NAC boss defends referee against McGregor criticism
“I find it very disappointing that Conor would make derogatory remarks that the fight was stopped too early when really the timing of referee Robert Byrd’s stoppage was impeccable.”
UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor recently took part in a live Q&A in Scotland, and spoke critically about the referee in his boxing bout with Floyd Mayweather in August. The case can be made that referee Robert Byrd aided Mayweather at points, although in the final analysis, Mayweather was clearly the better boxing, and better conditioned for boxing. McGregor also referenced the referee’s wife Adalaide Byrd, who has several times produced scores that can charitably be described as bonkers, most recently in Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez on September 16.
The referee was a weird one now the more I look back on it, said McGregor, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. Especially after Adalaide Bird had that thing with the Canelo and GGG fight, that was her. Adalaide and Robert Byrd are husband and wife, that’s a bit weird, that’s when I started looking back on the fight.
Why did he not give [Mayweather] instruction? Why was he staring at me? He had a vendetta against me straight off the bat. Early exchanges in the tie up, instead of just separating he would reach around and pull me away.
I thought it was an early stoppage. How the f*** can you stop a fight if there were no knockdowns or nothing previous? The round before that I almost had him dropped. I hurt him to the body in the round before. How the f*** can you stop it like that at the first sign of a wobble? You’ve got to let these fights go on.
NAC executive director Bob Bennett received a great deal of criticism for approving MayMac, and won the day when the bout proved to be competitive, as he predicted it could be. It was Bennett who recommended McGregor secure the services of referee Joe Cortez to supervise sparring sessions, so the MMA fighter could learn boxing rules. And it was his referee who made the good stoppage.
All I can say is we did our job, said Bennett to Raimondi. That’s what we get paid to do and that’s what we did. I find it very disappointing that Conor would make derogatory remarks that the fight was stopped too early when really the timing of referee Robert Byrd’s stoppage was impeccable. We looked out for his health and safety.
We did everything we could to ensure it was a level playing field. I think the fight was very exciting. The fans loved it. The health and safety of the fighter was always at the forefront, from the beginning of the fight.
There’s no doubt Conor did a phenomenal job, fighting a future Hall of Famer. Obviously, Floyd had his game plan that worked as well. The actual stoppage, we looked out for the health and safety of the fighter, which is our responsibility.
Bennett also said he plans on watching GGG vs. Alvarez with judge Adalaide Byrd to provide her the opportunity to explain her scoring round by round. Then Byrd, Bennett, and NAC chairman Anthony Marnell III will make a determination about her future. Until that point she has been given a perhaps short break to as Bennett put it, “Catch her breath.” Bennett also gently described her scoring as “too wide.”