Boxing has a lot of issues. Too many to list in one column. The two biggest problems in boxing today are a shrinking fan base and poor judging, and these two go hand in hand. Whenever a fight like Oscar De La Hoya vs. Floyd Mayweather happens, millions of casual fans will sit down and give boxing a chance. I cannot count how many times I have heard such people say that they would never watch boxing again because they watched the wrong person receive the decision win. Controversial decisions are terrible for boxing. They embarrass the sport in front of potential fans and drive off jaded former fans that are tired of the corruption and incompetence.
Poor judging happens extremely frequently and it seems like nobody is doing anything about it. Recently some have proposed a new scoring system that would replace the 10-point must status quo. That would be fantastic. I would be 100 percent in favor of doing away with the 10-point must system; a scoring method that I have never been a fan of. However the problem would not be solved. No matter what scoring system is in place, poor decision will happen as long as poor judges are assigned. There are a handful of judges who routinely produce head-scratching scorecards yet are still allowed to judge fights. This has to stop in order to save boxing from further decline. So no more blanket statements or beating around the bush. It is time to name names.
1. Dalby Shirley
Dalby Shirley is renowned in boxing circles as the worst high profile boxing judge. No one suspects that he is corrupt, nor does he favor a certain style of fighter. Yet Shirley consistently gives out scores that differ from what everyone else is watching. When listening to Shirley’s scores being read off, I am very shocked if he actually picked the right person to win for a change. In 2006, Kassim Ouma easily handled Marco Antonio Rubio yet Shirley scored the fight 114-113 for Rubio. Luckily the other two judges overruled the verdict. Most recently he was one of the judges who gave Demetrius Hopkins a very wide unanimous decision over Steve Forbes in a fight that most felt that Forbes won.
Among the other blunders, Shirley scored Julio Cesar Chavez vs. Frankie Randall 2 for Chavez. Oscar De La Hoya vs. Pernell Whitaker was scored for De La Hoya by a wide margin. In 1992, Shirley disappointed Alex Stewart against George Foreman with a 94-93 scorecard for Big George. The second fight between Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns was scored a draw. The first fight between Marco Antonio Barrera and Erik Morales was scored for Morales. A 1995 bout between Miguel Angle Gonzalez and Lamar Murphy was unjustly scored for Gonzalez. He scored a 2006 bout between Corey Johnson and Jose Varela a draw. Heriberto Ruiz vs. Samuel Lopez was scored a draw. Rogelio Castaneda, JR., was robbed against Dagoberto Najera with the help of his ridiculous 118-109 scorecard for Najera. Shirley perplexingly gave Sedreck Fields the nod over Oliver McCall in their 2000 match, but luckily was overturned by the other two judges. I could go on but you get the picture.
2. Daniel Talon
Talon is a European based judge who has played a major role in giving overseas officiating a bad name. Talon will shamelessly favor the hometown fighters. The fights that he has judged have not been of the highest worldwide profile, but that does not give him the excuse to put forth terrible scorecards. He played a role in robbing Juan Jose Landaeta of the WBA Light Flyweight Title against Koki Kameda. Talon favored hometown German Rene Dettweiler over Michael Sprott in 2006. The close battle between Germany’s Wladimir Sidorenko and visiting challenger Ricardo Cordoba was ruled a majority draw, but Talon’s scorecard was a head scratching 118-110 for the hometown fighter. His score for France’s Leva Kirakosyan was far too lopsided against Kenya’s Athanas Nzau in 2005. Talon gave his countryman Julien Lorcy a gift against Arnulfo Castillo for the WBO Super Featherweight Belt in 1997. He played a role in Arthur Abraham’s mildly controversial win over Howard Eastman as well.
