However, as the fight wore on, Bute started to become more tired as Andrade started to apply more pressure. This culminated in the 12th round with a vicious Andrade assault that saw Bute being pummeled full across the ring until slumping into a corner with just a few seconds left. For all intents and purposes it seemed that Lucian Bute was going to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and be knocked out at the end of the 12th round.

But the referee, who happened to be from Montreal just like Bute, stopped the count to deal with Andrade, who he said had left his corner. This led to Bute getting more time to recover, all the while he was staring off dazed and out of it. He was certainly not in any shape to defend himself. Adding to this mess, the referee said after the fight in his interview that Bute would not have beaten the count had he not stopped it to admonish Andrade.

Eek, that's a pretty big mistake, and it looks ten times worse considering it was a hometown ref in a hometown fight. But realistically, if you watch the replay of the final round, Bute does get to his feet before a count of ten. So that really isn't the issue.

The issue is that even as he does get up, he seems completely unable to carry on. Granted there were only two seconds left to go in the fight, which would not have been long enough for Andrade to do anything. But it was a very similar situation to the Chavez/Taylor fight, when the fight was waved off in the final seconds, with Taylor ahead on the cards and up on his feet, but unable to defend himself.

So my problem with the Librado Andrade and Lucian Bute result does not amount to the controversy of Bute not beating the count. Despite what the ref said, Bute did beat the count. My issue - if there is one at all - is that the ref could have chosen to stop the fight at that point. With two seconds left, that's a heck of a judgement call, but it would have been justifed completely.

The ref compounded his problems with his statement in the interview, but in fact Bute did clearly beat the count. Whether or not he should have been allowed to continue fighting, even with two seconds left, is another issue. Just chalk it up to another incident in the stories and lore of boxing controversy.