Referee Laurence Cole, 46, who worked the controversial Andre Dirrell vs. Arthur Abraham
fight Saturday night, gave me an exclusive 40-minute interview Monday afternoon covering virtually all aspects of the fight in which home-state hero Dirrell was awarded an 11th-round disqualification victory over Germany's Abraham at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit televised live worldwide on Showtime."Nobody wants to see endings like Saturday night, but it was a relatively easy fight to work for me," said Cole from his Dallas, Texas insurance office. "The only controversy is coming from the Abraham camp and they simply have to take responsibility that their fighter threw an illegal blow causing the DQ," he added.
Dirrell was well ahead on all three scorecards going into the fateful 11th round. But, in the 10th, Abraham had started to turn the fight around with his constant pressure and had seemingly scored a knockdown, but Cole ruled the sequence differently.
The corner of the then-undefeated Abraham, now 31-1, (25 KO's), was desperate and livid at Cole at that point.
"Abraham threw a legal blow, but we had a southpaw (Dirrell) against an orthodox fighter (Abraham) and their feet were tangled up causing Dirrel to go down. The punch on its own, I ruled, wouldn't have knocked Dirrell down so there was no knockdown in that instance," said Cole.
Dirrell, 19-1 (13 KO's), had run out a minute and 47 seconds of the 11th round before he slipped in Abraham's corner on either a canvas logo or a wet spot and went down on a knee and one gloved hand, similar to a three-point stance in football.
"Dirrell's head was looking straight ahead but still below Abraham's waist when Abraham threw his right hand and hit Dirrell's jaw. I didn't think it was a devastating punch, but that's not my decision to make. I personally didn't think he would throw the punch.
"The Germans are saying I wasn't in position and blew the whole fight, but I was just off Abraham's right hip.
"If I was any closer they would have complained I was in the way."
Cole directed Abraham into a neutral corner and within four or five seconds was trying to communicate with Dirrell, who had fallen to the canvas.
"I have no idea if Dirrell was acting or not at that point. But he didn't respond to my questions so immediately I had to call for medical assistance and stop the fight. That's my training and that's my responsibility. Abraham was automatically disqualified for throwing an illegal blow.
"Rule No. 1 in boxing, going back to the amateurs: Everybody knows you don't strike someone when they are down. No exceptions. You can't allow a boxer to be knocked out twice."
Cole said giving Dirrell five minutes to recover and taking away points from Abraham was not an option because that's only for a body punch.
Cole said he heard Showtime boxing analyst Al Bernstein said he (Cole) had no alternative but to stop the fight.
"The German corner told me, in the heat of the moment afterward, that I would never work another of their fights. I can live with that.
"I really didn't have to touch the two fighters in the first four rounds."
The two corners actually became quite heated in the sixth round.
Dirrell knocked Abraham back into the ropes and he would have fallen, costing the Armenian-born fighter a point. But Cole ruled it was caused by a slap of a Dirrell glove where the laces are bound by tape and thus a point wasn't taken. The Dirrell camp was upset as it was pivotal at the time.
Cole is a veteran of 52 world title fights including three with an in-his-prime Oscar De La Hoya and the first bout between Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera. He has also to his memory worked 50-80 fights that were either eliminators or minor 12-round title fights. He started professionally at age 25.
Cole has worked three world title fights in the past six weeks featuring controversial Venezuelan Edwin Valero, the Humberto Soto vs. David Diaz fight in Dallas underneath Manny Pacquiao vs. Joshua Clottey and Saturday night's eliminator between Dirrell and Abraham sanctioned by the World Boxing Council (WBC).
Source: examiner.com
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