FOR 33 years the excruciating bore-draw clash between Johnny Nelson and Puerto Rican Carlos De Leon has been unopposed as the worst world title fight ever in this country.
The fans were subjected to 12 sleep-inducing rounds and those who did manage to stay awake in Sheffield’s City Hall could have counted the number of meaningful punches on their fingers.
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Until Lawrence Okolie and Chris Billam-Smith wrestled through their WBO cruiserweight title contest last Saturday, I never thought I would have to again suffer such a mind-numbing experience from so-called elite boxers.
Nelson, a respected TV pundit, can rest easy now the stigma he was saddled with has at last been lifted off his shoulders.
Marcus McDonnell, one of Britain’s finest and most experienced referees, is to blame for allowing Sky viewers and the 15,000 sell-out crowd at Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium to take unnecessary punishment.
McDonnell should have had the courage to disqualify Okolie for making a mockery of such an important fight.
I felt extremely sorry for local boy Billam-Smith — eager to put on a good show for his family and friends but stifled by Okolie’s constant holding.
Limpet Lawrence, from the opening bell, wrapped his long arms around him and refused to let go for most of the 36 minutes until Billam-Smith lifted the crown with a majority points win.
And an exasperated McDonnell several times stopped the action to angrily lecture Okolie about his persistent rule-breaking.
Marcus bent over backwards so far, being kind to Okolie by not throwing him out, that it’s a wonder he didn’t snap his spinal cord.
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He did at least deduct a couple of points but that still didn’t stop Okolie holding on to Billam-Smith for dear life.
Chris must have been mightily relieved that Okolie wasn’t still clinging to him when he went home.
I can understand McDonnell’s reluctance to dismiss Okolie.
No doubt, he had the paying ringside customers in mind.
And he knew that, if he did disqualify him, Okolie’s purse would have been withheld pending a disciplinary hearing, which could have led to a sizeable fine.
Marcus should have copied the late, great Mills Lane, who refereed Lennox Lewis’ world heavyweight title defence against Henry Akinwande in Nevada 26 years ago.
Akinwande decided he wasn’t going to risk being hit so he grabbed Lewis’s arms from the start and refused to let go.
After taking a point off Akinwande, Mills lost his patience in the fifth when he spent 19 seconds trying to get Henry to release his grip.
Along with everyone else, I cheered when he sent Akinwande back to his dressing room in disgrace.
The alarming postscript to last weekend’s miserable affair came when Okolie immediately announced that he was invoking the return-fight clause.
Surely, only the most extreme masochists would want to see that again . . .
