By Jim Maltzman: Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn doesn’t understand what the judges thought that scored last Saturday’s Jermell Charlo vs. Brian Castano fight.
Surprisingly, the fight was scored a 12 round split draw, but most of the boxing world viewed WBO junior middleweight champion Castano (17-0-2, 12 KOs) as the winner.
Jermell (34-1-1, 18 KOs) and his trainer Derrick James thought they’d done enough to get the ‘W,’ but they were as isolated in that view as the judge that scored it 117-111.
Hearn notes that no one other than the judge Nelson Vazquez came up with a 117-111 score for the Charlo-Castano fight, and he’d like to hear his side to try and understand his thinking process.
While a tiny minority of boxing fans were comfortable with the Jermell vs. Castano fight being scored a draw at 114-114, most of the world saw his opponent winning.
So instead of the Argentinan Castano leaving the AT& Center in San Antonio, Texas, as the undisputed champion, he left with a 12 round draw. What’s worse for Castano is that he’s not certain he’ll get a rematch with Charlo.
After that fight, Jermell said he wasn’t sure what his plans were and needed to sit with Al Haymon, his manager, to decide which direction to take.
Judges should explain their scores
“That judge was the only person in the entire world that scored the fight like that, and that doesn’t make sense,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV on the judge that scored the Charlo vs. Castano fight 117-111 for Jermell.
“I think the judges and the referees should be accountable for their actions on TV and in front of the media. You should be allowed to explain.
“You shouldn’t do your job, and the Commission or the governing body says, ‘Right, don’t talk to anybody, just go.’ But if there’s a decision like that, the score is subjective.
“But Nelson Vazquez, maybe he has a reason why he scored it 117-111, and maybe you would listen to it.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t agree with it in full, but I think there are too many of them, and I think the Commissions or the governing bodies have to act, or you should be allowed to be given an interview with this judge.
“‘Can I ask you a question? Why did you score that 117-111?’ ‘Well, in that round, I was favoring aggression, and this happened. In this case, I liked the skills of Jermell Charlo, and I felt like he was landing the better shots, and a lot of punches were hitting him on the arms.’
“I feel one it’s great content and two, as a fan, I’d like to hear why and I think especially from referees. It’s not in keeping with the time,” Hearn said.
The judges should explain their scoring, but they don’t, and that’s not likely to change. What needs to be done is for the judges to be rated based on the quality of their scoring.
If you get rogue judges that score fights that are out of sync with the other judges and the entire boxing world, they need to be phased out and replaced.
Fans criticized Hearn over Charlo – Castano scoring
“These people need to be accessible,” said Hearn about the judges. “If something happens in a fight, basically you end up speaking to me, and I end up getting s***.
“I’m not trying to palm it off, but what I’m trying to say is I’ll go on social media and ‘What about this score? It’s a disgrace; it’s you again. You’re doing this.’
“Actually, I even got some Tweets after the Charlo-Castano, telling me by having a go at me about the scorecards. ‘It’s just like you.’
“Some people think, even on the AK & Barak show. They said, ‘The promoters, you’re the ones that select the judges.’
“Don’t be ridiculous. The promoters don’t select the judges. The Commissions and the governing bodies select the judges.
“Sometimes you get to a fight, and there might be a judge that you might not personally rate that highly, but he’s judging the fight. It’s not up to you to say, ‘I don’t like him. You got to move them.’
“Sometimes you can beat a judge, but they don’t have to listen, and a lot of times they don’t listen, and that’s how it should be.
“When you get that one card, why is it that no one else that watched that fight got that scorecard?
“By the way, Nelson Vazquez is an experienced judge, and I think he’s been judging 30 years. But I’d like to hear why. I’d like to hear his explanation,” said Hearn.
Poor Hearn, being dumped on by confused boxing fans, who likely thought he was the promoter for last Saturday’s Charlo vs. Catano event.
Fans were just so angry about the scoring; they might have viewed Hearn as being in league with the judges. Hearn was the equivalent of the whipping boy, taking the blame for the incompetence of others.