CEBUANO veteran ring official Teddy Alivio said there was nothing irregular when he handed out a draw score during Cebuano Malcolm “Eagle Eye” Tu?acao’s controversial title fight against Japanese challenger Kohei Ohba last Sunday in Nagoya, Japan.
Alivio, one of three scoring judges during Tu?acao’s Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) bantamweight title defense, scored the bout an even 115-115, which resulted to a split draw decision, which was widely criticized not only by Tu?acao’s camp and Filipino boxing gazers, but by the Japanese crowd as well.
“I scored on the actual hits,” Alivio said during his visit to Sun.Star Cebu yesterday. “Na-dismaya sila kay Filipino lagi unta ko, Cebuano pa gyud, but unsaon man nako nga mao man to ang akong actual scores (They were dismayed because of my being a Filipino and a fellow Cebuano, but that was how I saw the fight).”
Japanese critic
Japanese boxing impresario Joe Koizumi, the manager of Randy Suico, who successfully defend his OPBF super-featherweight title in the same card, was among those who criticized the decision.
“It looked like a typical split decision, but the fact wasn’t what the tallies indicated,” Koizumi said in an e-mail. “It’s also a question why the Filipino judge Alivio scored so severely against his compatriot Tu?acao, though he seemed to have dominated all rounds but two or three.”
Alivio showed Sun.Star a copy of the scorecard of the three judges. Australia’s Ignatius Missailidis gave Tu?acao a 115-114 win, while Japanese judge Yasuo Tomoto handed the win to the challenger, 115-113.
Missailidis gave Tu?acao the first, second, third, fourth, eighth, ninth and the 10th rounds. Alivio and Tomoto also gave Tu?acao the first, second, fourth and ninth rounds. What was crucial on Alivio’s scorecard was when he gave the Mandaue City warrior the 11th round, while Missailidis and Tomoto gave it to Ohba.
All three judges gave the last round to the challenger.
Despite the draw, Tu?acao went on to keep his belt.
“I was not there to represent Philippines, I was there to score round for round the exchange of blows,” said Alivio. “We are tasked to judge the bout according to what we actually see and I believe we scored the fight religiously based on the actual scoring hits.
Tu?acao ahead
“In fact, in my scorecard Tu?acao was ahead after 11 rounds.”
What contributed greatly to the draw was when Alivio scored it 10-all in the 10th round.
However, Koizumi did not throw the blame solely on Alivio, but to his compatriot Tomoto as well.
“Also, the Japanese judge who scored for the challenger better go to an ophthalmologist. It’s a shameful night for Japanese boxing,” Koizumi said.
Koizumi said there was no way Ohba could get a draw in that fight since it was Tu?acao who was clearly ahead on points from all angles, while the challenger offered only little resistance except in the sixth, seventh and eighth rounds.
He said even the Japanese audience were surprised when it was declared a draw.
