Excuses are a part of the closing ceremony of every bout.
The winner thanks God or Allah, declaring he's ready to fight everyone who ever laced a glove, while the loser complains of a jammed thumb, cold sore, hangnail or force of nature that intervened, preventing him from winning. Frankie Otero is the exception to the excuse rule. The Cuban lightweight that only lost nine out of sixty pro fights, was a no excuse fighter. After dropping a hard fought ten-rounder to Ken Buchanan in Miami Beach, a hometown reporter asked Frankie if he thought he'd won the fight. When the reporter insisted that a knockdown had been a slip, Frankie shook his head.