Mora was the the Bizzaro World version of Vic Draculich. If Drac had been in there, the fight would have been stopped in favor of Agbeko, about 45 seconds into the 1st round.
I wouldn't give Mora as much fault for the first than the second knockdown. Truthfully, in real time it was hard to determine what happened. the second KD he had a clear view of the punch.
I thought Mora was very professional in the interview and Gray reverted to his prick mode, particularly with the 'you're way off' concluding comment. For all of the low blows and the commentary throughout the fight, Showtime ambushes the ref and then doesn't have the footage ready. That was a mistake. I suspect that if they had shown the multiple low blows in sequence, Mora may have conceded that he should have done more. Maybe. Fact is, I'm glad that refs speak after fights and there was a while there where the commissioners were not letting them speak. And we'll go back to that if douchebags like Gray act the way they do. You get Bernstein doing the post-fight interview and I'm confident that he would have shown much more respect without being a prick to Mora. On a tangent, some of the blame really does go to Agbeko for not retaliating. Protect yourself at all times even if the ref won't.
As I was watching it, I gave him the benefit of the doubt myself..........as I hadn't yet seen what a shitty performance he was going to give. In hindsight, I realize that it didn't really matter if Mora had a good view of the 1st knockdown or not. He was going to call it, it didn't even have to be convincing to him. Mora was intent on screwing over Agbeko in any way he possibly could. The guy wasn't even subtle about it.
Credit to Agbeko for not lowering himself to Mares level........but I get what you're saying. If I was in Agbeko's corner I would have told him to keep ripping Mares low until the ref physically pulled you off of him. As a criticism of Agbeko, he barely went to the body at all, the entire fight. That was a huge flaw in his game plan. If they fight again, Agbeko's handlers need to find footage of the Fritzie Zivic / Bummy Davis fight. Fritzie was notoriously dirty and Bummy got sick of it and went completely apeshit on Zivic. Pounding him low.......and then kicking him when he was on the canvas. ::
:: gray was not enough of a prick to that cock sucking crook. mora would have made whatever excuses he could despite any footage they showed. they showed him with a perfect angle as he called a blatant low blow a knockdown and he flat out lied on camera. he was sweating and you could tell there was pressure for him to give that interview. if i see that dickhead mora around any fights i hope to have a good clear line to spit on him.
I agree. In this case, it was clearly a bad call whether a glove touched Agbeko or not. But somehow, Mares seemed very sure the first knock-down was legitimate, and the only way I could reconcile that with what I saw was that there was a punch I completely missed. But I'm hearing from other people now that they didn't see an actual punch either. I agree that Mora is less culpable when it comes to the first knock-down, compared to the second. But the fact remains, besides not benefiting from a point deduction that should've been levied against Mares (at least one), Agbeko was also stripped of at least two additional points he deserved to keep for knock-downs that simply didn't happen (in the case of round 11 he was winning the round which means a 10-8 round that was in favor of Mares should actually have ended up 10-8 for Agbeko if Mares had been deducted a point for the low-blow, which would've been the honest and proper response by Mora). What I don't understand is that when it comes to scoring a fight, every aspect is deferred to judges except knock-downs. Judges are expected to determine which punches land, how effective they are, and ultimately who wins the round. And yet, a fighter comes off his feet, and suddenly it's a matter for the referee? If you think about it, fixing a fight is a lot easier (and cheaper) by way of the referee than through the judges (of which there are three). And my guess is that referees are easier to get to than judges, if for no other reason than the false impression they don't determine the fight's outcome the way judges do.
This was at least one instance when I welcomed Jim Gray's abrasive and accusational tone. He was perfect for the job. I used to hate Jim Gray, but as a fan for many years, I now see that he's simply there to give voice to the frustration and disappointment of fans - to ask the questions disgruntled fans want answers to. In that sense, he serves a important role, as he showed on Saturday. It was at least mildly satisfying to watch Mora be taken to task.
I was disapointed with Mares. I thought he could beat Agbeko without such a dirty performance. He is a pretty good boxer that can brawl when he has to. No need for such a shitty performance.
I thought Agbeko was hurting Mares with JABS late in the fight. The "knockdown" was huge and turned the fight in his favor. I was surprised mares couldn't really hurt Agbeko. I thought Abner was hurt multiple times, but Agbeko didn't capitalize on it. Everytime Mares was stunned he stood directly in front of Agbeko...hands apart sometime...for some reason Agbeko didn't jump on him. If they fought a rematch I'd take Agbeko to knock the kid out.
On paper, I never expected Mares to hurt Agbeko at any point. Some of the shots Mares was landing especially early in the fight - Agbeko is one tough MFer. I feel bad for Agbeko, dude's basically a man without a country in terms of the sport's politics. I'm a big Mares fan but I agree, I'd have to heavily favor Agbeko in a rematch - not unlike his series with Yonnhy Perez.
i realize mares is mexican and has more fans but why did he get paid more than twice as much money as agbeko
