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The Perps Used Pencils…BORGES on the Lara-Williams Decision
Justice is a relative thing but Erislandy Lara probably got all of it that he could hope for from boxing on Wednesday when the New Jersey State Athletic Commission indefinitely suspended the three judges who robbed him with their pencils Saturday night.
Robbery is a felony in New Jersey but not in boxing and so Al Bennett, Hilton Whitaker and Don Givens will suffer no real loss, at least not the kind the former Cuban champion had to absorb despite giving former welterweight champion Paul Williams a beating so lop-sided HBO analyst Roy Jones was screaming for his corner to stop the fight because “He’s taking a real killing here tonight.’’
Apparently not in the opinion of two blind mice and one myopic one. Bennett at least had the good sense to call it a draw (which it was not) but Givens (116-114) and Whitaker (115-114) somehow concluded that because Paul Williams threw more punches it didn’t matter that an underdog like Lara actually landed more punches.
I have received countless e-mails asking how this kind of things happens, the implication being that corruption is the only answer. Although we’ll never know for sure I think it was, as it often is, the more lethal combination of ineptitude and judges arriving at the arena with a preconceived notion of how the fight should go.
Certainly Lara was a heavy underdog despite being 15-0-1. Williams was not only the bigger name and a two-time champion but by far the more experienced fighter in a HBO bout of this magnitude. But from the opening bell to the final one, Lara dominated so clearly the only way you could have concluded otherwise was if you were watching a fight in your head that you already recorded.
Believe it or not this happens more often than you might think with judges (and often broadcasters as well) failing to recognize that something unexpected is happening right in front of their lying eyes.
In Lara’s case, he was all but knocking Williams’ head off his shoulders, repeatedly landing the heavier, more telling blows. According to Compubox statistics Lara landed 49 per cent of his power (non-jab) punches and 42 per cent overall, numbers which make clear how dominant he was.
HBO’s resident judge, Harold Lederman, had Lara 117—111 and that seemed about right. The only way you could score such a fight 116-114 the other way – a scoring flip of 4-5 rounds – was if you had already fought the fight in your head and subconsciously decided what was going to happen. In such a scenario, by the time you realize something is going on you’ve given the wrong guy the fight.
None of the three judges were experienced judging fights of this magnitude with Bennett having never worked an HBO or SHOWTIME main event and that, too, might have been part of the problem. But there is another problem here as well that Wednesday’s suspensions did not acknowledge.
Why were three such inexperienced judges all working the main event? And who concluded they were ready?
New Jersey State Athletic Commission head Aaron Davis said in a statement that all three judges would be required to undergo additional training prior to judging another professional boxing event but what about him or whoever else was involved in selecting the three blind mice to work the bout?
If after reviewing the tape, as Davis did, and concluding all three judges should be suspended, should not the result also be suspended? Should not a rematch be ordered and the result vacated?
Now the state of New Jersey probably has no authority to force Williams into granting Lara a rematch but HBO does because it holds the checkbook and could simply say “Until you give this guy a rematch we won’t buy any fight you’re involved in.’’ It does not, after all, HAVE to televise Paul Williams.
That is not to say the result was Williams’ fault or that of the powerful men behind him – promoter Dan Goossen and chief advisor/manager Al Haymon. But while they may not have done Lara wrong they are the ones who can make things right. Suspending three incompetent judges is not.
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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura
The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.
Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.
The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.
The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.
Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.
Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.
A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.
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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score
This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.
The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.
The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.
De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.
The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.
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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland
On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.
The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.
However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.
At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?
Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.
But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.
Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.
Photo by naoki fukuda
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