By Gerardo Granados: Once up on a time the rules were clear and referees were very strong to make the fighters respect the rules and to obey their commands, but now a days things might have changed for worst. According to the current rules applied by the major boxing organizations it is clear that “holding” or be named as clinching is a FOUL.
Before I continue I´ll make clear that I am not a fan of either Brook or Porter but I do am a loyal boxing fan of an entertaining fight. What happen last Saturday night was not new; it has happen in the past and will keep on happening if the rules are not properly applied by the referee.
As the reader already knows Brook was awarded the victory by two fight judges, but did anyone notice that Kell kept on holding his opponent thru the full twelve rounds? Referee Pat Russell never even warned Brook once for constantly hug Shawn. Some readers might think that clinching is part of a good strategy to keep a shorter guy (5´6¨) from getting to work on the inside but it is not the only way. A cross guard, to parry or block punches, to use mobility or a good solid right uppercut followed by a hard left hook to the head can work fine but to constantly clinch is not the best way to defend yourself.
When a fighter gets hurt then he will be smart to hold on to his opponent to be able to take a few seconds to recuperate from a hard shot, maybe random clinching to disrupt the rhythm of the attacker or to try to wear him down when you are bigger in size. But to constantly hold your opponent as a strategy to avoid getting hit is a foul and in the past referees would warn and then deduct a point, the reader must remember fighters disqualified when the holding was not used as a way to avoid getting knocked out but instead used half of the round without using any other defensive skill.
Back in 1986 in a non-title bout Referee Luis Rivera disqualified Jesse Fergusson for constantly clinch Mike Tyson. After a couple of warnings and point deduction Referee Mills Lane disqualified Henry Akiwande in the fifth round for constantly clinching Lennox Lewis (WBC heavyweight title – 1997). If you see the Lewis vs Akiwande fight and compare it to the Porter vs Brook bout you will find interesting how Referee Mills Lane was correct to disqualify Akiwande, meanwhile Referee Pat Russell failed to warn even once Brook for the constant holding, favoring Kell for not allowing Porter to work on the inside.
If in the future this situation (holding-clinch) will be allowed to happen then many more boxers will try it against shorter fighters and the fight fans will be deprived of a potentially good fight.
I scored the bout 115 – 113 for Porter, who dominated the first half of the bout but started to fade after the seventh round and maybe gassed out due the intense wrestling to break free from Brook´s holding. I think the fight was competitive and close, I believe that the referee favored Brook by not warn him and even less deducted at least two points for the constant holding. But, how come Brook won on the score cards after fouled Porter for twelve rounds?
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