It is Floyd Mayweather‘s world and we might just 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 part is — it wasn’t even a professional bout. The entire fiasco kicked off in round two of their exhibition match after the referee, Hector Afu, warned Mayweather for a debatable behind-the head-shot on Gotti and decided to separate the two. ‘TBE’ was visibly annoyed with the decision and even told the referee to move out of the way multiple times.

Floyd Mayweather was seen saying “Shut up” and “move” to the referee who wasn’t willing to entertain Floyd’s protest. Additionally, Gotti was also being impeded by the referee from engaging with Mayweather which led to a member of his team entering the ring. Following the confusion that was taking place inside the ring, shockingly, the referee left the ring to be replaced by another man to officiate the rest of the match. Then, the bout went on as usual, and thankfully, there was no brawl between the two camps in this encounter.

One individual who followed the development closely was Ryan Garcia’s father, Henry Garcia. And, he wasn’t particularly happy with the referee being replaced, on Floyd Mayweather’s orders, during the exhibition fight. Reacting to DAZN’s footage titled “Best angle we’ve seen” showing ‘Pretty Boy’ “firing ref and new one entering the ring,” Henry Garcia commented, “When you don’t have the way, money will take you the rest of the way.” Henry Garcia seemed pretty sure that it was Mayweather’s financial might that influenced referees being swapped mid-fight.

But, that wasn’t the end of the conversation. Another Instagram user responded to Henry’s comment by saying, “The Money came from kicking ass & taking belts though.” Garcia agreed with the assertion but felt that it wasn’t worth it to take the referee out when the fight was just an exhibition. “True but when you have to take out a referee out because your not happy, it doesn’t matter how many people you beat or belts won . Just move on and continue the fight , it was just an exhibition . Not even good one,” he said.

Overall, the fight was very underwhelming with no edge-of-the-seat action inside the ring. The bout was starved of highlight reel moments, with no knockdowns registered. Floyd Mayweather dominated the fight with ease from the first bell and would have easily taken home the win if the fight was officially scored.

As the boxing community continues to debate the mid-fight referee swap, it’s essential to examine the past controversial decisions of the replaced referee, Hector Afu.

Deep dive into past transgressions!

The referee Hector Afu, who has successfully officiated over 350 fights, reportedly had some dodgy moments while officiating some of his previous fights. Some of the matches 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 criticized 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 ref didn’t give us any help with the holding,” Kambosos Jr stated after his loss to Devin Haney in the post-match interview.

On the other hand, in the Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury fight last year, Afu was accused of overstepping in his role as a referee, stopping the clock multiple times and deducting points from both fighters for minor breaches. 

Putting his controversial refereeing in these matches to one side, did you think Hector Afu’s actions warranted his removal in the Floyd Mayweather vs John Gotti III exhibition bout? Let us know in the comment section below.