Reflections: The dangers of MisFits Boxing

Reflections: Danger, Danger…

GBN's Scottish scribe Donald C Stewart scrutinises the polarising promotions of MisFits Boxing.

I am not now, nor have I ever been a huge fan of Misfits Boxing. In the past, I have noted that the opportunity for people who are ostensibly amateur to come into boxing is the equivalent of those doing a Sunday league game and managing to improve their fitness.

To that end, I'm not necessarily going to knock it, but, having seen the recent Misfits fights, including Big Stacks and Jordan McCann as the headline, has made me question again the way in which this is done.

I remember some time ago TalkSport took a table at a Misfits event and spoke respectfully of the referees, judges and officials who had a British Boxing Board of Control background in the main. They were there to support and help the boxers maintain their health and fitness and not end up in difficult circumstances.

Of course, some of the officials have a British Boxing Board of Control background but fallen foul of rules or regulations or just fallen out with the board. But, at least they have a foot, if nothing else, in the profession – a positive.

Then came Saturday night, the 12th of September, as I found myself dipping in and dipping out of the DAZN broadcast. I'm going to pick up three things.

The first is the Dutch judge. I can't remember the guy's name and as a journalist I probably should go and find out however I want to forget him as quickly as possible. He seemed to have very little understanding of how close you had to be to the boxers to see the damage that was being done in the ring.

I'm not sure what his background is, and given that he's Dutch, perhaps he doesn't have a grounding with the British Boxing Board of Control. But importantly, these are fights that could end up with somebody doing serious damage. It was not long before my concern became conviction.

The second issue was in the fight with Conor Benn's brother, Harley, and his fight with Joe Laws. To call it a farce is to elevate farce to Shakespearean status that it simply does not deserve.

What happened in the first round, I think within the first minute, was that Laws went in with his head low down which then came up to hit Harley Benn. Benn then struggled to maintain some kind of coherence and seemed to be all over the place. Just exactly how much of a headbutt and how intentional it was, as I have looked back at replays, I cannot, for the life of me, understand why it was ruled deliberate. But that's a referee's prerogative. They are the ones in the ring and if they see something that they feel is a foul, they should cry foul. So, he did, and Joe Laws was disqualified.

Harley Benn got the win. But then he's jumping up on the ropes to acclaim this massive victory that he had against a fighter who was apparently using roughhouse tactics to try and gain an advantage. Given Joe Laws’ professional background, I don't find that credible. However, credit was given to Harley Benn. They want to run it back. Why? I've got no idea. Joe Laws should not be fighting on this circuit, but there again, he's probably being paid very well.  So, of course, he should because he has to feed a family.

Earlier in the night, Amelia Hewitt stopped Kimbo Bimbo, the blonde female who decided to start twerking during their final faceoff, something I'm not sure we have ever seen before in boxing! She may have had all the moves then, but inside the ropes she was helpless, hapless and horrendous - chin high in the air, arms flailing, body spinning around.

Finally, the last one is the headliner.

Now in the lead-up to this there was a lot of talk about the beef between them, the roughhouse tactics of Jordan McCann and the way Big Stacks had allegedly been sucker-punched previously. It was all the usual drama and nonsense.

Then, in the second round of their fight, Big Stacks looked as though he was stepping away from fighting due to the damage that McCann suffered on his face. It seemed to take Big Stacks, the boxer, to demand that the referee took his opponent to the doctor to have a look, which led to the stoppage.

Now, I know in some professional fights there have been instances where boxers have turned round to the referee and pleaded with them to stop a fight. They are feeling it is too easy to hit he guy, the damage that they are inflicting could be life-threatening.

And referees sometimes have picked up towels thrown in the ring and thrown them back out because they believed that the fighter that was being retired by the corner was fit and well enough to continue.  Referees are the ones in the centre of the ring and can see what we all cannot.

But I go back to the question over why it was that some of these referees were actually in a ring with boxers. This looked dangerous. I can only hope that, given that we have now gone a day, 24 hours since the event and nobody has reported anyone going to hospital or finding themselves in deep dangerous waters, that all are well and fit and I'm just bemoaning something that as a traditional boxing fan I’m just having a wee problem with the guys behind the semi-pro Msfits that are bringing new fans in to sustain he sport and I should just calm down.

But I have to say what I see, and I saw borderline incompetence in a boxing ring. That’s danger, danger…

Don't get me started on Conor Benn being blasted out in less than two rounds over in America… I shall get started on that in my own time.