CONTROVERSIAL OFFICIATING STEALS THE SPOTLIGHT ONCE AGAIN

Here we go again…

Scarily, for the second time this month, what should be a review of one of the fights of the year is instead a review of another poor piece of officiating by a repeat offender.

It was Steve Gray’s abysmal scorecard in the Josh Padley–Reece Bellotti fight earlier this month that riled boxing fans, and this weekend, it was Howard Foster’s refereeing.

A fight that should be remembered for all the right reasons is now a fight that is being remembered for all the wrong ones.

Joseph Parker vs Fabio Wardley was always going to be a terrific main event, and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.

Two of the toughest and most exciting boxers in the division going toe to toe, the fight was back and forth at times, but going into the championship rounds, many people had Parker up by a few rounds.

Then in the 11th round came the major talking point.

Wardley had Parker hurt, but not hurt enough to send him to the canvas.

He went into turbo mode and unleashed a barrage of punches on the New Zealander, many of which were hitting gloves; however, the odd couple were landing flush.

With Parker backed up onto the ropes, in stepped Howard Foster to wave the fight off.

Parker and his team were bemused, as were the majority of people watching the fight.

In this sport, the main priority of referees is to ensure the safety of both fighters.

This is exactly what Howard Foster did in this case, but his judgement seemed to be quite far off.

Was Parker getting caught? Yes. Did he look hurt? Yes. Was Wardley in killer mode? Yes.

However, Parker was still throwing back. He looked well with it mentally. He didn’t look like he was about to get brutally knocked out and hit the deck.

Wardley was giving it everything he had, likely because he knew he was behind on the cards, and if anything, at the time of the stoppage, it looked as though the onslaught was coming to an end due to Wardley starting to gas.

The problem here is the fact that Howard Foster has form for this.

He controversially stopped the first fight between Carl Froch and George Groves back in 2013, and going off Saturday night, he still hasn’t learnt from it.

Even if he thought Parker was badly hurt, he could have claimed that the ropes were holding him up and issued him with a count. No one would have had any problems with that.

Again though, this comes down to the lack of transparency. If Foster had a platform to come out and explain his decision, we would be too busy appreciating how good the fight was instead of moaning about how it ended.

Even if you didn’t agree with his opinion, there would be that transparency and understanding. The sport is subjective, and even though that will likely never change, there are particular ways to go about that which boxing isn’t doing.

The only couple of positives to come out of Foster’s decision to wave the fight off are the facts that we now have another British fighter who is primed for a crack at undisputed, and if that doesn’t happen, then we’ll likely get to see a rematch of that incredible fight.

A win-win then, after all.