Juan Manuel Marquez waded in on the Tony Weeks controversy as the Las Vegas official continues to face question marks over stoppages.
Two high-profile bouts were ended by weeks in the last eight months, leading to fierce opposition to the official taking charge of another bout.
Weeks defended his recent actions during the Vergil Ortiz vs. Fredrick Lawson contest when he ended the contest in the first round without a serious punch being thrown.
“What the public didn’t know was that before the fight, they did a brain scan on him [Lawson]. It came up that he had an aneurysm,” said Weeks. “They did a test again, and the same aneurysm came up. Another doctor was brought in and gave him the same examination. He tested negative for the aneurysm, so they cleared him to fight.”
Marquez believes Weeks has form, though, on the premature stoppage front. The Mexican legend says Weeks tried similar when he fought Floyd Mayweather.
Mayweather vs Marquez
“When Tony Weeks did his job when I was fighting Mayweather, In each of the rounds, he tells me: ‘Shall I stop the fight? Shall I stop the fight?'” Márquez told ProBox TV.
“I told Nacho [Beristain, my trainer]: ‘Hey, is he hitting me too hard or what? Or is it hitting me hard? So, the referee would go to the corner and tell me every round if I should stop the fight.”
He continued: “I asked [my trainer] why [the pressure in every round]? He’s [Mayweather] is not even hitting me. He’s not hitting me hard [at all].
“How does [Weeks] come that he’s going to stop the fight?
“In some way, he was putting pressure on me. Maybe he thought I would give up the fight so Mayweather could win by knockout.
“We never gave him that chance since we never gave up. We always looked for a way to land blows [not to give him an excuse to stop it].”
Tony Weeks
Mayweather vs. Marquez ended in a decision in favor of Floyd in 2009. However, the fight was closer than the scorecards suggested.
As for Weeks, his career has continued for another fifteen years with little controversy until recent years. The once-highly-respected referee has probably ended his tenure, certainly in Las Vegas, following his bombshell against the Nevada State Athletic Commission and Golden Boy Promotions.
It’s unlikely Weeks will ever officiate in Nevada again, leading to the curtain closing on a near-900 bout career.
