Hopkins’ Title Defense Doesn’t Come Without a Fight

Jesse Ventura should have been the announcer for this one.

In a match that could have been staged by the World Wrestling Federation, Bernard Hopkins successfully defended his International Boxing Federation middleweight title Friday night with a 10th-round technical knockout over Antwun Echols.

But there is no defense for the performance of referee Tony Weeks.

Weeks let the championship bout at The Venetian Hotel deteriorate into a farce that was part boxing, part wrestling and a complete sham.

There were low blows, blows to the back of the head, blows after the bell, blows while the referee was still talking to the fighters and a full body slam by Echols that left Hopkins with an injured right shoulder.

At the end of the first round, both fighters exchanged blows after the bell.

No warning from Weeks.

In the second round, Hopkins hit Echols on the back of the head, knocking him down.

Echols was given a breather, but there was no warning from Weeks.

Finally, after Hopkins was bodyslammed in the sixth, Weeks penalized Echols two points.

Hopkins couldn’t throw his right hand for the rest of the round, but he refused to quit.

“When I fell, I heard something snap,” Hopkins said. “My shoulder is messed up, but great champions don’t quit. I’m not an [Andrew] Golota. I won’t lose my belt.”

In the eighth round, Weeks, finally getting the hang of this referee thing, penalized Hopkins a point for hitting on the back of the head.

In the 10th round, Weeks, trying to break the fighters, inadvertently shoved Hopkins to the canvas.

Finally at the 1:42 mark of that round, with Hopkins delivering a series of combinations, Weeks stopped the fight, improving Hopkins’ record to 38-2-1 with 27 knockouts. Echols is 24-4-1 with 23 knockouts.

“I’m from the streets of Philly,” Hopkins said. “It’s the ref’s job to keep order.”

Friday night, he didn’t do a very good job of that.

*

Jesus Salud, the last remaining obstacle blocking a Marco Antonio Barrera-Prince Hamed Naseem fight, was removed by Barrera in the semi-main event.

Barrera, who has agreed in principle to a March 3 match against Hamed, the World Boxing Organization’s featherweight champion, needed to defeat Salud to earn the title shot. He met that condition by winning on a sixth-round TKO.

Referee Joe Cortez stopped the fight at that point after looking at the badly swollen left side of Salud’s face, enabling Barrera (52-3, 38) to successfully defend his WBO junior featherweight crown. Salud is 62-10 with 37 knockouts.