Some boxing wise guys are referring to him as Tricky Dick Flaherty. While I do not see the Nixonian comparisons, it has become clear that the appointment of veteran fight judge and ex-cop Dick Flaherty to the Manny Pacquia-Juan Manuel Marguez fight on March 15 has become ?the elephant in the room.?
First, I wrote an article here on Boxingconfidential which revealed some, but not all of the empirical evidence as to how erratic and off-the-wall Flaherty can be as a judge. One I skipped over and worthy of mention now is the first Micky Ward-Arturo Gatti bout which was held May 18, 2002, at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.
The fight was a classic and led to two sequels. It was close all the way and it finished with Ward, who lost the next two bouts, taking a majority decision after 10 rounds. Frank Lombardi had it even at 94-94 while Steve Weisfeld saw it 95-93 for ?local boy? Ward (from nearby Lowell, Mass.).
Flaherty?s vote was for his homie, Ward, at 94-93 but it?s how he got to that bottom line that is scary. By all accounts, the eighth round was a brusing, back and forth affair with Gatti being jellylegged but Flaherty alone saw it as a 10-8 Ward round even though there was no knockdown. Gatti, of course, did take a knee in round nine as Ward kept on battering him.
If Tricky Dick gave the eighth round 10-9 to Ward, as did his colleagues, Ward-Gatti I would?ve ended up a majority draw.
Now Pacman trainer Freddie Roach, speaking to Abac Cordero of Philstar.com, said he is asking lead promoter Bob Arum to ask the Nevada commission to replace Flaherty and put in someone else to work alongside Nevadans Chuck Giampa and Jerry Roth. Roach said Flaherty should recuse himself because the judge is friendly to Roach?s mother, Barbara.
I accept that as certainly being true, what with Coach Roach?s mom having been an amateur and then a pro fight judge in Massachusetts and the Roach family coming from the Boston suburb of Dedham while Flaherty lives in nearby Dedham. In recent state boxing history, the Roaches and the Petronellis are the most prominent boxing families.
But Roach is asking Arum, who knows better, to knock on the wrong door. It was the WBC, who Marquez represents as a world champion, who selected Flaherty. Nevada?s Keith Kizer certainly has some input but it will be Don Jose Sulaiman who will replace or not replace Flaherty.
What with Roach?s public declaration and my previous article, Flaherty is on the hot seat. I repeat that I believe him to be 100 percent honest but that does not excuse his erratic scorecards in important and not so important fights. With Pacquiao and Marquez ready to perform at the highest level, there should be three judges and one referee ready to do the same.
Given Roach?s statements to reporter Cordero and his checkered history in scoring, the right thing for Flaherty to do right now is to step aside and call for the appointment of a judge without a cloud over his or her head.
At the end of the day, it?s about the athletes, not the officials.
More to come on this volatile situation?
