Bute May Have Beat The Count,
But Should’ve Been Waived Off
Bute’s Gloves Were Wiped While He Was Being Held Up By The Ropes

By Bret "the Threat" Newton


All I keep reading from unknowledgeable fans is that Lucian Bute would in fact have beat a 10 count if you play referee and do the count yourself. Adding that the fact Bute gets to his feet before you get to 10, stating he wins no matter what because the round is over. Well that’s wrong. Those people aren’t taking into consideration that it’s not up to the referee to decide Bute should win just because the round is over. It’s the referees job to see if the fighter can continue or not. That’s what referee Marlon B. Wright failed to do. Long count or not, given extra time to recuperate or not, up before the count of 10 or not, round over or not, the fact is, Bute was in no condition to continue, and that’s a fact. Even upon rising and beating the count, he is leaning up against the ropes. So the ropes are holding him up. That’s not considered being up as the referee must make the fighter take a step forward to see if he can continue or not. This procedure was not done because the referees intentions were that Bute made it simply because the round was over. That’s wrong. If a fighter is unable to continue, round over or not, the fight must be stopped. Fights get stopped between rounds, after a fighter beats a 10 count, and even in the final seconds of a fight with no time left on the clock. Now the most common reply from those who disagree will be, “but the round was over, Bute doesn’t need to be checked if he can continue”. Wrong again. Like I said, the referee’s main objective is the safety of both fighters. After that it’s to make sure they fight fair and follow the rules, break the clinches and separate the two when the bell sounds to end a round. The only time a fighter can win by beating a 10 count while out on his feet and leaning against the ropes is in the movie Rocky when both fighters get knocked down simultaneously and the one fighter who rises (if only one) wins.

Wright failed as a referee from the get go allowing Bute to clinch in every single round as often as he wanted, only warning him once late in the 11th round. Why even bother warning him that late in the fight if you’ve allowed him to do it for 10 previous rounds with only 1 round left to go? That was pretty pointless and petty. All holding aside, when Bute went down and all the confusion took place, when he rose to his feet, he was unfit to continue. Had that been any other round, or in the middle of a round, the fight would have been stopped. It does not matter that it was the end of the fight. Bute was in worse shape than Meldrick Taylor in his fight with Julio Cesar Chavez when referee Richard Steele decided Taylor was unfit to continue with only 2 seconds left in their fight. That fight itself will be talked about forever because of the comeback win by Chavez and controversial ending. What’s different about that fight and this one is that the round was in fact over when Bute was up, and was allowed to win, not even checked to see if he could continue or not because the referee knew the round was over. That’s not right. Richard Steele took a good look and checked Taylor’s face before seeing he was unfit to continue. Wright did not do the same with Bute. Taylor clearly beat his 10 count, Bute barely beat his. Taylor may have been able to continue for 2 more seconds. Bute could NOT! Bute was still being held up by the ropes at the end of the fight. That’s not an up fighter. He must be asked to take a step forward to see if he can follow direction for one, and secondly to see if he stumbles. Bute stumbled from rope to rope and pillar to post before finally getting decked to the canvas. If anyone actually thinks Bute regained his senses within that 24 second count enough to actually not stumble once again is sadly mistaken. Bute was out of it and in no shape to fight another second, let alone another round. The fact the fight was over is irrelevant. It’s the referees job to see if the fighter can continue or not, round over or not, fight over or not.

Need I remind you of the IBF rule that “you can not be saved by the bell in any round including the 12th and final round”. With the help from Wright, Bute was saved by the bell. That’s against the rules. So what if Bute beat the count, the round isn’t over until the count has fully been given and the referee checks if the fighter can continue or not. This did not happen. The count was started, then paused, then resumed, then Wright wiped Bute’s gloves off without having him take a step forward and then waited for the bell to sound. You wipe the fighters gloves off after he takes a step forward, not while he’s leaning against the ropes which is exactly what happened in this fight.

The fact is, Andrade was screwed from the beginning. Wright allowed Bute to hold the entire night. Had he actually warned Bute and made him fight, which is what referees are supposed to do, then the knockout would have came sooner. If you had Arthur Mercante Sr. or Mills lane in there, they would have warned about the holding, taken points away, even threatened with disqualification. This wasn’t a clinch every other round or so. It was before and after every combination Bute would throw, and after he was tagged with flush Andrade shots that had him wobbling around the ring confused. Confused enough that he had to grab Andrade’s leg twice. How is that not against the rules? Forgetting that Andrade would be in fact the one warned for holding which just added to the farce of a job Marlon B. Wright was trying to do.

When you look back at past fights that were stopped after a fighter appeared to beat a 10 count but were suited unable to continue, change the round to the final round with no time left on the clock. Do you change the result because he beat the count since there’s no time left? Of course not, and if you do, then you should find another sport to watch. There would be several fights were the results would be reversed. Take the Antonio Tarver vs. Roy Jones rematch for instance. That was a huge unforgettable knockout win for Tarver. However, Jones did in fact make it to his feet before the count of 10, but was waived off because he was seen unfit to continue. Now had Jones been ahead on the scorecards and that knockdown happened in the final seconds of the final round, based on what referee Wright did last Friday night in Montreal, Jones would have won. Doesn’t that make you think? That would have been a huge injustice, so why is it different here? Bute would have been stumbling just as much as Jones had those ropes not been there to hold him up.

Say what you will about the fight, in the end,
Librado Andrade still came out of the fight as a winner.


Questions or Comments? Please Contact Bret "The Threat