END IS NIGH: Glowacki tumbles to the canvas
FARCICAL officiating, and a hefty portion of dirty fighting, wrecked the WBO cruiserweight title fight between Mairis Briedis and Krzysztof Glowacki as the former rampaged to a violent third round victory that was both triggered and tarnished by an ugly elbow to the skull. With less than a minute remaining in round two the pair locked arms, southpaw Glowacki thumped Briedis on the back of the head with his spare left, before the Latvian trumped the foul-fest with a short and sharp clump with his elbow. Glowacki turned away and dropped first to his knees, and then his face. The dramatic collapse perhaps convinced veteran referee Robert Byrd that the Pole was over-egging his discomfort as he yelled at the champion to get up. Even so, to make such a presumption was wrong from the respected referee; replays quickly showed the impact was hefty enough to discombobulate.