Yuri Foreman's knee

Very interesting fight. A Rocky-ish scene in the eighth round with the towel coming in, with Foreman still wanting to go.

 

Fnord?

 

Free fight between Foreman and Cotto > $59.99 fight between Mayweather and Mosley. Not even close.

 

I found Mercante refusing to allow Foreman's corner to stop the fight weird.
I've always thought the first responsibility to the referee was the safety of the fighters, but maybe I'm wrong.

 

The towel didn't come from the corner, it came from his wife.

 

What was the verdict on the knee injury? Foreman told Max Kellerman after the fight that it was an old injury, but surprisingly, Kellerman never asked about specifics.

IMO, a major part of the story was about the knee.

 

The AP story said it did come from the corner, after his wife was begging them to stop the fight.

Mercante later said he thought the towel had come from someone else at ringside, instead of the corner. That's why he waved it off.

 

Helen Thomas is happy Cotto won.

 

http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/8086/referees-strike-out-yankee-stadium-cotto-foreman-card/

George Kimball had a good account of what happened.
He's right, Mercante was not acting professionally. I understand, fans want to see a fighter carried out on his shield and they feel ripped off when a fight is stopped when a guy is still standing, but when it's obvious a guy is trailing badly, taking a beating or his ability to defend himself is seriously compromised and he has no realistic chance of scoring a late-round KO, stop the fight.

 

Fight should have been stopped once Foreman came up after the slip. Mercante should never ref another fight again.