“King Kong was robbed!” So said Nnamdi “Hollywood” Moweta during the August 15th Sonny Side of Sports show, and I can’t agree more with VOA’s undisputed “Reigning Prince of Pugilistics.” Nnamdi was ringside at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas over the weekend as Ghana’s Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko lost his IBF bantamweight title to Mexico’s Abner Mares under very controversial circumstances.

Mares threw multiple low blows throughout the 12-round bout, but was not penalized by referee Russell Mora. I watched the fight on television and I couldn’t believe Mora didn’t deduct points from Mares for hitting below the belt. You can check out some of those blatant low blows in this video.

“I felt as though I was fighting two opponents in the ring, Abner Mares and the referee,” Agbeko said. “The referee ruled incorrectly on the knockdowns, and he allowed Mares to hit me low repeatedly. Then, in the 11th, he called what everyone could see was another obvious low blow a knockdown. I don’t know why these things happened to me. I felt the ref was against me from the start. All I wanted was a fair fight.”

While there were calls immediately for a rematch, Nnamdi Moweta doesn’t think it will happen, because Agbeko and Mares have different promoters. Veteran promoter Don King is in Agbeko’s corner, while Mares fights under Golden Boy Promotions, the company headed by former world champion Oscar De La Hoya. If the rematch doesn’t happen, I’d at least like to see referee Mora sanctioned.