Khan's Tainted Victory

Posted by David M. Lee on 03.17.2009

Why the dubious actions of the referee and ringside doctor sour Amir's big night.


Not everyone remains convinced

Chances are by reading these pages you will agree with my view that boxing is the number one sport in the world. It is the ultimate test of endurance along with physical, as well as mental, toughness, with a unique blend of drama that is unseen in "mainstream" sports such as baseball and football. Unfortunately, as with every other sport, it has an ugly side and we saw an example of that last Saturday in the contest between Amir Khan and Marco Antonio Barrera.

After an accidental clash of heads two minutes into the contest, Barrera suffered a nasty gash on the top of his forehead. Bleeding profusely and unable to see clearly, it was up to the Mexican's cornermen to stem the flow of blood. They didn't succeed and closer examination of the wound would reveal why. It was a horrible wide open laceration and it quickly became clear that unless Barrera's crew had brought their surgical tools, nothing could be done to stop the bleeding.

By the third round the blood was literally spurting from Barrera's wound. Surely this fight had to be stopped soon. The Mexican's vision was clearly impaired and against a boxer with the speed of Khan it was a potentially dangerous situation. Thankfully in the fourth round the referee called the doctor to have a look at Barrera's cut. Despite the fact that the blood was running right into Barrera's eye, the ringside doctor deemed that the Mexican legend was fit enough to continue.

Yet only one round later, the doctor and the referee suddenly decided that Barrera could not continue and we went to the scorecards where Amir Khan was announced the winner by technical decision. Call me cynical, but I find it very suspicious that the doctor and the referee waited until after the fourth round, at which point the fight would go to the scorecards, to call a halt to proceedings. The gash had not worsened since the second round so why wait until the fifth round? My only guess is that the doctor knew the rules and didn't want to advise the referee to stop the contest until after the fourth round, at which point Khan would get the victory.

If that is indeed the case, and I would bet my life savings that it is, I find it completely despicable. To leave a severely wounded man box on for four rounds with blood pouring from his head just so the hometown fighter can pick up a victory is morally reprehensible. I have heard the argument that in a fight this big a no-contest verdict would not be a satisfactory result and that is why the referee waited until the fifth to stop the contest. I'm sorry, but that is a bogus argument. The referee and the doctor's primary job is to look after the boxer's health and well-being. Everything else is secondary, plain and simple.

The fighter's safety should always be paramount and the referee and doctor failed to carry out their duties responsibly in my opinion. I never had any problem defending boxing to "the ban boxing brigade". But on Saturday night they got all the ammunition they needed. And if they choose to use the deplorable actions of referee Dave Parris and that incompetent doctor as yet another stick to beat boxing with, I for one will not stand in their way.