Referee Russell Mora is incompetent – Roger Barnor

In the wake of Ghana’s only title holder, Joseph ‘King Kong’ Agbeko's loss of his IBF Bantamweight title to Abner Mares of Mexico over the weekend, boxing experts and enthusiasts have outrightly concluded that King Kong was deliberately robbed. Speaking on Tuesday’s edition of Sports Night on the Joy Sports channel on Multi TV, award winning boxing referee and judge, Roger Barnor indicated that referee Russel Mora is “incompetent”. He explained that six officials were in charge of the Agbeko-Mares fight on the night; the referee, three judges, a supervisor and a doctor, indicating that any of these officials had the clout to draw the referee’s attention to any action they deemed unfair. Making references to the low blows suffered by Agbeko on the night, Roger Barnor dismissed referee Mora’s excuse that he did not see the “low blows” dealt Agbeko by his opponent. According to him, the referee’s explanation that he might have to watch the bout again in order to determine whether he committed a flaw or not was an indictment on the other officials as it meant “those he was working with never helped him out.” “None of the three judges nor the supervisor can say they did not see what went on in the ring”, he said. According to the 2005 Boxing Referee of the year, the verdict appears to have been predetermined ahead of the bout that night, adding that there have been several instances where African boxers have had to suffer unfair verdicts in their international bouts as cited by Agbeko in his post-fight interview.