Mercante Jr. kept Yankee Stadium fight from ending in chaos

Confusion reigned Saturday night in the ring at Yankee Stadium after Yuri Foreman's trainer, Joe Grier, in violation of the rules, threw in a towel early in the eighth round when his fighter was struggling with a right knee injury. It was a gesture of surrender that was unwelcome to Foreman and to the crowd of 20,272 fans, who didn't want to see him lose his WBA super-welterweight title to Miguel Cotto in that fashion.

Referee Arthur Mercante Jr. believes a referee's job is to let fighters decide the outcome. So when Foreman told him he wanted to continue, that's when Mercante took charge, cleared the crowd from the ring and let the bout go on. When Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) landed a left hook to the ribs that dropped Foreman (28-1, eight KOs) to one knee 42 seconds into the ninth round, Mercante immediately called a technical knockout.

Describing his actions Sunday to Newsday, Mercante said, "When I threw the towel out of the ring, I said 'Listen, this fight is not over. This kid wants to fight, and he's not going to go out on a disqualification. Everybody get out of the ring.'

"He came back, and they had a nice exchange going. He lasted the round. I went to the corner and said, 'Who threw in the towel?' His corner [Grier] said, 'I did.' The doctor came up. I sat there and listened to his cornerman say, 'Yuri, do you want to continue?' "

Repeating Foreman's answer, Mercante said, " 'Yes, I do.' Clear as day, I heard that. I walked away and waited for the round to start. He came out and looked all right, but he took that one kidney shot and you could tell right there he didn't want any more."

After the bout, Grier complained that Mercante should have asked the doctor to evaluate whether his fighter should continue on a right knee that was wrenched when he slipped on a puddle of water near Cotto's corner early in the seventh round. He slipped a second time in the seventh, and it buckled early in the eighth just before Grier threw the towel.

"Now he's no longer mobile," Grier said. "He's no longer Yuri Foreman. I was worried about him getting hit too hard. I wanted him to leave with dignity."

After hearing Grier's comment, Foreman said, "I don't know what they could do. I wanted to continue."

Foreman admitted feeling "sharp pain." He wore a knee brace as a result of an injury suffered during his youth in Israel. Although Cotto took an early lead, Foreman moved around the ring sharply with his trademark mobility, giving no indication he entered at anything less than 100 percent fit.

When Grier had the chance to ask for the doctor during the delay in the eighth, Mercante said he didn't. Echoing the philosophy of his father, Hall of Famer Arthur Mercante Sr., who reffed the last fight at old Yankee Stadium and died in April at the age of 90, Arthur Jr. said, "I don't like to DQ guys. It's their show."

Although Foreman was compromised by the knee injury, Mercante saw him fighting gamely, even rocking Cotto with a left hook just before the towel came in. During the delay, Mercante went to Malvina Lathan, chairman of the New York State Athletic Commission, who had the power to stop the fight.

Mercante said, "She said, 'It's your fight. It's your call.' "

He didn't want the first big fight at new Yankee Stadium to end with an unsatisfying DQ. "Absolutely right," Mercante said, "and the kid didn't want it to end that way."