Over 20,000 fans packed Yankee Stadium on Saturday to bear witness to the first fight card in the Bronx since 1976, when Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton headlined the famed venue in their third and final bout.
And much like its predecessors, the Miguel Cotto-Yuri Foreman World Boxing Association (WBA) junior middleweight championship contest contained every bit as high drama as Ali’s unanimous victory over Norton 34 years ago, Max Schmeling’s shocking knockout of Joe Louis in 1936 followed by Louis’ first round destruction of Schmeling two years later, and ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson’s 14th round submission to Joey Maxim due to heat exhaustion in 1952.
Foreman, the first practicing Orthodox Jewish boxing world champion in over 70 years, attempted to outbox his stronger opponent; but as the fight wore on not only did Cotto’s superior punching power become more telling, so too was the observation that he was beating the defending champion at his own game.
The eventual end came in the ninth round when Cotto (35-2, 28 KO’s) delivered a picture perfect, signature left hook to the body that sent Foreman (28-1, 8 KO’s) to his knees, prompting referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. to stop the bout 42 seconds into the round and give Cotto a title win in his third different weight class.
The real story of the evening though was what happened in the two rounds prior to Cotto’s one-punch knockout.
In the seventh round, with Cotto ahead on all the judges’ scorecards, and in total command of the fight, Foreman’s right knee completely gave out, sending the aspiring rabbi tumbling to the canvas. Foreman, whose knee is always wrapped in a black brace due to a previous injury, was in obvious pain and, as a result, the lateral movement he displayed throughout the entire fight became non-existent.
"I was making side-to-side movement and it gave out," Foreman said. "It was a lot of pain, a lot of sharp pain. Couldn't do a lot of moves."
With Foreman virtually unable to move laterally, as evidenced by an obvious limp and the pained expression on his face whenever he had to exert himself in that regard, Foreman was left with no alternative but to get into toe-to-toe exchanges with Cotto; which would turn out to be a losing proposition for the former champion due to his lack of punching power.
Foreman’s injured knee would send him to the canvas again later in the seventh round but he would gamely finish the stanza and inform his corner and the referee that he wanted to continue.
So although severely compromised by an injured knee that would not allow him to execute his game plan, Foreman came out for the eighth round to essentially become target practice for Cotto. Foreman would fire back but was taking much more punishment than he was doling out.
Therefore, in order to protect their fighter, Foreman’s corner threw in the towel early in the eighth round at the insistence of Forman’s wife, Leyla Leidecker; which brought an immediate halt to the action and a seemingly merciful end to the fight.
However, in a bizarre scene, referee Arthur Mercante, Jr. forcefully threw the towel back outside the ring and asked Foreman if he wanted to continue; a question to which every true fighter will answer in the affirmative, as did Foreman.
Subsequently, Mercante proceeded to clear the ring and instruct Cotto and Foreman to re-engage.
"There was no need to stop the fight," Mercante said. "They were in the middle of a great exchange, a great fight.... I felt like I did the right thing."
Wrong.
Mercante, a highly regarded official in the sport, miserably failed to safeguard the welfare of a fighter whose ability to protect himself was extremely limited due to an injury.
Mercante’s comments sounded like those of an avid boxing fan rather than a seasoned referee. The problem there is Mercante was functioning in an official capacity and failed to separate what he wanted to see as a fan and what he should have done as a referee.
Mercante ignored the request of a boxer’s corner, which is charged with knowing what is best for their respective fighter, to encourage an injured combatant to continue; which could set a very dangerous precedent.
Fortunately, Foreman wasn’t seriously hurt while he was taking unnecessary punishment at the hands of Cotto. But he could have been and what if he was?
Although respected in the sport, Mercante does have a history of allowing fighters to take too much punishment before stepping in for their protection; and this latest incident should cast a brighter light on Mercante's questionable ring protocol when it comes to stopping fights.
Last week, baseball umpire Jim Joyce was widely criticized for a blown call that cost Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game.
In all actuality though, Arthur Mercante, Jr. should be the official coming under infinitely more fire for a blown call that, technically, could have cost a man his career and/or his life.
Click here to read the original article on Examiner.com which includes relevant links and videos of Arthur Mercante, Jr.'s questionable judgment calls in past years.
Referee blows call in Cotto-Foreman bout at Yankee Stadium
