Well, the fight didn't live up to the hype or the expectation. It was a disappointment to most, a heart wrenching loss for Judah who will more than likely pay for his post-fight behavior almost as dearly as he did for his pre-fight bravado. Kostya Tszyu's victory is now mired in controversy as a result of what some consider a premature or incorrect stoppage by referee Jay Nady.

It an effort to better understand the referee's actions, we have polled several arbiters and other boxing people in a position to shed light on the matter. We will unveil these interviews like much needed vitamins, one a day, and we sincerely hope that at the end of the presentation, the waters will be somewhat clearer.

Jorge Alonso is one of the best referees Florida has to offer. His appearance is that of an impeccable gentleman, his style strictly no nonsense. Jorge worked as an amateur referee for approximately nine years, and has now amassed eleven years of pro experience. Under his belt, twenty regional or lesser titles and fifteen world title fights. He is a well traveled arbiter, having worked bouts in England, Colombia, Bahamas, Poland. He has refereed top notch fighters like John Ruiz, Terry Norris, Henry Akinwande, Hector Camacho and Felix Trinidad, just to name a few.

In re-examining the aftermath of the Judah - Tszyu fight we decided to find out Alonso's opinion regarding the bizarre events of November 3rd at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He agreed to the interview readily and this is what we talked about.

BRC: Jorge, was the stoppage correct? And please tell us why?

ALONSO: Looking at the fight, and realizing that you don't look at the same perspective as the person who is in the ring, from what I saw I think the stoppage was good. Judah got hit with a good punch, he went down, he got up and then as he gets up, he starts stumbling, he takes three steps and he goes back and face first into the canvas. I think that at that point, the referee's main concern being the safety of the boxer, I think he did right in stopping the fight.

There is no question that something should be done regarding Judah's behavior after the fight was stopped. That behavior was outrageous, not only did he attack the referee, not once but twice; because right after the stoppage you can see how he pushes the referee in the stomach, then he comes and he puts his fist to the man's neck and then he picks up a stool and throws it across the ring. There is no question that there is no place for such unprofessional and outrageous behavior regardless -regardless- of whether a fight is stopped right or not. There is absolutely no excuse for his behavior.

The Nevada State Athletic Commission has sanctioned fighters in the past. I remember the incident with Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, they came down hard on Mike and they sanctioned him. What sanction they should give Judah? Really, I don't know, I don't know what the rules are for that state and what the prescribed regulations for the Nevada State Athletic Commission are; but I'm sure they will take action, they have shown that they are capable in the past. There is no question that he should be sanctioned either with a hefty fine on his purse or with a lengthy suspension. Something should come down on Judah, his behavior was unbelievable. There is no place in the ring for that.

When asked if he cared to comment on my observation that while all the chaos was going on in the ring, Kostya Tszyu was celebrating in his corner, seemingly oblivious to it all, Alonso had this to say:

ALONSO: Well, there is no doubt that this was the biggest moment in Kostya Tszyu's life. When he spoke after the fight, he was very professional, he was very well versed. As far as him not going over to Judah's corner, I wouldn't have gone over to Judah's corner myself, when the man is in such a rage, I mean, the last thing you needed was Kostya Tszyu going over to Judah's corner and creating another fracas in the ring. So, I think that Tszyu handled that properly, he went to his corner, he celebrated with his people; he deserved it, he won the fight.

BRC: What did you think of the fight itself?

ALONSO: As far as the fight itself, Judah dominated the first round, Kostya Tszyu started to come strong in the second. Judah got caught, Judah went down, the referee stopped the fight...What you have to remember, and I don't know Nady, and I'm not saying this to get in his graces, I don't know him and I probably will never meet him...The first concern is the safety of the fighter, and when the referee feels that to prolong a fight is detrimental to the health and safety of a fighter he is obligated to stop that fight. Right, wrong or indifferent the only person in the ring at that time, other than the fighters, was the referee. He sees the punch up close, he looks in the fighter's eyes, he sees whether or not the eyes are focusing correctly or not and he is the only one that has to make that decision, and he has to make it in a split second. I mean this is not football, where you can take three minutes to review whether a pass was a catch or a drop. Here there are no replays, no time; it's a violent sport, it's a quick sport, rapid fire. The referee made the decision that at the time he fell was the right decision, and from what I could see I think he made the right decision.

I saw Judah's father trying to calm his young fighter, he didn't get involved in the fracas. He was trying to calm down his son, who is a young man who had never been exposed to such a devastating defeat in his career and he didn't know how to handle it. He was very cocky, he was very confident, he made statements like "winner takes all", "I'm gonna destroy him," things like that, and it's like Kostya Tszyu said at the end, "winner takes all" is on my side. Give credit to Judah after the fight, when he was calm, he still insisted that he could have continued, I disagree with that, but at least he calmed down and he was gracious enough to grant an interview to the press, which was nice of him.

I asked Jorge Alonso if when he has refereed a championship fight, he has taken the time to look at tapes of the fighters as a way of preparation. He told me that he didn't necessarily look at tapes, but that he did look at records, preferably the past ten fights of both men.

For instance, when he refereed the Trinidad-Thiam fight at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, he said, "I knew that Trinidad had been knocked down a couple of times and that he always got up and continued. I knew that from his history, does that mean that if Trinidad would have gone down and he would have been hurt in my opinion, would I let the fight continue because in the past he had gotten up? ABSOLUTELY NOT, you have to take each incident at its value. And Nady was right about that secondary concussion syndrome, with Kostya Tszyu being a puncher and he hits Judah again and he goes down again, now you are compounding injury. It's not like Judah just went down and got up and was a little shaky but he was okay; he went down, he got up, I mean you saw the fight, the guy looked like a tightrope walker, he was all over the place, he looked bad when he went down. I don't know what to tell you, only Jay can tell us exactly what he saw in his eyes."

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