In my 2014 Boxing Awards, I included the following regarding Referee Luis Pabon:
“Best single job of refereeing: Luis Pabon
“Pabon refereed the WBA super lightweight 140 lbs title fight between champion Jessie Vargas and challenger Antonio De Marco on November 22 in Macao. The sometimes-criticized Pabon was invisible and was just about perfect in this one. He followed it up with another near-perfect job in the next fight between Vasyl Lomachenko and Chonlatarn Piriyapinyo.”
On February 21, 2015, Gennady Golovkin kept his KO streak alive by stopping former British middleweight champion Martin Murray at 2:10 of round 11
Referee and Puerto Rican native Pabon did what Martin Murray’s corner should have done when he jumped in and stopped the Englishman from taking a further beating from the heavy-handed Golovkin. The solid stoppage came after a game Murray caught a GGG thunderous right cross to the face and then dangerously dropped his hands. He was done.
Murray, like many brave fighters, is one who simply will not give up. That’s why fighters depend on referees and corners to step in when necessary. Murray’s corner failed miserably in this regard, but Pabon did not.
Boxing needs more Luis Pabon’s and fewer referees who play Russian roulette with ring stoppages.
Las Vegas has a pool of great referees (Tony Weeks is one of my favorites), but if the Nevada Commission decides to go outside for the Mayweather-Pacquiao extravaganza, they should keep in mind this referee.
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