Last night many fans were upset about the scoring of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in their fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Many even say the scoring was a business decision which implicates corruption or Adalaide Byrd just had an off night. She is being dragged through the mud by the media fans, and anybody else who has an opinion on last night bout.
Adalaide Byrd is a competent judge but the perception from the boxing fans is either she doesn’t know what she is doing our she is corrupt. Now you can’t blame Canelo for the score card that Adalaide Byrd turned in, but the public perception is starting to build on whether Canelo status is being protected. In the past he has benefited from some questionable scorecards in some high profiled fights. For example:
When Canelo fought Floyd Mayweather in 2013, Dave Moretti scored the fight 116-112 for Mayweather, Craig Metcalfe scored the fight 117-111 for Mayweather, and CJ Ross scored the fight 114-114. Even though the decision went the right way, but in my opinion there is no way Canelo won six rounds against Mayweather.
When Canelo fought Erislandy Lara judge Dave Moretti scored the fight 115-113 for Canelo, Jerry Roth scored the fight 115-113 for Lara, and Levi Martinez scored the fight 117-111 for Canelo. Mr. Martinez scored the fight 9 rounds to 3 for Canelo, I’m having a difficult time in giving Canelo that many rounds, but at the same time I wasn’t sitting at Mr. Martinez physical position. One thing we all can agree with is that the fight was very close and 117-111 is little far-fetched. I personally had the fight as draw.
Now we get to last night’s fight. Not to take anything away from these two combatants, they both put on a great performance. This scoring controversy has overshadowed a great boxing event, that could have brought the casual fans and mainstream back to boxing. This was boxing’s opportunity to show the world why we are the best in combat sports, but last night a lot people walked away with a bitter taste in their mouth with this decision. Dave Moretti scored the fight 115-113 for Golovkin, Don Trella scored the fight 114-114, and Adalaide Byrd scored the fight 118-110. I have no comment on how she scored the fight 10 rounds to 2 in the favor of Canelo. Besides, I totally disagree with that score. With all the 115 plus title fights she has officiated this one is going to stand out for a long while. Personally I had Canelo winning rounds 1,2,3,11, and 12, and I had Golovkin winning rounds 4-10 having a total score of 115-113 in Golovkin’s favor.
In less than 24 hours I have read and listen to so many opinions on social media and sports news outlets on how this fight was controversial, boxing is so corrupt, and that these decisions are the reason why mainstream and casual fans stop following boxing. Even though their personal views may or may not reflect reality, but these type of scoring doesn’t help improve boxing’s image. Canelo is boxing’s top attraction and Oscar De La Hoya promotional company’s cash cow. Now I guess with rank comes privileges. All through the promotion and during the event they were showing different commercials with Canelo in it, the fight was held on Mexican Independence Day, in Las Vegas, Canelo came out last like he was the defending champion and he only came out this fight with only a draw? From an outside point of view that says a lot on who they perceived who the real winner is. It must be nice to be golden.
