"I don't help the fighters. I enforce the rules," stated referee Russell Mora during a post-fight interview with Showtime's Jim Gray shortly after Abner Mares scored a controversial majority decision over former champion Joseph Agbeko in the finale of the Bantamweight Tournament. It was obvious from the first round that Mora doesn't help fighters as Mares repeatedly landed a number of low blows that simply garnered a warning from the referee over the course of 12 rounds. "First and foremost, I have to enforce the rules. Those punches were on the belt line. It's a fair punch. I have to call it fair. It would be unfair to give the other guy an advantage just because he says it's low. I saw the punch. It's on the beltline. I gotta call that a fair punch," he reiterated.
While it's true that a number of the punches from Mares were right on the belt line, there's no denying that there were several that also clearly landed south of the border. After two or three warnings, most referees would at least deduct a point of the fouls continued, but Mora refused to do so, instead just continuing to give warning after warning after warning. When given an opportunity to watch a slow-motion instant replay of one low blow in particular, a shot that was ruled a knockdown after it hurt Agbeko in the 11th round and dropped him to the canvas, referee Mora commented, "It sure...it has a different viewpoint from looking at here in slow motion. When I saw it live, I saw that it was a fair punch on the beltline. That was my call." When Gray pressed him on the issue and asked him if he thought he made the right call, Mora simply replied, "I would like to take my time and see that."
Fighters beware...if Russell Mora gets assigned to referee your bout, know that he "doesn't help fighters", he just "enforces the rules." Unfortunately, it just takes him forever before he actually does start enforcing the rules!
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