Jim Gray Video: Watch Feisty Reporter's Question Hit Ref Below the Belt
Jim Gray could’ve, and should’ve, gotten punched right in the mouth on live television a number of times during his career as a sportscaster.
His Pete Rose interview comes to mind as one where he made himself look like the biggest instigator in the business. While the vast majority of fans and players aren’t too fond of Gray, everyone had to give him props for his interview with boxing referee Russell Mora.
Mora reffed the fight between Abner Mares and Joseph Agbeko on Saturday night, but the fight ended up being more about the refereeing than the boxers themselves. Mares came out on top, but there was a nice big asterisk next to his latest win.
He landed low blow after low blow throughout the night. Mares is a fighter that’s known for such tactics and had a point deducted in his last match against Vic Darchinyan for doing so. But the cheap shot artist was swinging low more often than usual on Saturday.
Mares continued to connect low blows against Agbeko, but Mora refused to penalize Mares. In the 11th round, Agbeko fell to the floor after another low blow and Mora ruled it as a knockdown. The ref was obviously biased against him, and Gray exposed Mora live.
Despite being shown video evidence, Mora continued to play dumb even though the punch wasn’t even close to being on the belt. If he isn’t fired, it would be a shocker. While Gray came out looking like a villain in his interview with Rose, his questioning of Mora earned him the label of hero.
The interview is definitely one to remember. Of course, it still doesn’t touch the response he got from Mike Tyson: pure gold.
David Daniels is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report and a Syndicated Writer. Follow him on Twitter.
