Various thoughts:
1) Sultan probably would've dropped Austin in the first round if Austin didn't hold on to his arm for twenty or thirty seconds. Heck, he could've dropped him a second time as well (late in the round, when Austin held on for dear life yet again.) So it could've been a 10-8 or 10-7 first round, but we'll never know because Austin is such a coward.
A little holding is okay, but you can't just hold forever like that. How about a little heart, a little toughness? Since when did it become okay for a FIGHTER to be so afraid of getting hit? You're a f*cking FIGHTER, if you don't want to be hit, go play golf, p*ssy.
Referees should dock a point or two throughout the fight when a fighter holds excessively. It wouldn't be excessive punishment, but it would give a slight edge to the fighter who has to put up with this sh*t. Wlad, Colazo, Spinks, and Austin all should've been docked a couple of points in their fights against Peter, Hatton, Karmazin, and Sultan, respectively. (Don't worry, Wlad is usually so dominant that one or two points won't matter much, and of course won't matter at all when he knocks out his opponent! Calzaghe was docked a point but it didn't matter because he decimated Lacy.) If I was the ref, I would've docked a point against Austin in the first round, and one point in the final round.
2) If Sultan has problems with a tall fighter who's going to hold a lot, he's going to have BIG problems against Wlad! As much as I enjoy seeing a smallish white HW- reminiscent of the old days- his size is a huge disadvantage.
3) Can Teddy Atlas stop talking for ten seconds? Nah!
4) The color commentator repeatedly said how great the fight was. Huh? A decent first round (would've been much better without the holding) and two knock downs, and that's a great fight? Nah. Lyakhovich/ Brewster was a great fight. This was mediocre at best.
I hate cautious, conservative, "defensive" fighters like Austin. They're so boring. And I'm not that racially biased about this, because I was livid about Timur Ibragimov's "performance" against Calvin Brock. I detest that style of fighting. I don't care if they win fighting that way. I'm a fight fan, I want action!!