When discussing controversy in boxing, 90% of the time its the judges at ringside who are at fault, but last night at Wembley Arena it was the 3rd man inside the ring that made the crucial error. After Scott was sent to the canvas from a right hand, the American shook it off looked to his corner and waited for the signal to rise. That signal obviously didn't come till late in the count as Scott rose as the referee said "9". But the referee who seemed to panic at the late rise waved the fight off as if he had counted Scott out. The complaints from Scott were minimal, maybe out of respect or possibly out of relief that the fight was stopped - although I completely disagree with the latter.
Firstly id like to clear this up. Even though Scott lifted himself up late in the count, his knees and gloves were off the canvas before the count of 10, meaning the referee had no reason to stop the fight unless he believed Scott was in no position to continue. Which if he did believe this then why not do what every referee does and check first to see if Scott can reply to simple instructions, like "walk towards me".
Whatever you say about Malik Scott, the referee was at fault, there's absolutely no disputing that, and sadly its taken away from what was a great win for Dereck Chisora.
Now to the fight, and at the time of the stoppage I had Malik Scott ahead 49-47, but with the knockdown in the 6th, that score would have been 57-57 at the end of the round.
Scott began the fight well, his movement was slick and Chisora had trouble getting onto the inside early. Scott's punches clearly lacked in the power department but the high volume of shots resulted in the American taking the opening 2 rounds.
The third was a tale of two halves. Scott opened the round well, before 'DelBoy' closed the gap and began pounding the long torso of Scott. An overhand right late in the round from Chisora may have edged the stanza in his favour, although I scored it even.
The 4th was much better for Chisora, who once again had Scott on the ropes for the majority of the round. When Scott was not on the ropes he wasn't throwing as much either, making it far easier for Chisora to close the gap.
In the 5th, Scott seemed to have found his jab again after it seemed the 6ft 4inch Heavyweight was slowing down, he was back on his toes and darting from side-to-side. Chisora didn't look concerned and continued to plod forward looking for a big shot to change the course of the session.
The 6th round was more alike with the 4th as Scott's early work faded in the final minute when Chisora's charge became more furious. With the round winding down an overhand right landed high on the side of the head of Scott, and the heavily tattooed fighter went down in the corner. When the fight was waved off, even the victor Chisora had the look of bewilderment.
While a rematch is possible it is unlikely to happen just yet, but Malik Scott should not be looking to stoop back to the level he was fighting at prior to this bout. The 32 year old could well set up a match-up with fellow prospect Bryant Jennings in a undercard fight in America.
As for the winner, Dereck Chisora there will surely be a long queue of fighters for his next opponent - including our old friend Audley Harrison who says he would like to fight Chisora next.
No comments:
Post a Comment