TOM MOREAU vs. JOHN ORTOLANI

(CURRENT STATUS OF DECISION)

    At the conclusion of the fight between Tom Moreau and John Ortolani, Mr. Moreau’s corner expressed the desire to have the TKO loss changed to a “no contest.” I explained to them that, at this point, the fight had been stopped by a judgement call from the fight doctor. Traditionally, judgement calls are never overturned. In order for the protest to have a chance, Team Moreau needed to show compelling evidence that standard protocols or  practices were not followed either correctly, or at all. Team Moreau made the case to the New Hampshire Boxing Commission that the doctor did not follow the standard practice of cleaning the laceration to get a clear view of where and how serious the cut is. This is supposed to be done before a decision to call the fight is made, and this situation illustrates why.

    The fight started off in a very exciting manner with big strikes, takedowns, and reversals. At almost a minute and a half into the fight, Moreau had Ortolani in his guard. It is at this point that a cut which had opened up on Moreau became an issue. There was a lot of blood and it began draining directly into Tom’s eye. Due to the large amount of blood surrounding and inside the eye, it was not possible to tell where the cut was in relation to the eye.  I signaled for the doctor to come in and asses the cut. The doctor came into the cage, spoke to Mr. Moreau breifly, and called the fight. Up until this point, the eye and the blood surrounding it had not been wiped clean to determine location and seriousness of the cut. Mr. Moreau stated to me that the doctor told him the cut looked “very serious” and that Tom should “get to the emergency room and get checked out as soon as possible.” Upon exiting the cage Tom’s eye was wiped clean by one of his cornermen, revealing only a minor cut well below the eye which may not have even required stiches. It was at this point that the doctor stated that the cut was not serious and that a trip to the emergency room was not neccessary. Team Moreau was very upset that, had the wound been cleaned in the cage before the fight was stopped, all factors indicate that the fight would have continued.

    The NH Commission listened to Team Moreau, and then spoke to the doctor. The doctor acknowledged that had he cleaned off the cut first, he would not have stopped the fight. He said that, due to the amount of blood and the initial appearance of the injury, he called a halt to the fight. Now, before people start trying to talk bad about how this went down I want to thank the doctor for doing the right thing. Dr. Claussen(sp.) could have easily circled the wagons, dug in his heels, and said that his judgement call was in the interest of safety and that’s that. He did not. He chose to do the right thing and that was to acknowledge that an important step was left out. He felt it not right that a fighter should have a loss on his record because he made a quick decision. I applaud him for stepping up like that.

    Currently, the fight is being declared a no contest. This is because, as per the rules, “if something inadvertent happens which causes the fight to not continue, AND less than half of the first round has gone by, the fight shall be declared a no contest.” If it had been more than half way thru the round, then the judges would have scored the fight up to that point. I have heard that 3 different promotions are trying to sign this rematch and from what everybody saw at Combat Zone, this rematch has great potential. Thanks to all involved for keeping cool heads and working hard to ensure the right decisions were made. See you all next time!

Kevin the ref