Inoue-Butler undisputed bantamweight title fight; WBC extends Fury deadline; Love to top homecoming card on DAZN; Wood-Lara announced; Quick hits; Show and tell
Inflation apparently hasn’t hit the boxing referee market, as it seems mega-fight referee purses have been $10k since the Tyson days.
As for the Wood-Lara event, that’s a more entertaining fight than a washed up LSC anyway, and since I never once figured the WBA will do anything it’s supposed to, it’s hard to clutch my pearls over this decision. Let’s stop applauding them when they do what they’re supposed to, which provides cover for this kind of criminal bullshit.
And the undercard is very odd… Eddie seems to have decided weight classes don’t matter as long as he can put to “names” together… Galahad and Harper are likely to find out that they do matter, and probably painfully so.
It’s amazing how often two judges from the holy trinity of Nevada judges “Moretti, Weisfeld & Feldman” have been chosen to judge Canelo Alvarez fights.
So it’s not surprising that two of them once again feature in the judging panel for Canelo vs Golovkin 3…. Dave Moretti, Steve Weisfeld & David Sutherland.
So should we have confidence in this judging panel?
Well, I’ve mentioned before why I disagree with Moretti & Weisfeld’s scorecards of 115 - 113 for Canelo in the second Golovkin fight, so I won’t repeat it here, however I stand by my reason for giving Golovkin a close win rather than Canelo.
Moretti & Weisfeld scored the Bivol vs Canelo fight the same 115 – 113 to Bivol.
However imho Bivol won that fight by more than 2 rounds.
Moretti & Weisfeld scored the Ramirez vs Taylor fight the same (as usual) 112 – 114 to Taylor. However these scores suggest that if Taylor hadn’t dropped Ramirez twice it would have been a draw!
I certainly can’t agree with that.
Two other Moretti scorecards to consider are…..
- scoring the pretty close Canelo vs Cotto fight 119 – 109 to Canelo.
- scoring the Miguel Vazquez vs Breidis Prescott (10 rnd) fight 92 – 97 to Prescott.
This is baffling as although Vazquez was dropped in the first round, he outboxed Prescott in the vast majority of rounds – thankfully the other two judges saved Vazquez with 95 – 94 & 96 – 93.
Judge David Sutherland isn’t as prolific as Moretti & Weisfeld when it comes to submitting questionable scorecards but he did score Joe Smith Jr vs Vlasov & Figueroa vs Fulton as 114 – 114 draws when imo Vlasov and Fulton were clear winners.
As Canelo has waited until Golovkin is 40 before making their third fight it's possible that judges won't be needed - however if the fight is as close as the second fight I don’t think the above scorecards from these judges will make most fans confident that they'll choose the right winner.
Really good insights. You clearly know a lot more than I do on the topic, so all I'll say is I'm surprised there aren't 3 judges and a referee taking care of this fight who didn't officiate in either of the first 2.
That would have been preferable but it seems that the Nevada commission keep choosing more or less the same judges for Canelo fights.
It used to be the case in Nevada that the promoter of a contest could submit a list of judges to the commission that were "qualified" for his event, in reality they were the judges the promoter "preferred", and the Nevada commission chose the judges from that list - I don't know if this is still the case but I hope it isn't as it's clearly open to manipulation.
For big fights I think something has to change as the current system just doesn't work so many times and these bad decisions are affecting fighters' careers.
A few years ago the WBC did a remote judging experiment, using 5 judges from 5 remote locations, and seemed to have pretty good results . However I don't think they've done anything about it - probably don't want to spend the money.
In other sports judges/referees/umpires are assessed and rated after each match; and are either dropped or promoted. It is curious that such formal assessment system does not exist in boxing.
Thanks Dan. Very unfortunate - it's not the same recording one. I watch live and follow your/Tebbutt's commentary between rounds on Twitter. Can't do it on this occasion as I'll know what's happening on the other card!
Boxing fans should be happier than they have in a long time, despite a time of many different belts, rival promoters and media outlets i cannot remember a time when we are getting so many undisputed title fights being made from the little men like Inoue vs Butler to the big men Fury vs Usyk and my personal favourite, the divisions around the middle like undisputed World Champion Jermell Charlo who should be getting more props in my humble eye.. Anyway lets hope and encourage that these fights continue to be made after all making money is nice but its temporary but making boxing history is timeless.
I think the previous 2 results [certainly the first fight] have eaten away at him and he needs to settle it for himself. I hope he gets the win, unlikely as it seems.
Golovkin has never been easy money for any fighter and he damn sure ain't comin jus for a payday, that's ludicrous.
Inflation apparently hasn’t hit the boxing referee market, as it seems mega-fight referee purses have been $10k since the Tyson days.
