Judges, decisions and the boxers who lose out

By Boxing News - 11/19/2011 - Comments

Image: Judges, decisions and the boxers who lose outBy Kasim Aslam: The 3rd installment between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez caused a storm of controversy. As soon as the judges scored had been read, a chorus of boos reigned upon the MGM grand in Las Vegas.

A huge proportion of fight fans believed that Marquez was a victim of unjust decision and some even thinking a robbery had been committed. However fight fans would know that decisions such as this are unfortunately not rare and that throughout boxing history unjust decisions have been far too familiar.

When discussing eye brow raising decisions in boxing many will never forget the draw between legendary heavyweights Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis in 1999. Lewis in control throughout the fight likened the decision to being physically “robbed”. Lewis rallied through the first 9 rounds but slowed down the pace in the final stages of the fight. With the crowed bellowing for both fighters most of the pundits clearly had Lewis ahead on points as his dominance prevailed through the aging Holyfield. The decision came in with the judges scoring it at 115 – 113 for Holyfield, 116 – 113 for Lewis and 115 – 115. The decision was definitively a low point for boxing with Emanuel steward stating “This is what is wrong with boxing” and Frank Maloney described it as “The biggest liberty in the history of boxing”. There is no doubt that fierce debate raged in favour of Lewis especially with such a huge title (Unified heavyweight champion) up for the taking.

Another prominent example of differing opinions between judges and fans was showcased during the match up between Felix Trinidad and Oscar De La Hoya in 1999. De La Hoya dominated the fight easily winning 8 or 9 of the rounds however a majority decision went to Felix Trinidad which baffled many fans, fighters and pundits in the sport. Although Trinidad came with a late surge in the latter stages of the fight, compubox had De La Hoys up on punches by 263 to a feeble 116 and the rightful winner of the fight. A baffled De La Hoya pleaded “I thought I had it in the bag, I really did. I swear in my heart I thought I had won it”. With many fans arguing that Don King paid off the judges, the biggest controversy of that era began cause fierce debates. There are more examples of questionable decisions and some could have altered the history of boxing. For example Buster Douglas could have been ruled out to continue to fight against Mike Tyson after his 8th round knockdown, who knows how Tyson’s career could have panned out. Yet when one takes up boxing as a fan or boxer always expect the unexpected, it’s what makes this sport so great.

Why is it that on occasions judges are in great disparity amongst themselves whilst watching the same fight? In both the fights mentioned above along with the result of Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao major titles have been up for grabs. Championship titles and the crowning of undisputed champions have all been on the line in matchups that have been marred with controversy; this only makes the reception to the decision far worse. Even with 3 judges mistakes will be made, it is in human nature. No matter how many judges we have scoring a match a boxing fight can never be perfectly scored. This filters down to the fans that will always have differing opinion amongst themselves. There are many excuses that could be made even Nacho Beristain may have a point when he pin pointed the blame on the casinos. However no excuse can be made for having a boxer robbed in the middle of the ring with pride, legacy and titles on the line. Incidents such as these will never cease to disappear and will unfortunately also feature in future fights. It is up to the various boxing boards to implement their teaching of scoring more vigorously for trainee judges and to give out harsher punishments to those judges who score a fight that does not reflect the fight. Hopefully through measures like these there will be less ‘boxing robberies’. How would you go about reducing boxing travesties so that boxing fights become fair?



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