You hear it all the time: MMA is taking customers away from boxing.
No. Boxing is taking customers away from itself. The biggest complaint from friends is that once the final bell rings, they never know who is going to walk away with the decision.
Most believe the judges have been paid off. Others are of the mind that many judges are apathetic about becoming good, and that they are just there to bask in the limelight that is sitting at ringside and scoring a fight before television crews and thousands of fans.
Let’s take a look at some of the more recent decisions that have appalled veteran boxing writers and fans alike. Two of them came on the undercard of the Juan Manuel Marquez-Marco Antonio Barrera super featherweight title fight last March 17 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
The first one came in a junior welterweight fight between Demetrius Hopkins and Steve Forbes. This fight was easily won by Forbes. It wasn’t even close. And I didn’t talk to a veteran writer on press row who thought otherwise.
Yet, judges Robert Hoyle, Glenn Trowbridge and Dalby Shirley came back with respective scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 117-111. In favor of Hopkins.
Kevin Iole, he of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, looked over at yours truly and said, “That’s gotta be a mistake.”
Yes, there was hope, if only for a second, that ring announcer Michael Buffer would tell the fans that he made an error and that Forbes was really the winner. Didn’t happen.
Sitting there, it was very difficult to watch Forbes walk out of that ring with a defeat. It was disgusting.
But, wait, there’s more.
The next fight was between Daniel Ponce De Leon and Gerry Penalosa for De Leon’s super bantamweight belt. Penalosa snapped back the head of De Leon on numerous occasions. Penalosa out-boxed De Leon. Penalosa out-everythinged De Leon. And De Leon got the victory by scores of 119-109 (Chuck Giampa), 119-109 (Nelson
Vazquez) and 120-108 (Dave Moretti).
Again, it was hard to absorb.
Now, mind you, not only did the six aforementioned experienced judges have the wrong fighter winning, they had the wrong fighter winning by large margins. In some cases, very large. Thinking in those terms, they are two of the very worst decisions I’ve seen during the 13-plus years I’ve been covering this sport for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, as well as 15rounds.com.
Believe this: When the main event between Barrera and Marquez ended, many of us expected Barrera to be named the winner. Not because we thought he won, but because of the horrible scoring that had already wreaked havoc on the card. Thankfully, Marquez was announced as the winner. Rightfully so.
To be very clear, this is not to blame the promoter, which was Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. It’s true that Hopkins is promoted by Golden Boy. It’s also true that both De Leon and Penalosa are promoted by Golden Boy.
It’s hard to believe that Golden Boy president De La Hoya or any of his partners would ever go to dirty lengths to ensure a victory for one of their fighters. There is too much to lose.
But something is wrong. Very, very wrong. There are more examples of egregious decisions, too many too mention. I can’t tell you how many times friends and peers have come up and said, “Hey, did you see the decision on that fight the other night? That was ridiculous.”
Now that I have had my rant, I will offer a solution. It’s a very easy one. Let the veteran boxing writers score the fights. Period. Look at the ring record of lightweight legend Joe
Gans. Boxing in the 1900s, several of his victories came via “newspaper decision.”
I’m being serious. A move like that by boxing would add instant credibility that is desperately needed. If I’m a fighter, I would much rather take my chances with Iole, Tim Smith (of the New York Daily News) and Carlos Arias (of the Orange County Register) scoring my fight. Because whatever is going on, it stinks to high heaven and it must stop.
Here’s the thing: There have always been bad decisions in boxing. It doesn’t matter why they were bad, whether it shadiness or shoddiness. But, for the most part, the talent level was always higher than it is today. There are few money-makers in the 2000s. De La Hoya is easily the biggest, but he’s retiring soon.
There are no Durans, no Haglers, no Leonards, no Alis, no Fraziers, no Foremans. In other words, it’s more difficult for boxing to get away with bad decisions these days.
Do you want to know what kind of shape boxing is in? There were less than 9,000 fans for Marquez-Barrera. I remember when Barrera fought before more than 10,000 while he was making his bones in the 1990s at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif. Yet, one of the greatest fighters in Mexico’s history can’t even bring in 10,000 for a fight with another great Mexican? In Las Vegas, no less?
Wow!
In looking back at that March 17 event, I don’t remember feeling as down about the sport as I did then. I hope I never feel as badly about boxing as I did when Hopkins and De Leon had
their hands raised, which resulted in the hanging heads of Forbes and Penalosa.
Yes, MMA is alive and well. But boxing is hurting because of its own ineptness. MMA is a young fan’s sport. I’m 50. Most of my friends are in that area, some a bit older, some a bit younger. None of them care about MMA. But most of them are sickof all the rip-offs in boxing.
(Cut it out, Gary)
One of the other wonderful things that goes on in our sport is trash-talking. That will always be part of boxing, as well as other sports. It gets ridiculous at times, what with certain
fighters and promoters crossing the line and just making a circus atmosphere out of the whole thing.
But no one should ever mess with someone’s name – especially the last name. When I hear promoter Gary Shaw refer to Jorge Arce as Jorge Farce, it really ticks me off.
The last name is sacred. You don’t go there. Not even once. I like Shaw. I believe he is a respectable guy. But he needs to stop that right now.
Where I come from, the streets of Los Angeles, messing with someone’s last name is a no-no.