Veteran MMA referee John McCarthy addresses Tyson Fury 10 count controversy

Resurgent Brit Tyson Fury put forth a masterful performance in his Saturday night WBC heavyweight title fight with champion Deontay Wilder. Unfortunately, the bout was not without controversy.

In the 12th round of the fight — which was ultimately ruled a draw — Tyson Fury was knocked senseless by a crushing Deontay Wilder combination. Miraculously, however, the Brit was able to return to his feet, and in the eyes of many onlookers, went on to outperform Wilder for the remainder of the final round.

In the wake of this jaw-dropping sequence, however, some fans pointed out that it seemed to take Tyson Fury more than 10 seconds to return to his feet. These fans argued that this meant Fury failed to answer the referee’s 10 count, and therefore should have lost the fight by knockout.

Veteran MMA referee “Big” John McCarthy took it upon himself to explain to one of these fans how this process works.

1/2 Yes sir, I can explain it to you. You need to understand the mechanics for a knockdown which is as soon as the referee calls the fighter down the time keeper starts a count. The referee moves the standing fighter away towards a neutral corner and then picks up the count from https://t.co/OWVqdORZuS

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) December 3, 2018

2/2 the timekeeper at we will say somewhere around 3 or 4. The referee then continues his count up to 10 if the fighter is still down. It is a “10” count not 10 seconds of time. The referee was perfect in this situation. Hope this helps. It was a great fight, wasn’t it https://t.co/OWVqdORZuS

— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) December 3, 2018

“Yes sir, I can explain it to you,” he responded to a fan on Twitter. “You need to understand the mechanics for a knockdown which is as soon as the referee calls the fighter down the time keeper starts a count. The referee moves the standing fighter away towards a neutral corner and then picks up the count from the timekeeper at we will say somewhere around 3 or 4. The referee then continues his count up to 10 if the fighter is still down. It is a ’10’ count not 10 seconds of time. The referee was perfect in this situation. Hope this helps. It was a great fight, wasn’t it?”

Given that Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder’s fight was ruled a draw, it seems quite likely that the pair will rematch in the New Year — unless either man can come to an agreement with Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua.

What do you think of this explanation from John McCarthy?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 12/3/2018.