Bob Arum and Teddy Atlas Rant! Bad Decisions Are Ruining Boxing
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
This past weekend, Timothy Bradley clearly wins a 12 round decision over Diego Gabriel Chaves. Tyson Cave clearly wins a 12 round decision over Oscar Escandon for the interim WBA World Super Bantamweight title. Mauricio Herrera schools Jose Benavidez for 12 rounds for the interim WBA World Light Welterweight title. Everybody watches the televised events and enjoys a good show. All three bouts went the entertaining 12 round distance.Except Bradley did not get the 12 round decision, Cave did not get the 12 round decision, and Herrera got robbed of the 12 round decision. The partially or completely rotten judging stunk out the house in all three controversial bouts, and outraged the television audience. However, nobody was more outraged than promoter Bob Arum and ring commentator Teddy Atlas. Atlas is a famous experts in judging and fairness in boxing.
Teddy Atlas Tyson Cave rant ESPNhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZDjvGm0OVg
The important point is fighters who win and deserve to win should not be blatantly robbed.One view has it boxing decisions, which can go either way, are the human side of boxing. The boxing of today still has no instant replay despite the presence of television film footage in many cased which can be replayed. Boxing remains the standard of possible human error, be it a push scored as a knockdown, a controversial point awarded for a foul, a controversial stoppage, or a controversial decision. The question arises when a points decision is obvious for one combatant over another, and one promoter’s fighter and / or the hometown fighter, clearly the loser, gets the unfair win. Everyone cried foul, but then again this is boxing.
Haitian Canadian super bantamweight southpaw Tyson Cave entered the ring Saturday night at Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California, with a record of 24-2 with eight knockouts. His opponent, 23-2 Oscar Escandon of Columbia, had one loss, a split decision 12 round loss for the interim WBA World Super Bantamweight title to Nahomar Cermeno of Panama City in Panama City, Panama, in June 2013. Strangely, in BOTH of Escandon’s interim WBA World Super Bantamweight title bouts, the cards went 115-113, 113-115, 117-111. Escandon did not get the third scorecard in Panama. In the United States he did. To his credit, Escandon is a better fighter than many of the padded records coming out of Columbia.
According to Teddy Atlas, the scorecard of the two judges who voted for Escandon was a crime, a sham, unbelievable. However, Teddy Atlas is the respected commentator, not the official judge. Truthfully, it’s the humanness of pro boxing scorecards which keeps boxing interesting and keeps the sport alive. While a controversial scorecard in boxing is not like a controversial play in football or baseball, boxing judging is more blunt in that every viewer is also a sometimes judge and critic. The truth never lies. Sometimes viewers have different views as to who actually won a boxing event.
In the case of Timothy Bradley, from Palms Springs, California, who won the first 12 rounder over Pacquiao on the scorecards even though he lost it, and then lost the second 12 rounder to Pacquiao, the 31-1-2 former WBO World Welterweight champion’s record shows he was unable to win either of his last two professional bouts. Bradley seemed to win at least eight of the 12 rounds against Chaves, thus winning the bout on the scorecards-or so it seemed. Not apparently, to all three judges. Actually, Chaves gave a fairly decent accounting of himself. In this particular bout, this reporter could go for closer scorecards.
His opponent this past Saturday night at Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Diego Gabriel Chaves of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is 32-0 in Argentina. but is 0-2-1 in Texas and Nevada. Keith Thurman knocked him out out the tenth round of an interim WBA World Welterweight title bout in July 2013 in Texas , and he was controversially disqualified in the ninth round at Cosmopolitan in Vegas in April 2014 against Brandon Rios in a bout where both men were penalized.
Against Bradley, one judge had it 114-114. Another had it 116-112 Chaves, and the third judge had it 115-113 Bradley. Top Rank promoter Bob Arum called the one scorecard for Chaves an absolute disgrace. The real problem is the disparity in the scoring. It makes us look insane!”
Herrera outboxed Benavidez by landing 295 punches overall to 250 thrown by Benavidez. Frequently outmuscling him and working to the midsection with Benavidez on the ropes, Herrera got robbed to the tune of 116-112, 116-112, and 117-11 in Las Vegas. It is not the first robbery in Las Vegas, and it won’t be the last.
Boxing judging is not as bad as the three blind mice, but it is still bad at times. Hands off to the late World Light Heavyweight champion Victor Galindez, the only champion I know who refused to come out for a world title bout, statingproblems with the judges. Today’s champions know only of paychecks, guts and glory, but do not possess the inner strength and analytical I.Q. to attempt a stunt such as Galindez, then an ex-champion, pulled. When the bout was rescheduled, Galindez regained his world championship by TKO.
Perhaps Rocky Marciano had it best. Rocky’s only bout to go the 15 round distance was his first title bout with Ezzard Charles. Rocky knocked out Charles in the rematch. From Don Cockell to Archie Moore, Rocky owned a knockout over every challenger to his world heavyweight title, even Roland LaStarza, who had a recent win over every opponent he had ever faced besides Rocky. While some argue Marciano’s legacy at 49-0 is in question as Floyd Mayweather’s 47-0 approaches that mark, the legacy is misguided as experts argue over who is the greatest by the numbers. Jimmy Wilde, Sugar Ray Robinson and Julio Cesar Chavez Sr. all mounted more impressive winning streaks than Rocky in their time. Harry Greb won more than 50 straight bouts at one point. The key to understanding Marciano’s legacy is Rocky understood the valuable point of finishing his opponents off within the distance, and not leaving the outcome to chance in the hands of the three judges scoring the bout.
Rocky should not be forgotten. Rocky’s understanding of this supersedes the records of today. Rocky did not put on a show of a fight which went the distance, like Floyd Mayweather of Bernard Hopkins. Rocky knocked his opponents out and got the job done in the correct way. If you do not accomplish this, you can wind up in the realm of terrible decisions. They don’t make fighters today like they used to. Everybody knows that. Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s nephew, ex-fighter Roger Mayweather, has stated of late Floyd may be the greatest black fighter of all-time. With all respect to Floyd Mayweather Jr., he is no Jack Johnson in terms of career impact. The verdict on Floyd’s legacy is still out.
As for Roger Mayweather’s argument Rocky Marciano only fought black fighters when they were old, Rocky fought Ezzard Charles when Charles was 32 and 33 years old (when he fought Rocky twice in 1954). Rocky last fought whenhe knocked out Archie Moore in 1955 at age 32. Floyd is now 37 years old going on 38, and you cannot really compare Floyd to Rocky, as Rocky retired young. Rocky knocked out every one of his world heavyweight title opponents in his prime. Today’s fighters are not of this ability or mentality, and thus, bad decisions persist in title bouts to no end, as judges are all human in the game of scorecards.
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