'El Guapo' was ugly

Referee Laurence Cole is nicknamed “El Guapo” but he looked ugly in another sub-par performance as the third man in the ring during the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito brawl for the vacant WBC superwelterweight crown at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, last Saturday night.

Cole, 47, probably wouldn’t have gotten the job to work the bout if not for his father Dickie who was acknowledged by ring announcer Michael Buffer in pre-fight introductions as the boxing administrator of the Texas State Athletic Commission. His father was a long-time president of the North American Boxing Federation which is affiliated with the WBC, the sanctioning body for Pacquiao’s latest feat. Cole used to tag along with his father in major boxing events as a photographer before joining the elite corps of arbiters “because of connections,” according to a fight insider. Delicadeza is a word that seems not to exist in the Cole family’s vocabulary.

Cole has worked over 20 world title fights since 1994. His first world championship assignment involved a Filipino, Rolando Bohol, who was stopped by Orlando Canizales in an IBF bantamweight title match. In fairness, Bohol gave Cole a good rating before the Pacquiao fight. “I rate him as a good ref during my time,” said Bohol who now works in a Las Vegas hotel. “I think he will be fair and consistent during the course of the fight.”

But several boxing experts vehemently disagreed with Bohol’s assessment, pointing to Cole’s blunders during Pacquiao’s first fight against Marco Antonio Barrera in San Antonio in 2003.

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In the first minute of the bout, Pacquiao tripped on his feet and fell. Cole quickly moved in to give the startled Pacquiao a mandatory eight-count. The American TV panel covering the bout called it “an administrative gift” to Barrera. In the sixth round, Barrera went down from a punch but Cole ruled it a slip. In the seventh, Cole warned Barrera for deliberately butting Pacquiao when it should’ve been an automatic point deduction because of the nature of the infraction. In the ninth, Cole deducted a point from Barrera for a deliberate butt when it should’ve been a two-point deduction. Under the rules, a deliberate butt that opens a cut but does not lead to stopping the fight carries a penalty of a two-point deduction. A deliberate butt that leads to a stoppage carries a penalty of disqualification.

In the 11th round, Cole was a flurry too late in stopping the carnage and may not have even stepped in if not for Barrera’s brother throwing in the towel. Pacquiao made sure of Cole’s irrelevance by halting Barrera to capture the Ring Magazine world featherweight crown.

Cole has a shameful history of indecisiveness, not to mention poor decision-making. There are reports that in some fights, he wouldn’t decide if a butt or punch caused a cut and left it up to the judges. In 2006, Cole was even cited for indiscretion by informing Juan Manuel Marquez he was ahead on points while the Mexican was being examined by a ringside physician for a butt-inflicted cut during a fight against Filipino Jimrex Jaca. And only last March, Cole was chastised for gross incompetence in working the Andre Dirrell-Arthur Abraham bout in Detroit. Dirrell was clearly floored in the 10th round but Cole called it a slip. And in the next round, Cole disqualified Abraham, an Armenian who now lives in Germany. Dirrell is an American from Michigan.

In the Pacquiao-Margarito fight, Cole showed lack of mercy – if not guts – by allowing the bout to go the distance despite the Mexican’s helplessness. In the 11th round, Pacquiao hit Margarito at will and even glanced at the referee in the middle of a bombardment as if to wonder why there was no move to stop the massacre. Before the 12th round, Pacquiao even asked Margarito if he was okay, almost assuring he would ease off the punishment. Surely, that gesture should’ve evoked a feeling of compassion from Cole who’s probably as cold-hearted as he is incompetent.

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At least thrice, Cole checked on Margarito’s huge swelling under the right eye, holding up two fingers to certify vision. Cole couldn’t make up his mind to stop it. Of course, Margarito could still see from the opening of the slit in his right eye and his left eye was only slightly damaged so discerning how many fingers Cole held up was no problem. But Cole missed the point completely. In boxing, a referee’s primary concern is to protect the fighters, not to satisfy the thirst for blood by fans. There was really no justification to continue the one-sided affair because Margarito was way behind on points and had no fight left in his hands. The only thing that kept Margarito’s heart beating was his boxer’s instincts. Cole should’ve known that.

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Instead, he risked permanent injury on Margarito by allowing him to continue fighting with a severe handicap to his vision. Pacquiao could’ve gone for the kill in the final round and left Margarito out cold on the canvas. But as he told an interviewer after the fight, “boxing is not killing.” Boxing is an art and science. It’s not meant to put anyone in the hospital or the grave. An incompetent referee with a distorted view of the fight game should be banned from the sport.

Cole presumably wanted Margarito to finish the fight on his feet because that’s how a warrior would wish to go down in defeat – not horizontally, not sitting on a stool but standing proudly. But what a price to pay for a fleeting moment of misguided glory.

Cole bungled it again. He could’ve set a fine example of a referee showing mercy and compassion to a beaten fighter. It took Pacquiao to teach Cole a lesson of human kindness but unfortunately, the referee was unmoved by his gesture.

Postscript: In a late change, Gale Van Hoy was replaced by Oren Schellenberger in the panel of judges for the Pacquiao-Margarito bout. Both Van Hoy, 76, and Schellenberger, 71, are septuagenarians from Texas. Schellenberger scored it 119-109 for Pacquiao. Another judge Juergen Langos, a former German heavyweight fighter, had it a shutout for the Filipino, 120-108, even as Margarito clearly took the sixth round where Pacquiao was doubled up from a left hook-uppercut to the side of the body. Langos was the same judge who scored a shutout for Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr. in his fight against John Duddy for the WBC silver middleweight crown last June. The two other judges had it 117-111 and 116-112. Could Langos be suffering from one-eyed vision?