Don’t expect trainer Manny Robles to send a holiday greeting card anytime soon to the referee who presided over the Luis Ortiz-Charles Martin heavyweight bout.

In the fight, which took place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida on Jan. 1 and aired on Fox Pay-Per-View, Cuban southpaw Ortiz overcame two knockdowns to score a sixth-round stoppage over Roble’s client Martin, a former IBF titleholder. 

Ortiz (33-2, 28 KOs) put Martin (28-3-1, 25 KOs) to the canvas twice in the sixth round, but it was his first knockdown that had boxing fans abuzz with delight: a booming overhand right that froze Martin in his tracks, as if he was suddenly afflicted with rigor mortis. Clearly, Martin was “out on his feet,” that is, stunned to the point of being defenseless, thus making it acceptable, perhaps warranted, for a referee to halt the bout at that point. 

But the referee assigned to the bout, Frank Santore Jr., who was at a considerable distance when the decisive blow connected, declined to intervene, which then allowed Ortiz free reign to unload a barrage of punches on the incapacitated Martin. Robles made it clear he thought Santore was derelict in his duty. 

“To be quiet honest with you, all it takes is one punch, right? First and foremost I think the referee did a terrible job in that particular round because somebody would’ve gotten really seriously hurt, really seriously injured,” Robles told Curran Bhatia. “I am out there to protect my fighter and look out for my fighter 100% of the time. And, yes, he was out on his feet. Did the referee have to step in at that moment in time? Maybe he should have. Right? But he didn’t.” 

That’s not all Robles was peeved at. Robles also took issue with Santore’s supposed inaction in the final moments that led to Ortiz’s first knockdown. Martin was hunched over when his left glove got entangled in between the top two ropes of the ring. During that time, Ortiz was whaling away at Martin, and some of his punches appeared to have hit Martin behind the head, a clear infraction. 

To Robles’ chagrin, Santore neither intervened nor admonished Ortiz for the foul. 

“Leading up to that [first knockdown] what happened after was uncalled for because Ortiz was being the aggressor, obviously, he’s got a hurt man and he’s moving in for the kill, which he did, but if you noticed during the fight, Charles’ glove got stuck in between the ropes and he couldn’t turn,” Robles said. “So [Martin] pretty much had his back turned to Ortiz, but not by choice. His glove got stuck in between the ropes. So he wasn’t able to turn. So when that happened, Ortiz punched Charles behind the head on more than one occasion, and the referee did absolutely nothing about that as well.” 

The Los Angeles-based Robles was also peeved by what he believed was Santore’s failure to warn Ortiz for low blows that occurred in the moments leading to the second and final knockdown, which prompted Santore to finally halt the bout. 

“So I was pretty upset at the referee the moment [Martin] got hurt to the moment his glove got stuck between the ropes and being hit behind the head and the low blows that occurred after,” Robles said. “Ortiz did what he had to do but that’s what the referee is for, to maintain a level playing field. And, you know, he dropped the ball.” 

The veteran trainer, however, accepted the defeat with grace.

“I was,” Robles said when asked if he was OK with the stoppage to Martin. “It wasn’t easy for any of us to take the loss. Right? But that’s the nature of the sport, somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to take the L.”