Rarely does any fight fan either like or accept a drawn verdict in a fight, such is the need and desire to see a winner after a big and important fight; or even after a small, less important fight. And as we try to move on from the controversy caused by this past Saturday’s fight and the drawn verdict that was handed in after middleweights Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez went to war for 12 engrossing rounds (and as we try and somehow forget the shocking card of one judge in particular), there are those people who seem unable to let it go.
And maybe we shouldn’t let a bad decision go; maybe there should be some kind of investigation into a bad decision in a boxing match – instead of the usual, ‘oh, it’s boxing, that do you expect?’ indifference. But as bad as GGG D12 Alvarez was in the opinion of many, it was far from the worst, most controversial drawn result handed in at the conclusion of a big world title fight.
No, these draws were FAR worse:
Thomas Hearns D12 Sugar Ray Leonard, 1989.
Hearns at times battered Sugar Ray around the ring, he dropped his arch-rival twice and he looked to have avenged his painful 1981 loss to Leonard. Instead, thanks to a desperation rally from a, well, desperate Sugar Ray in the final round, Hearns was denied the victory practically everyone felt he deserved. One writer put it best when asking if Hearns would ever have been awarded a draw if he had been knocked down twice by Leonard.
Lennox Lewis D12 Evander Holyfield, 1999.
This one caused genuine outrage, with even the mayor of New York speaking of his shock and embarrassment; embarrassment that the fight was staged in New York. Lewis dominated Holyfield, out-punching him, out-boxing him and bullying him. As with Saturday night’s big middleweight fight, the work of one judge in particular dominated the headlines afterwards. Thankfully a return bout took place, one that saw Lewis pick up the win that had been rightfully his in the first fight.
Jeff Fenech D12 Azumah Nelson, 1991.
This one, down at super-featherweight, was a great action fight, one that was sadly tarnished due to poor judging. Australia’s Fenech got the better of African great Nelson, even coming close to stopping him in the final round. Fenech, who fought his heart out, could have been excused had he quit the sport in utter disgust right then and there. Instead there was a return – one that stunned many as a vastly improved Nelson (he had said he had been suffering from malaria ahead of the first Fenech fight) travelled to Australia to stop Fenech in the eighth-round of another great battle.
The Pernell Whitaker D12 Julio Cesar Chavez, 1993.
THE mother of all bad decisions! This draw so incensed great boxing magazine Boxing Illustrated that the publication’s headline bellowed the words: ‘Do not buy this magazine if you think the fight was a draw!’ Precious few people did think a draw was the correct verdict, so completely did “Sweat Pea” befuddle, frustrate and out-box the man most have listed as the greatest Mexican fighter ever. This fight had no rematch; Chavez wanting nothing further to do with the slicker than slick skills of Whitaker.
Now, none of this will make GGG or his fans feel any better, but at least Triple-G can see how other, equally great fighters were ripped off worse than he was on September 16.
