in round 6 then that is fine. Not round 5 though which was arguably Miranda's best round of the whole fight. ::

 

I read one of the judges still had Mierda ahead after the 10-6 rounds. It was a thread at another forum. Any proof to this? At best, Mierda won two of the 7 rounds. I think 2 and 5. He got straight up assraped in 1,3,4,6 and 7.

 

Are American rings very dirty??? I always wonder why you have to clean up the mouthpiece. Don´t want it to get dirty, don´t spit it on the ground. :dunno:

 

Correct. My bad....one round before. :doh:

 

I didn't read the first post of this thread. I usually pay little mind to your mindless threads. In fact, I didn't read the rest of your post.

 

no, that's absolute bullshit. Whoever claimed that is full of shit. Pavlik was up 58-53 on two cards (4 rounds to 2 - as you said, the 2nd and 5th going to Mierda). A third judge somehow had it 3-3 in rounds, but 57-54 due to the 2 kd's and point deduction.

 

Thanks. I was having trouble finding proof. I figured had it been true, it would be a big deal. Still, even in rounds. That is tough. I like to score even rounds as everybody knows, but worst case for Pavlik, imo, is 4-2. I thought the two close rounds were pretty even. Mierda landed some great sharp rights hands in the 5th but was losing the round until then and it was toward the end.

 

Boxingtalk said they had it as a draw after 5 .

 

Well, George almost got it right. Pavlik was up 3-2 on two of the cards after five, and Miranda up by the same score on the third card.

After round 6, which Pavik won 10-6, he was up 58-53 on two cards (as well as mine and almost everyone else's) and 57-54 on the third card.

 

Interesting....I never made anything of the point deduction, so when I saw your 10-6 round, I was trying to figure out where you got it from. Then I remembered:-Miranda was up to his bullshit again. This time it was gum shield spitting.

But when he was in Germany, it was headbutts and low blows.

When points came off for that, people questioned it...even though Randy Neumann was doing the deducting.

But in the Pavlik fight, nobody questioned the deductions.

Go figga.