Dyah Davis Gets Robbed By Judges In California

All reporters had Davis (r) winning. The judges said otherwise. Egregiously poor judging is one of the sports' biggest problems. (Chris Farina/Top Rank)MAYWOOD, CA-Mexico’s Francisco Sierra escaped with a strange majority draw against Florida’s Dyah Davis, who seemed to have won the fight easily on Saturday at the Maywood Activity Center.

Davis (18-2-1) seemed to clearly be cruising toward a win over Sierra (23-3-1) but the judges saw otherwise in the 10-round super middleweight fight. It was Top Rank’s first card in Maywood in years and was televised by Fox.

Davis opened up the first round with some quick right leads and solid defense as Sierra fired punches that missed the mark. In the next round Sierra connected with a right hand that seemed to convince Davis to stay away and hold whenever possible.

Body shots proved useful for Davis who landed more than a few in the third round as Sierra missed badly with right hand bombs. A clean right hand to the head punctuated the round for Davis.

Sierra’s poor balance and telegraphed punches allowed Davis to dictate most of the mid rounds of the fight. In the seventh three vicious counter left hooks connected and nearly dropped the Mexican boxer.

Though Sierra was a constant aggressor he missed wildly and was tagged often by Davis’s counter left hooks. After 10 rounds it seemed like an easy victory for the Floridian. Big surprise. Two judges Barry Druxman and Marty Denkin scored it 95-95 while Fritz Werner scored it 98-92 for Davis. The fight was ruled a majority draw to the surprise of media row. No reporter had it close. All scored it for Davis.

Other bouts

Andy Ruiz’s speed constantly surprises opponents after they see him walk into the ring. He looks soft but there is nothing soft about the Mexicali heavyweight who stopped Kelsey Arnold (4-7-2) by third round technical knockout.

Ruiz (8-0, 6 KOs) looked like he was going to annihilate Arnold in the first round as he connected with several vicious rights and lefts to the chin. But Arnold absorbed the shots well.

In the second round a left jab dropped Arnold but referee David Mendoza ruled it a slip or something. It was a weird ruling.

Ruiz poured in the punches in deliberate and calculated fashion with little return from Arnold. After repeated blows to the body and head the referee stopped the fight at 2:19 of the third round for a technical knockout victory for the Mexican heavyweight.?
The heavyweight is trained by Freddie Roach and continues to improve and show that surprising hand speed for someone of his girth. He also shows pretty good defense and a decent chin.

Oscar Meza (21-4, 17 KOs) floored Ohio’s Leo Martinez (15-15, 7 KOs) in the seventh round and proceeded to simply out-strength the willing fighter for most of the eight round lightweight bout. Martinez fought hard despite sustaining some big shots and landed a few of his own. But he just didn’t have the firepower to keep Meza honest. The judges scored it 80-72, 78-73, 79-72 for Meza. One judge overlooked the knockdown or else it would have been 80-71.

Santa Ana’s Jose Roman (9-0, 7 KOs) floored Johnny Frazier (3-5-2) in the first round but there was little action after that for the next five rounds. Roman was the more accurate puncher when he did punch and Frazier tried to counter so the fight was mostly two boxers seldom firing punches. Two judges scored it 59-54 twice and 60-53 for Roman.

Brazil’s Patrick Teixeira (9-0, 7 KOs) escaped with a gift split decision against Idaho’s clever counter-punching David Lopez (3-4-3) after six rounds of a junior middleweight contest between southpaws.

Lopez was only given one round on two judges’ score cards and that was the difference in the fight. The Idaho southpaw definitely won at least two rounds including some head snapping blows at the end of round four and five. Teixeira kept the pressure on Lopez and probably saved the fight for him but it looked closer than the scorecards revealed. The crowd felt Lopez won the battle.

Whittier’s Raymond “Bad Boy” Chacon won his pro debut against Mexico’s Manuel Machorro (0-3) after four rounds of a junior featherweight bout. All three judges scored it 40-36 for Chacon who was the aggressor all four rounds. Machorro had trouble releasing any punches.

NOTE: Davis' promoter Lou Dibella took offense to the Sierra-Davis decision on Twitter after the fight. “FoxSports tonight. My boy Dyah Davis easily beat Francisco Sierra. Had it clear 8-2. One judge agreed; two had draw. Bleeping disgrace.  No boxing match insignificant to those fighting.  We accept blatant robberies, but they affect kids lives. Unacceptable systemic corruption.”

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