Boxing's greatest hits of the last three months.
Aug. 13, Las Vegas: Abner Mares punches Joseph "King Kong" Agbeko square in the groin in the 12th round of their world bantamweight title tournament final -- an unquestionable low blow worthy of a point deduction.
Referee Russell Mora instead awards Mares a knockdown, inciting outrage among fans inside the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, and Mares wins a decision. A sanctioning body is so flabbergasted by the horrific call that it orders a rematch Dec. 3 at Honda Center in Anaheim.
Sept. 17, Las Vegas: World welterweight champion Victor Ortiz, failing to establish a plan to penetrate Floyd Mayweather's defense, head butts the unbeaten fighter. Mayweather, visibly angered, waits for referee Joe Cortez's first indication that fighting can resume and unloads two punches to a distracted Ortiz that knock him out and end the fight in the fourth round.
Oct. 15, Staples Center: Chad Dawson lifts Bernard Hopkins off the canvas, and Hopkins slams backward, suffering a separated shoulder that ends the world light-heavyweight championship fight in the second round, sparking massive jeering in the arena. The WBC later refuses to install Dawson as the new champion, even though he was named the winner in the ring.
This leaves boxing's top performer, Manny Pacquiao, to end the carnage of bad big fights Saturday when he and Juan Manuel Marquez renew their rivalry in Las Vegas with their third fight.
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