by Paul Strauss, photos © www.SnapLocally.com — click here to view ShoBox photo gallery — It was unanimous: Al Bernstein, Steve Farhood and Antonio Tarver all thought referee Mark Nelson acted prematurely in stopping the Lanard Lane versus Said El Harrak fight last night. Their fight was featured on ShoBox as part of the undercard for the super middleweight clash between Fernando Guerrero and Jessie Nicklow at the Grand Casino, Hinkley, MN. The reasons cited were, “He was just starting to fight back.” They also argued the fact that he had never been knocked down, let alone knocked out, in his career. Were they fair in their criticism, or did they abuse their bully pulpit position? The fans and Harrak’s corner agreed with the announcers.
Considering the fight itself, Harrak sustained two brutal knockdowns in the first round. The first knockdown came from a long hard right hand that landed on the chin. Harrak slammed down with a thud to the canvas, and when he got to his feet he was, as they used to say, on “queer street”. The second knockdown was almost a duplicate, except this time before he fell from the first straight right, he got hit with a second. He was in terrible shape, and Lane was swarming all over him, but somehow Harrak managed to stumble through to the bell..
In between the first and second rounds, Harrak’s corner pleaded with him, as they massaged his neck and shoulders, “Wake up, Wake up! He was obviously in a dazed condition from the brutal knockdowns. As referee Mark Nelson looked on, the ringside physician asked Harrak if he knew where he was and he responded that of course he did. He also was able to count a bit for the doctor. But, there was no doubt that he was in bad shape. His brain just wasn’t communicating clearly with his legs, and of course that wouldn’t be apparent until he got off of his stool. What also was painfully obvious was Harrak had no defense for the quicker handed (especially the right) Lane. He was a sitting duck.
In the second round, he once again got tagged with a hard right, and then the overly eager Lane missed two punches, but referee Mark Nelson stepped in and stopped the fight. It was 1:38 of the 2nd Round. Harrak was incredulous and fell to the canvas. This time he was in emotional pain. It was just as if he had received the worst possible news of his young life. Farhood in particular emphasized Lane’s last couple of punches missed. He also said Harrak was just starting to fight back.
To give Nelson the benefit of the doubt, the question undoubtedly in his mind was did Lane’s punches miss because of anything Harrak did, or just because Lane was a bit wild in his eagerness to put him down yet once again? The latter was probably true.
Apparently Nelson explained to the Harrak’s corner that he stopped the fight because of Harrak’s badly damaged (swollen) eye. They weren’t buying it, and said he should have first checked again with the doctor. Maybe that was what should have happened, maybe not. It’s like the now predominantly done away with “standing eight count”. It is now viewed as delaying the inevitable, and actually something that further endangers the fighter instead of the opposite.
Regardless, Mark Nelson is an experienced referee, having refereed bouts, including many title bouts, all over the world. He is the son of a former fighter and boxing referee, so he has been around the sport most of his life. He is from Minnesota, so he had no obvious partiality for either fighter. In the past, he has emphasized that his first and most important duty is the health and safety of the fighters.
Some fans and fighters might disagree, saying the referee should let guys fight! There have been many examples of fighters coming back to win, when at first glance it looked as though they had no chance. Lot’s of Arturo Gatti’s fights looked that way. Just about all of Jesse Feliciano’s fights seem to look that way. Is it fair to say that we wouldn’t have seen the Gatti vs. Ward Triliogy if Nelson had been refereeing?
That’s probably not fair to say because in last night’s fight, Nelson was protecting a young, relatively inexperienced fighter, who was taking some brutally hard shots, and in response to Farhood’s comment, it’s common knowledge that often times a hurt fighter will sometimes still be able to throw a few punches out of instinct, and not because he is alright.
Granted, It’s tough to take your first loss, especially a stoppage, but because of the stoppage, Harrak hopefully didn’t sustain any permanent damage, and will be able to come back to fight again. After all, this was only his ninth fight, and he is only twenty-two years old.
Nelson was recently quoted in an interview given to the FisticMystic as saying, “The hardest decision for a referee is when – or whether – to stop a fight….” He further explained the obvious when saying a referee needs to quickly determine whether a hurt fighter can continue, or is being needlessly punished with no chance of winning. Was that the case with Harrak on Friday night?