As for the Wood-Lara event, that’s a more entertaining fight than a washed up LSC anyway, and since I never once figured the WBA will do anything it’s supposed to, it’s hard to clutch my pearls over this decision. Let’s stop applauding them when they do what they’re supposed to, which provides cover for this kind of criminal bullshit.
And the undercard is very odd… Eddie seems to have decided weight classes don’t matter as long as he can put to “names” together… Galahad and Harper are likely to find out that they do matter, and probably painfully so.
It’s amazing how often two judges from the holy trinity of Nevada judges “Moretti, Weisfeld & Feldman” have been chosen to judge Canelo Alvarez fights.
So it’s not surprising that two of them once again feature in the judging panel for Canelo vs Golovkin 3…. Dave Moretti, Steve Weisfeld & David Sutherland.
So should we have confidence in this judging panel?
Well, I’ve mentioned before why I disagree with Moretti & Weisfeld’s scorecards of 115 - 113 for Canelo in the second Golovkin fight, so I won’t repeat it here, however I stand by my reason for giving Golovkin a close win rather than Canelo.
Moretti & Weisfeld scored the Bivol vs Canelo fight the same 115 – 113 to Bivol.
However imho Bivol won that fight by more than 2 rounds.
Moretti & Weisfeld scored the Ramirez vs Taylor fight the same (as usual) 112 – 114 to Taylor. However these scores suggest that if Taylor hadn’t dropped Ramirez twice it would have been a draw!
I certainly can’t agree with that.
Two other Moretti scorecards to consider are…..
- scoring the pretty close Canelo vs Cotto fight 119 – 109 to Canelo.
- scoring the Miguel Vazquez vs Breidis Prescott (10 rnd) fight 92 – 97 to Prescott.
This is baffling as although Vazquez was dropped in the first round, he outboxed Prescott in the vast majority of rounds – thankfully the other two judges saved Vazquez with 95 – 94 & 96 – 93.
Judge David Sutherland isn’t as prolific as Moretti & Weisfeld when it comes to submitting questionable scorecards but he did score Joe Smith Jr vs Vlasov & Figueroa vs Fulton as 114 – 114 draws when imo Vlasov and Fulton were clear winners.
As Canelo has waited until Golovkin is 40 before making their third fight it's possible that judges won't be needed - however if the fight is as close as the second fight I don’t think the above scorecards from these judges will make most fans confident that they'll choose the right winner.
Really good insights. You clearly know a lot more than I do on the topic, so all I'll say is I'm surprised there aren't 3 judges and a referee taking care of this fight who didn't officiate in either of the first 2.
You should get on Dan's pod!
That would have been preferable but it seems that the Nevada commission keep choosing more or less the same judges for Canelo fights.
It used to be the case in Nevada that the promoter of a contest could submit a list of judges to the commission that were "qualified" for his event, in reality they were the judges the promoter "preferred", and the Nevada commission chose the judges from that list - I don't know if this is still the case but I hope it isn't as it's clearly open to manipulation.
For big fights I think something has to change as the current system just doesn't work so many times and these bad decisions are affecting fighters' careers.
A few years ago the WBC did a remote judging experiment, using 5 judges from 5 remote locations, and seemed to have pretty good results . However I don't think they've done anything about it - probably don't want to spend the money.
In other sports judges/referees/umpires are assessed and rated after each match; and are either dropped or promoted. It is curious that such formal assessment system does not exist in boxing.
Curious or (sadly) predictable?
Any thoughts on the 2 UK shows clashing Sept 24?
Nothing different than when we have Showtime and ESPN clashes here. Unfortuante but that's life and why DVRs rule.
Thanks Dan. Very unfortunate - it's not the same recording one. I watch live and follow your/Tebbutt's commentary between rounds on Twitter. Can't do it on this occasion as I'll know what's happening on the other card!
Boxing fans should be happier than they have in a long time, despite a time of many different belts, rival promoters and media outlets i cannot remember a time when we are getting so many undisputed title fights being made from the little men like Inoue vs Butler to the big men Fury vs Usyk and my personal favourite, the divisions around the middle like undisputed World Champion Jermell Charlo who should be getting more props in my humble eye.. Anyway lets hope and encourage that these fights continue to be made after all making money is nice but its temporary but making boxing history is timeless.
GGG is way past his prime. It will be more easy money for Canelo.
GGG just wants to retire with a huge fight and a big pay day. Good for him.
I disagree; he's already made plenty of money.
I think the previous 2 results [certainly the first fight] have eaten away at him and he needs to settle it for himself. I hope he gets the win, unlikely as it seems.
If he loses by ko, his confidence will diminish. He may retire. Or have one more big fight at 160lbs versus Charlo.