I had an excellent seat on Saturday Night at the Cosmopolitan. However, it was not an excellent seat for the final sequence of punches -- it was off to my left; a bad angle.
There are two big screens in the boxing pavilion. However, they are not situated in such a way as to be visible in the press section.
When Tony Weeks stopped the fight, did it strike me that the stoppage as premature? Absolutely!
Did I think it was one of the worst stoppages ever? No.
It so happens that it is very easy to get into and out of the Cosmopolitan from the west side of town. If one knows the shortcuts, one can avoid all the congestion. I left the arena in a hurry on Saturday night and was home in 20 minutes. I didn't stick around to watch all the replays so wasn't aware until after I tidied up my story that the premature stoppage was going to cause such a big stink.
What bugs me is that many of the boxing writers who have taken Tony Weeks to task weren't even there. Since the web was rife with indignation, they felt it necessary to weigh in, parroting what others had written before them. I have no doubt that some of the vitriol directed at Weeks has come from people who have yet to see the fight.
As for the charge that Weeks is corrupt, that's preposterous. Shame on those making that accusation.
What's interesting is that I had made a note about a referee as I was scribbling away during the show. The note wasn't about Weeks but about Harvey Dock, a veteran East Coast referee who was working his first assignment in Nevada.It was the first time I got to watch him in the flesh.
What I noted was how effortlessly Dock glided around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. Granted, the boxers in the fight that he worked -- Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr -- made it easy for him. There were hardly any clinches.
However, his work was first-rate. Hopefully the Nevada Commission will use him more often.
There are two big screens in the boxing pavilion. However, they are not situated in such a way as to be visible in the press section.
When Tony Weeks stopped the fight, did it strike me that the stoppage as premature? Absolutely!
Did I think it was one of the worst stoppages ever? No.
It so happens that it is very easy to get into and out of the Cosmopolitan from the west side of town. If one knows the shortcuts, one can avoid all the congestion. I left the arena in a hurry on Saturday night and was home in 20 minutes. I didn't stick around to watch all the replays so wasn't aware until after I tidied up my story that the premature stoppage was going to cause such a big stink.
What bugs me is that many of the boxing writers who have taken Tony Weeks to task weren't even there. Since the web was rife with indignation, they felt it necessary to weigh in, parroting what others had written before them. I have no doubt that some of the vitriol directed at Weeks has come from people who have yet to see the fight.
As for the charge that Weeks is corrupt, that's preposterous. Shame on those making that accusation.
What's interesting is that I had made a note about a referee as I was scribbling away during the show. The note wasn't about Weeks but about Harvey Dock, a veteran East Coast referee who was working his first assignment in Nevada.It was the first time I got to watch him in the flesh.
What I noted was how effortlessly Dock glided around the ring, making him inconspicuous, the mark of a good referee. Granted, the boxers in the fight that he worked -- Batyr Akhmedov and Kenneth Sims Jr -- made it easy for him. There were hardly any clinches.
However, his work was first-rate. Hopefully the Nevada Commission will use him more often.