3. Chuck Hassett
To Hassett’s credit, he gets the obvious ones correct. But if scoring the fight requires any amount of paying attention, you can forget about Hassett putting up a decent scorecard. He has had his share of very controversial high profile fights. His biggest blunder was his score for Sergio Mora over Peter Manfredo JR., in “The Contender Rematch.” But the list does not end there. The margin that he had Larry Holmes beating Tim Witherspoon back in 1983 was one of the most head scratching scores I have ever seen. His wide scorecard for Jhonny Gonzalez vs. Fernando Montiel was controversial. When Javier Jauregui dominated Randy Suico in 2005, Hassett score the fight a draw, giving way too much credit to Suico. Chuck struck again in 2005 giving Malcolm Tann an iffy decision against Derek Bryant. In a fight between Golden Johnson and Freddy Hernandez, his scorecard supported Hernandez when most felt Johnson had won. Markus Beyer won the WBC Super Middleweight belt controversially over Eric Lucas with the help of Hassett’s poor judging.
4. Gale Van Hoy
I had to include Van Hoy in the top 5 because to go along with his many other controversial scorecards, he was involved in what I believe is the worst decision that I have ever seen; that being when Hugo Dianzo was absolutely robbed against Paulie Ayala for the WBA Bantamweight Title. Dianzo beat Ayala from pillar to post, dropping him and outworking him from bell to bell. Van Hoy’s score was 115-112 for Ayala. I was hoping that the crowd at the Forth Worth Convention Center would follow him around for weeks keeping up their chant of “Bull@$#!” Eagle Kyowa over Lorenzo Trejo was somewhat controversial. The fight between Eleazer Contreras and Ernesto Zepeda was questionably scored for Zepeda. Van Hoy took away from Genaro Hernandez when he scored his great performance against Azumah Nelson for Nelson. There are also quite a few fights where Van Hoy picked the correct winner but his scorecard was too wide to accurately describe what went on in the ring. Among those fights are Eagle Kyowa vs. Rodel Mayol, Dominick Guinn vs. Zach Page, and Juan Diaz vs. Eleazer Contreras.
5. Dave Moretti
Moretti is a respected Nevada judge, but after looking at his track record, perhaps the Nevada State Commission should reconsider Moretti’s position as a go-to guy in high profile fights. Moretti saved a superfight when he scored Oscar De La Hoya over Felix Sturm, but that does not mean that he had a quality scorecard. Moretti seems to fill out his scorecard in advance, often giving the benefit of the doubt to the heavy favorite. That would explain why he had Evander Holyfield beating John Ruiz in their first fight. Moretti was out to lunch when he had Lamon Brewster beating Kali Meehan in 2004.
Those three were his biggest mess-ups, but Moretti has been apart of many other controversial decisions. Moretti had Paulie Ayala over Bones Adams in their first fight, scored Jeff Fenech’s tremendous performance against Azumah Nelson a draw, and recently scored a laughable shut out for Daniel Ponce De Leon over Gerry Penalosa. Other scorecards he picked the winner but was still off somehow. For example, he had Sharmba Mitchell just barely beating Elio Ortiz when Mitchell was in complete control, had Jose Luis Castillo winning by too wide of a margin over Joel Casamayor, had Joey Gilbert pitching a shut out against James North in a fight that looked much more competitive to the ringside observers, and had Lance Whitaker by too wide of a margin over Monte Barrett.
6. Robert Hoyle
Hoyle does not have a long laundry list of poor decisions like some of the judges above him. However there has been a couple that Hoyle has gotten wrong that were travesties. For example, he had the impossible score of 116-112 for O’Neil Bell over Dale Brown. In the IBF Cruiserweight Championship fight, the unheralded Brown out boxed and roughed up Bell over twelve rounds. Dale was robbed of that championship and his career has gone downhill since then. Like Dalby Shirley, Hoyle had Demetrius Hopkins beating Steve Forbes; only his score was ever wider than Shirley’s at 118-110. Those are two of the worst scorecards you will ever see in a prizefight. Also, Hoyle’s near shut out score for Rolando Reyes over Ubaldo Hernandez was off.
