Controversies From The Ring

In this segment, I am going to discuss controversies that occurred in or during a fight not discrepancies or the such in scoring. I am going to be talking about 5 fights that had controversies. The first took place on September 22, 1927. It was the rematch of Gene Tunney vs Jack Dempsey for the Heavyweight Championship of the world which took place in Chicago Illinois.

In the first fight, Tunney gave Dempsey a boxing lesson and easily defeated him in a 10 round decision. Dempsey was inactive and had not defended the title in 3 years. Between the first and second fights, a neutral corner rule was put into place. Before such a boxer could knock his opponent down and stand and hover over top of him until they got to their feet.

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With the neutral corner rule in place when a knockdown was scored the man scoring such would report to a neutral corner was the count was being administered. During the Tunney Dempsey rematch, Dempsey knocked Tunney down in Round 7 and forgot about the neutral corner rule.

As a result, he lost several seconds of time. Tunney would rise at the count of 9 by referee Dave Barry alert and fighting. Tunney would win another one-sided 10 round decision. Illinois and Pennsylvania at the time had 10 round title fights.
This fight is forever known as THE LONG COUNT.

Ali vs. Liston Rematch

The next controversy I am going to speak of occurred on May 25, 1965, in Lewiston, Maine. It was the Muhammad Ali vs. Sonny Liston rematch for the Heavyweight Championship of the world. Ali floored Liston in the 1st round with what he called the anchor punch a right hand to the left side of Liston’s face.

Liston went down and Ali stood over top of him yelling and taunting him he then proceeded to run around the ring and did not immediately go to a neutral corner.
Referee former Heavyweight champ Jersey Joe Walcott lost total control of the action and would never referee another title fight again.

Liston did not finish that fight lying on the canvas. In fact, he was up and fighting, but had already been counted out by Nat Fleisher. Walcott immediately stopped the contest. Ali KO 1.

The fight is forever known as The PHANTOM PUNCH. I believe there was a punch landed but was it hard enough to fell the Mighty Liston

Bogner vs. Curet

The next fight I am going to talk about is a lesser-known bout with no titles on the line. In Atlantic City, NJ, on January 6, 1984, Lightweight Contender Kenny Bang Bang Bogner (from Trenton, NJ) fought Edwin Curet in a 10 round fight. Bogner, at the time, was in line for a title fight against Ray Boom Boom Mancini.

The fight was fairly close with Bogner leading on all the scorecards. Bogner received a bad cut over his left eye at the end of the 8th stanza that was flowing blood rapidly. Referee Vinnie Rainone did not call or see the cut as happening from a head butt rather a “shoulder butt”. One of the top cut men in boxing Eddie Clot Aliano worked feverishly but was unable to stop the bleeding.

The fight was not halted and continued into the 9th round when Rainone stopped the contest seconds into the 9th and Edwin Curet was awarded a KO Stoppage in 9 rounds. The Bogner Camp immediately filed a protest and a conference was held in Trenton, NJ 4 days later on January 10, 1984. Tapes were shown and the decision was reversed for a Bogner KO9.

The NJ Boxing Commission rule book states that if a cut occurs before round 6, the bout is called a technical draw, but after such the score cards would be utilized. The verdict would stay despite harsh criticism from the Curet camp.

Sterling vs. Molinares

The next fight and controversy to be covered took place in Atlantic City, NJ, on July 29, 1988, in a WBA Welterweight title bout. Champion Marlon Starling defended against Tomas Molinares.

As the bell rung ending the 6th round, Molinares landed a solid right hand clearly after the bell, dropping Starling, knocking him unconscious. Starling also received a broken leg in the fall. When Starling came out of the knockout, he did not recall being knocked down or out.

Joe Cortez was the referee. Molinares was awarded the WBA Welterweight title. Some record books list this as a No Decision. Molinares was not stripped of the title. He had 2 more bouts and faded away into obscurity.

Chavez vs. Taylor

The last controversy to be covered occurred on March 17, 1990, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was a unification bout for the Jr. Welterweight title. WBC champ, Julio Cesar Chavez, would face Meldrick Taylor. Both men were undefeated, Taylor with 1 draw.

The was a super matchup and a great way to start the decade of the 1990s. The bout was action-packed from the beginning until the end. Meldrick Taylor was slightly ahead on the scorecards but had taken a great deal of punishment throughout the grueling fight.

With a matter of a dozen seconds left in the 12th and final round, a worn-down Meldrick Taylor was dropped. Taylor beat the count and was asked a few questions by referee Richard Steele. Taylor did not answer and the fight was halted with 2 seconds left by Steele!!!

Chavez was awarded a 12 round KO victory. Lou Duva Taylor’s chief cornerman went absolutely berserk, to no avail. A great way to start the decade in a fight that had everything a fan can imagine. It is also one of the greatest fights in Boxing History.

I am your host Frank Reading and I am a middle-aged former boxing mega-fan from the 1980s-1990s. I have no allegiance or affiliation with any Boxing Organization Alliance or Federation.

I have a background in research and public speaking as well as boxing training and coaching. I hope you will enjoy the factual information provided on this program. My goal is to educated and inform the listener on the History of “The Sweet Science”