July 13th, 2011 By Manny Caballero
Teddy Atlas
with scores of 98-92 & 96-94.
CREDIT TEDDY ATLAS & ESPN 2 FOR TRYING TO RIGHT WRONGS!
Even though they said in no way were they trying to look for an excuse for all the bad judging of late, I thought that’s exactly what they were doing. They would show us how sometimes judges could miss the action because of the angle from where they were seated, etc. I can understand being one or two rounds off, but the decision was bull s*it! After the fight Dallas said, “It’s not fun any more,” seeing he felt he won, as did the unhappy crowd.
FAST FORWARD TO LAST SATURDAY NIGHT
What the judges did to Cuba’s Erislandy Lara (15-1*-1, 10 KOs) against American Paul Williams (40-2, 27 KOs) was an outright abuse of judicial power. Simply put, it was “strong arm robbery with a pen.” All three jurists gave the fight to Williams who had the s*it kicked out of him. HBO’s resident judge Harold Lederman had the “easy to score” fight 117-111 or 9-3 in rounds for Lara, If HBO keeps this up they will lose, if they haven’t already, the #1 spot for televised boxing to Showtime, who’s been getting it right lately.
CELESTINO CABALLERO TO GET “INSTANT REMATCH”
Just last week Panama’s Celestino Caballero (34-4, 23 KOs) went to Argentina to try and take native Jonathan Barros’ (33-1-1, 18 KOs) WBA 126 lb. title. Everyone that saw the fight had Caballero winning, except two of the three judges. Even the referee acted like he wanted the hometown boy to win, seeing Barros gave Caballero enough rabbit punches (illegal shots to the back of the head) to have at least a point or two taken from him, but nothing happened. Adding injury to insult, Barros was knocked down in rounds two ans nine. Still, Sergio Caiz had it 114-112 Barros, Denny Nelson 116-111, while Cesar Ramos gave the fight to Caballero 115-111. Nelson should be banished from boxing seeing the two knockdowns should have been two-two point rounds, yet he only gave CC three points in the entire fight.
SCORING FROM ST. LOUIS ON HBO WAS A RIPOFF!
The same thing happened two Saturday’s ago on HBO, this when Devon Alexander (22-1, 13 KOs) fought Lucas Matthysse (28-2, 26 KOs). Objective and knowledgeable people saw it one way, the judges another. Another HBO fight that still pisses me off, one that I can’t forget, was what they did to Luis Collazo (31-4, 15 KOs) when he faced recently dethroned WBC 147 lb. champion Andre Berto (27-1, 21 KOs) in 2009, in what was another strong arm robbery with ink.
GREEDY PROMOTERS WANT & GET “FRIENDLY” JUDGES
I believe the problem with boxing is the promoters want to make easy and fast money. They are getting so good at it that they can sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. They will make a fighter “make it” by any means necessary even if they hurt the sport. With the exception of the World Boxing Organization, who will toss a judge for incompetency or worse, criminal behavior, because that’s what it is when you steal a win from a professional boxer, a crime.
HAROLD RATED THE WBO UNUMERO UNO!
The aforementioned Harold Lederman of HBO was asked by host Pedro Fernandez on “Ring Talk Worldwide” recently, why is it the WBO rarely has a bogus decision. Lederman’s response, “Because Paco Valcarcel (WBO President) knows boxing and doesn’t put up with it.” If that’s true, then boxing needs about 100 more Paco Valcarcel’s!
Manny Caballero
COMMENTS
- Well put Manny, thanks for the article! Are you on twitter yet?Ron on July 13th, 2011 at 12:31 AM
- To see if the WBO does the right thing, check and see if Denny Nelson or other promoter “friendly” judges, work their title fights in the future. These type of judges seem to be in demand.Mickey on July 13th, 2011 at 1:38 AM