7. Omar Minton
Minton is not a very active judge, officiating just a couple of title fights per year, yet he still managed to make the list. Minton scored the first fight between Willie Jorrin and Oscar Larios for the wrong guy in a close fight. He appeared to unjustly hand the WBC Lightweight Title from Stevie Johnston to Cesar Bazan. Minton questionably supported the hometown Nigel Benn by a fairly wide score of 115-111 against Thulani Malinga when it appeared to most that Malinga had done enough to win. To top the list off, Minton had an unfathomable score of 117-109 for Miguel Angel Gonzalez over Lamar Murphy. Gonzalez did not win that fight, let alone win by a dominating margin. Considering that Minton does not judge many fights, he has probably has the highest percentage of controversial decisions per fights judged of anyone on this list.
8. Duane Ford
I hesitated to include Duane Ford in the top 10, because although he has been involved in many controversial decisions, his scorecard is rarely way off. The farthest off I have seen Ford was his 96-93 score for Carlos Hernandez over Bobby Pacquiao. He scored the first Evander Holyfield vs. John Ruiz fight for Holyfield although Ruiz seemed to be more effective. His score for Winky Wright over Sam Soliman was too lopsided. Ford had Jermain Taylor beating Bernard Hopkins in their first fight, which was debatable. Another fight that many actually agree with Ford but was controversial nonetheless was the 115-113 score for Mosley in Oscar De La Hoya vs. Shane Mosley 2. Finally, Ford gave Julio Cesar Chavez, JR., a gift by keeping his undefeated record intact with a generous decision over Carlos Molina.
9. Chuck Giampa
Like Ford, Giampa is one that I hesitated to include because he has done a fine job in most of his assignments. He is a very active judge with many fights under his belt. I decided to include Giampa, although he is a fair scorer for the majority of the time, because consistency is key for a boxing judge. He has slipped up enough times to tarnish his reputation. Paying attention and putting up an honest score is critical each and every time since one fight could be the factor that drives fans away or ruins a boxer’s career. Against like Ford, Giampa’s worst outing was when he awarded a split decision to Bobby Pacquiao over Carlos Hernandez in a fight that “El Famoso” clearly won. He was also one of the judges who had the crazy lopsided scores for Daniel Ponce De Leon vs. Gerry Penalosa. Giampa scored 1995’s fight between George Foreman and Axel Schulz a draw, scored Pernell Whitaker vs. Oscar De La Hoya for De La Hoya, and had Joe Calzaghe winning by too wide of a margin against Charles Brewer. Another fight where his scorecard wasn’t too bad yet the decision was still controversial was when he had Jermain Taylor beating Winky Wright by the close score of 115-113.
10. Jerry Roth
Jerry Roth is one of many high profile Las Vegas judges that make this list. These guys might be getting a bum rap because they judge so many bouts and are under a microscope of heavy scrutiny. Still, it is hard to defend some of his questionable scorecards. Roth somehow had George Foreman beating Axel Schulz seven rounds to five. He had Oscar De La Hoya winning against Pernell Whitaker and Oscar De La Hoya losing to Felix Trinidad, both verdicts that the majority of observers think should have been reversed. Roth seemed to have a grudge against Bones Adams, going against him twice in controversial decisions, once against Guty Espadas and also in his first fight with Paulie Ayala. His score in Laurent Boudouani vs. Guillermo Jones the rematch was just short of a robbery against Jones. Floyd Mayweather should send Roth a nice Christmas card every year because he is one of the reasons that Floyd still has an undefeated record, scoring the first fight between Mayweather and Jose Luis Castillo for Mayweather by the score of 115-111, which raised some eyebrows.
Others who almost made the list (so watch it fellas!): Steve Weisfeld, Stuart Winston, Mike Glienna, Glen Hamada, Patricia Jarman, Melvina Lathan, Ken Morita, and Arno Pokrandt.
That concludes my list of the worst judges in boxing. All of these individuals have a track record of decisions that go against what the fans and observers saw. All of them should be put on probation by their respective commissions and if they continue to put out controversial decisions and bad scorecards, they should be let go as judges. Poor judging is a problem in boxing that needs to be dealt with. This idea is not just exclusive to those listed above. Boxing is full of incompetent officials. I only considered high profile judges when compiling the list but there are countless other judges on the local level who have no business getting paid to judge prize fights. We can only hope that this situation gets better with time.
