OnThEGRiND BoXiNG

Tuesday May 19th, 2009
By Alex McIntyre - OnThEGRiND BoXiNG Scotland

Another controversy is brewing in the boxing world following this past weekend’s fights, with referees once again landing in the spotlight. Irish and Polish fans are united in their anger as their boys look to be on the wrong end of some desperate officiating. As the boxing fan well knows, taking on the job of a boxing referee is not the easiest of jobs in the sports world. Boxers lives can be on the line and the third man in the ring has the unenviable task of keeping the crowd happy, keeping the fight flowing, and most importantly keeping the fighters safe and able to fight another day.This weekend those very important tasks were trusted to English refs Ian John-Lewis and Dave Parris, and the aftermath of their performances in the ring continues to spark debate.

Lets start with Lewis who was the referee for the WBC Cruiserweight Title clash in Rome,Italy between Giacobbe Fragomeni and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. The polish fans are fuming with the officiating of Lewis following his ninth round refusal to count the second knockdown inflicted upon Fragomeni by Polish hero Wlodarczyk. With Fragomeni already downed once in the round, Wlodarczyk trapped him on the ropes and dropped him again with a right hand. He continued punching as Fragomeni was going down, catching him with another shot while the Italian’s knee was clearly on the canvas.

“No count no count,” screamed Lewis. “You hit him on the floor,” which had the Polish fans raging as no warning was issued to Wlodarczyk in what seemed to be a legitimate looking knockdown. The round was scored 10-8, but had the knock down been counted and the round scored 10-7 as it rightfully should have been, Wlodarczyk would have left Rome as the new WBC Champion. Maybe it was an intentional foul or maybe just momentum, but it cost the Pole the title and has the boxing world divided. The Polish fans are however in no doubt that a hometown robbery has once again blighted our great sport.

Meanwhile up in Belfast, Ireland…A big crowd of seven thousand turned out to cheer on local hero Martin Rogan in what looked on paper to be a routine defence of his Commonwealth Heavyweight Title against Sam Sexton. Once again the actions of the referee, in this case Englishman Dave Parris, have angered a nation who feel their boy was never given a fair crack of the whip.

Sexton started the fight brightly and obviously came to Belfast with a plan, to box Rogan from the outside and spoil his opponents work by grabing and holding whenever Rogan managed to get inside. Parris however, started warning Rogan from as early as the first round for infingements that left the Irishman bemused and unsure of his wrongdoings.
Now this was indeed a rough fight with both parties guilty of stretching the rules, but Rogan was the one continuously in the referee’s glare. The fight continued at a very brisk pace for a Heavyweight bout but Rogan was unable to put his punches together for large parts of the fight and found himself outboxed by Sexton, until a thumb in his eye produced a grotesque swelling that forced the referee Parris to consult with the ring side Physician. At the end of a very punishing seventh round Rogan staggered back to his corner looking like a beaten man, his team of Eamon Magee and John Breen tried desperately to get him up and with the doctor looking on it looked like Rogan had only one round left before this fight was stopped.

The Warrior that is Martin Rogan came out hungry and with desperation evident fiinally caught his man with a terrific right hand, followed by a huge left hook that had Sexton spinning and turning his back to the Champion. Rogan was looking for the knockout blow when Parris stepped in and instead of calling off the bout, he gave Rogan yet another ticking off this time for hitting Sexton on the back of the head. Sexton was rocked and clinging on for dear life as Rogan blasted him around the ring. Then in what was clearly an attempt to buy time Sexton dropped his hands and spat out his mouthpiece, and with Rogan looking at the referee reluctant to deliver the final killer blows Sexton actually had the audacity to pop Rogan with some very sneaky shots that sent the arena into a near meltdown. With just twenty seconds of the round left and Rogan clearly back in the fight, referee Dave Parris finally put an end to this travesty by calling in the doctor once more and the rest as they say is history.

The influence in big fights by bad referees is now all too common, and something must surely be done to insure fairness and a level playing field for all combatants in the prizefighting arena. That Parris has been involved in not only one, but two or three fights where accusations were leveled about terrible officiating can’t be disguised now as he was indeed the referee in the Ricky Hatton-Kostya Tzsyu fight where some fans would say Hatton was given a free ride all evening long…and more recently in the Amir Khan/Marco Antonio Barerra debacle. Will anything be done? I seriously doubt it, as boxing is the hardest sport on the planet to police with all the various organizations and promoters. Corruption is always likely to be lurking around some corner, and all the hard work and dedication of a professional boxer can sometimes be for nothing. Unfortunately this is one of the biggest problems plaguing our sport today.