What’s going on with the sport of boxing lately? Amongst rampant cries of unfounded PED allegations and Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Golden Boy Promotions’ claims of intentions to ?clean up? the sport, horrible judging and ridiculous score cards run rampant.
Maybe it’s time to get real and take a long, hard look at the truth.
For example, let’s review Saturday’s kick off of stage 2 of the Super Six World Boxing Classic that is being featured on Showtime. This fight was yet another example of questionable officiating.
This bout pitted the undefeated Arthur Abraham against Andre Dirrell, with Laurence Cole as the third man in the ring.
Dirrell surprised many skeptics by dominating the fight, keeping Abraham in a defensive posture for the majority of the fight.
Despite the one-sided flow of the bout, the night was extremely eventful as it was filled with knockdowns, slips, low blows, and a disqualification due to a foul punch.
The first ?slip? occurred in the final seconds of Rnd. 7. Abraham somehow ?slipped? right into the ropes. In fact, had the ropes not been there, he would have undoubtedly ?slipped? right over the edge of the ring.
Ironically, this particular ?slip? took place right after Dirrell landed a clean, thundering left hook.
According to the rules of boxing, when the ropes prevent a fighter from falling after a punch, it is to be scored as a knockdown. Oh well. Like they say; rules are made to be broken, right?
The next questionable ruling that took place in the particularly slippery ring came in the middle of Rnd. 10. This time it was Abraham who landed a right that sent Dirrell to the canvas. In the name of fairness, Cole ruled it a trip.
At the moment the punch landed, Dirrell’s right foot was inside and against Abraham’s left foot. The fact that Dirrell was sent reeling despite that fact that his back foot (his left) was firmly planted apparently lacked enough relevance to rule the punch as a knockdown.
After a slip (a bona fide slip) in Rnd. 11, Abraham landed a right hook to the jaw while Dirrell was on a knee. In this case, Cole did make the right call by disqualifying Abraham for the intentional foul.
Laurence Cole has a history of bad calls. In the 2003 Pacquiao-Barrera fight, he ruled a knockdown for Barrera when Pacquiao tripped. Barrera didn’t even land a punch. Then when Pacquiao clocked Barrera with a good shot that sent the former to the canvas, it was ruled a slip.
There have also been particular incidents of suspect judging of late. It’s not at all uncommon to see scoring that make you wonder if some judges were watching a different fight. There seems to be no consistency.
James Pippin who works in Rogers Arkansas said: ?There are a lot of bad decisions in boxing anymore. It’s gotten to the point that you hate to see a fight go the distance, like when Froch fought Dirrell. I really thought that Dirrell outboxed Froch, but they gave Froch the decision.?
While there are great referees in the sport, like Kenny Bayless, Vic Drakulich, and Tony Weeks, there are some who are really making some serious, and at times, dangerous mistakes.
Likewise, the majority of boxing judges are men and women who strive to score fairly and consistently, without bias.
It’s those few who continually turn in crazy scorecards who are giving boxing a black eye.
If anyone is really serious about cleaning up the sport, they shouldn’t ignore the referees and judges instead of concentrating solely upon possibilities of foul play against the pugilists.
