'Not even a good one': Ryan Garcia's father criticizes Floyd Mayweather for firing the referee mid-fight at the John Gotti III rematch

It is Floyd Mayweather's world and we may all be living in it. The recently concluded rematch with John Gotti III gave us a taste of Mayweather's influence in the boxing scene. And the bizarre thing is – it wasn't even a professional fight. The whole fiasco started in the second round of their exhibition match after the referee, Hector Afuwarned Mayweather for a questionable punch behind the head against Gotti and decided to separate the two. “TBE” was visibly upset about the decision and even asked the referee several times to get out of the way.

Floyd Mayweather was seen saying “Keep your mouth shut” And “move” to the referee, who was not prepared to give Floyd’s protest. In addition, Gotti was prevented by the referee from engaging with Mayweather, which led to a member of his team entering the ring. After the confusion that reigned in the ring, the referee surprisingly left the ring and was replaced by another man who officiated the rest of the fight. After that, the fight continued as normal and fortunately, there was no brawl between the two camps in this encounter.

One person who followed the development closely was Ryan Garcia's father, Henry Garcia. And he was not particularly happy that the referee was changed during the exhibition fight on the orders of Floyd Mayweather. In response to the footage from DAZN entitled “The best angle we’ve seen” shows 'Pretty Boy' “Referee is fired and a new one comes into the ring,” Henry Garcia commented: “If you don’t have the way, money will get you the rest of the way.” Henry Garcia seemed pretty sure that Mayweather's financial power was the reason the referees were changed mid-fight.

But that wasn't the end of the conversation. Another Instagram user responded to Henry's comment by saying: “But the money came from kicking ass and collecting belts.” Garcia agreed with this claim, but felt that it was not worth eliminating the referee if the fight was just an exhibition event. “True, but if you have to take out a referee because you're unhappy, it doesn't matter how many people you beat or how many belts you won. You just have to keep going and keep fighting, it was just an exhibition. Not even a good one.” he said.

Overall, the fight was very disappointing and there was no exciting action in the ring. The fight was poor in spectacular moments and there were no knockdowns. Floyd Mayweather dominated the fight from the first bell with ease and would have easily won if the fight had been officially scored.

As the boxing community continues to debate the mid-fight referee change, it is important to examine new referee Hector Afu's controversial past decisions.

Dive deep into past misdeeds!

Referee Hector Afu, who has successfully officiated over 350 fights, has reportedly had some tricky moments in some of his previous fights. Some of the fights that come to mind are Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury And George Kambosos Jr. vs. Devin Haney.

In the George Kambosos Jr. vs. Devin Haney fight in June 2022, Afu was praised by boxing fans for his lack of intervention against Haney's frequent clinching. Kambosos felt Haney should have been penalized for holding too much. “The referee didn’t help us with the hold,” Kambosos Jr. spoke in a post-match interview after his loss to Devin Haney.

On the other hand, in the fight between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury last year, Afu was accused of exceeding his role as referee, stopping the clock several times and deducting points from both fighters for minor infractions.

Putting aside his controversial refereeing of those fights, do you think Hector Afu's behavior justified his exclusion from the Floyd Mayweather vs. John Gotti III exhibition fight? Let us know in the comments section below.