When Manny Pacquiao vies for his 8th world title in his 8th weight division this weekend against Mexico?s Antonio Margarito, he?ll be doing it in Arlington, Texas and that states commission will be in charge. The WBC?s junior middleweight title will be on the line.
First off, the Texas commission and their appointment of officials for this bout.The referee will be Laurence Cole and the judges will be Gale Van Hoy, Juergen Langos and Glen Rick Crocker.
Two names standout on that list: referee Laurence Cole and Gale Van Hoy. A referee and judge respectively with absolutely terrible reputations.
Laurence Cole infamously told Mexican fighter Juan Manuel Marquez, during a fight against Filipino Jimrex Jaca, that he was ahead on the scorecards during a break in which a doctor was looking at a cut on Marquez caused by a head butt. This is despite it being against the rules for a fighter or anyone onhis team knowing the score during a fight during the bout. What Cole was saying to Marquez was that, if he wanted to, he could quit the fight at that point citing the cut caused by a head butt (not a punch) and go to the scorecards and win a technical decision.
Cole unfairly giving a Mexican fighter an advantage over a Filipino fighter in Texas. Please don?t do that this weekend Laurence.
Thankfully Marquez, one of the true warriors of the sport, didn?t take the cheap win and continued fighting. He ended up knocking out Jaca the very next round for the hard earned victory.
He also flubbed while officiating the Arthur Abraham ? Andre Dirrell fight administering a count to Andre Dirrell who was clearly knocked out by a punch from Abraham while Dirrell was on one knee, ruled a Pacquiao knockdown of Marco Antonio Barrera a slip and a Pacquiao slip a knockdown, and he had to ask the ringside judges if a cut was caused by a punch or a head butt during the first fight between Juan Diaz and Paulie Malignaggi.
So why is he getting this top assignment?
Now, onto Judge Gale Van Hoy. He scored a fight between Juan Diaz and Paulie Malgnaggi that was a close and competitive action bout that most people scored 115-113 for Malignaggi (Note: I scored it 114-114..it was damn close). However, Van Hoy scored it in favor 118-110, giving Malignaggi just two rounds in that fight.
The aftermath of Gale Van Hoy screwing up Juan Diaz vs. Paulie Malignaggi.
It was a score that proved to be so controversial that Malignaggi got a rematch with Diaz and unanimously outpointed him the second time around.
Together, Laurence Cole and Gale Van Hoy screwed up a fight between Micky Ward and Texas fighter Jesse James Leija when Cole ruled a cut over Leija?s eye to be cause by a Ward head butt, when in reality everyone saw it caused by a Ward punch. Therefore the fight went to a technical decision instead of a technical knockout win for Ward. When the scorecards were announced, Van Hoy had the widest margin of any of the judges in favor of either fighter and awarded Jesse James Leija the victory.
It was an outcome so poor that HBO offered Micky Ward, despite losing his most recent fight, a bout against Arturo Gatti a few months later. It was the first of three battles between Ward and Gatti that have gone down in boxing lore are one of the greatest trilogies of all time.
So to Cole, Van Hoy and Texas: please don?t screw this up. The world is watching.
May the best man win.
