Teddy Atlas: I am sick of it!

By Boxing News - 12/14/2014 - Comments

By Gerardo Granados: Last Thursday night on December 11 at the Pechanga Resort & Casino, California, USA, super bantamweight Tyson Cave W24(8)-L3-D0 put up a boxing clinic against Oscar Escandon W24(16)-L1-D0 but was arguably robbed from the deserving victory and the interim WBA super bantam belt by two of the fight judges. Sometimes us fight fans get to see heinous local decisions favoring a fighter; the reason of such atrocities is unknown for many casual fans but the boxing experts might have a good idea of why such bad scoring happens.

If the reader is interested to score it and try to explain us how come a fight judge had it 117-111 for Escandon then maybe it could bring light on a valid reason to stop suspecting of any wrong doing.

The bout mentioned was aired on ESPN and at the end of the fight boxing analyst Teddy Atlas expressed his feelings towards the controversial decision that took place that night, the reader better search for his statement so you can hear what you might already knew but haven’t been able to express with such passion for boxing.

Just two days later we got to see weird fight scoring once again, Mauricio Herrera lost via unanimous decision (116-112 twice and 117-111) to Jose Benavidez which make more than just one fight fan to raise his eyebrow wondering what had happen. On the next bout we entered into the twilight zone when the score cards were announced giving a draw to Tim Bradley against Diego Chavez (114-114, 116-112 Chaves and 115-113 Bradley).

At times it is really hard to score a round due the difference of boxing styles effectiveness. Most of the times the fight is close and competitive, or when the lack of action and effort of both fighters make it so even that just two clean shots might be the difference. If you are seated far from the fighters or the referee continuously gets in your way so you can’t see if the punch landed. But if you are a professional fight judge you must know not only how to properly score the bout but also how to keep focus during the entire bout and to be able to move your head to get a good view of the actions.

There is no way you can make such mistakes without any consequence, so the boxing organizations and local boxing commissions must take actions to enforce sanctions to such bad rulings. These rulings are not just scandalous and a shame but also question the integrity of pro boxing.

I respect Teddy Atlas for speaking with the truth and I agree with him. But what about the reader, are you sick of it too?



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