On June 9th, 2012, veteran judges Duane Ford and the notorious Ms. CJ Ross became two of the most infamous personnel within the boxing community. When Michael Buffer announced the official verdict of “Pacquiao/Bradley I”, rendered by the “three blind mice” at ringside, fight fans everywhere were justifiably outraged.
Or were they?
Because scoring a prizefight is ultimately subject to interpretation, and completely dependent on a judge’s personal tastes and preferences, as well as a great number of other factors, the only sure fire way of determining an absolute winner of a contest is by a clean and controversy free knock-out.
If the bout does go to the judges’ scorecards, a prizefight in the end becomes a beauty contest between two contestants.
A fight is scored on a round by round basis, and a ten point must system is used in accordance with the ABC rules of boxing.
A judge’s primary criteria when scoring a prizefight is 1) clean, effective, and consequential punching, 2) effective aggression, and 3) ring generalship…with a strong emphasis on clean, effective, and consequential punching.
With that said, let’s introduce the fight fans to the three judges at ringside assigned to the April 12th main event of the evening, “Manny Pacquiao vs. Timothy Bradley II”.
Judge Glenn Trowbridge of Nevada
Notable fights: 9/14/13 Danny Garcia 115 – 111 Lucas Matthysse (UD12 for Garcia) 5/4/13 J’Leon Love 94 – 95 Gabriel Rosado…eventually ruled a no-contest 4/14/12 Brandon Rios 115 – 113 Richard Abril (SD12 for Rios) 11/12/11 – Manny Pacquiao 116 – 112 Juan Manuel Marquez (MD12 for Pacquiao) 9/10/11 – Juan Carlos Salgado 115 – 110 Argenis Mendez (UD12 for Salgado) 12/11/10 – Amir Khan 113 – 112 Marcos Maidana (UD12 for Khan)
Michael Pernick of Florida
Notable Fights: 3/01/14 Robert Stieglitz 113 – 112 Arthur Abraham (SD12 for Abraham) 4/06/13 Brian Viloria 111 – 116 Juan Francisco Estrada (SD12 for Estrada) 4/06/13 Roman Martinez 114 – 113 Diego Magdaleno (SD12 for Martinez) 9/15/12 Yoan Pablo Hernandez 114 – 113 Troy Ross (UD12 for Hernandez) 3/10/12 Orlando Salido 84 – 86 Juan Manuel Lopez (TKO 10 of 12) 7/11/09 Joseph Agbeko 114 – 113 Vic Darchinyan (UD12 for Agbeko)
John Keane of England
Notable Fights: 12/08/12 Manny Pacquiao 47 – 46 Juan Manuel Marquez (KO 6 Marquez) 12/17/11 Andre Ward 118 – 110 Carl Froch (UD12 Ward) 6/04/11 Julio Cesar Chavez Jr 116 – 112 Sebastian Zbik (MD12 Chavez) 5/21/11 James DeGale 114 – 115 George Groves (MD12 Groves) 8/14/10 Jean Pascal 106 – 103 Chad Dawson (TD11 of 12 Pascal) 6/19/09 Adrian Diaconu 112 – 116 Jean Pascal (UD12 Pascal)
In the immortal words of the great George Foreman: “The best way to score a prizefight is by using the two most important judges at ringside…the left and the right fist”.
