Over the years, we have all seen many controversial decisions. In talking to Jim Jacobs years ago, who had the “greatest fights of the century,” called the Willie Pastrano decision over light heavyweight champion Harold Johnson the worst he had ever seen.
The worst I saw and was there in Philly when Philly’s Tyrone Everett, 34-0, lost to WBC World Super Featherweight champion Puerto Rico’s Alfred Escalera, 36-7-2, by a split decision. I had Everett ahead 13-2 in rounds.
The judge from Puerto Rico gave it to Escalera 146-143, the neutral judge had it 148-146 Everett, and the Pennsylvania judge Lou Tress 145-143 Escalera and never judged again. Got paid enough to retire?
IBF World Middleweight champion James Toney, 28-0-2, in February of 1992, got a gift decision over Dave “TNT” Tiberi, 22-2-3, having Tiberi retire from the ring.
In more recent times, I’ve seen Manny Pacquiao lose to Tim Bradley on a bad decision. His buddy in November of 2016, Andre Ward, 30-0, got a gift decision over Sergey Kovalev, 30-0-1, giving him a rematch due to the closeness of the fight and destroying him with body shots and then retired.
Multi-division champ Floyd “Money” Mayweather got a gift decision over Jose Luis Castillo in April of 2002, so he gave him a rematch, defeating him easily. He also won a close decision. I had a draw with Marcos Maidana, 35-3, from Argentina, and gave him a rematch, winning easily.
Many people feel Ken Norton won all three fights with Muhammad Ali; I’m not one of them. Ali had close fights with Jimmy Young, Doug Jones and won his two fights with ‘Smokin’ Joe Frazier that I felt he won.
Many people felt “Sugar” Ray Leonard got a gift decision over “Marvelous” Marvin Hagler, but I wasn’t one of them. I was there when Hagler got defeated by Willie “The Worm” Monroe in Philly.
Hagler had lost a controversial decision to Philly’s Bobby “Boogaloo” Watts previously. Monroe had a new trainer in George Benton, who changed his style from a runner to standing in front of Hagler and had Hagler’s nose red as a beat in the first couple of rounds, winning a deserved decision.
At a weigh-in, I saw Monroe and questioned him, giving Monroe a rematch in Boston. He got stopped twice by Hagler, who knew what to expect in their fights after his loss.
I hope that many of the readers will give me their controversial decisions and opinions.
