Unfortunately, this year, we have seen some debatable, even flat-out bad decisions announced at the end of a fight. Fans are still arguing over who won the following fights – Artur Beterbiev-Dmitr Bivol, Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury II, Vergil Ortiz-Serhii Bohachuk, O’Shaquie Foster-Robson Conceicao I, Johnny Fisher-Dave Allen, and others.
But as far as the worst decision of the year goes, it is entirely possible those of us who tuned in yesterday to watch the magnificent slugfest between Panya Padabrsi and Carlos Canizales witnessed the biggest robbery of 2024. The fight occurred in the winner, Padabsri’s home country of Thailand, who contested the vacant WBC light-flyweight title. Almost everyone who saw the fight could not accept the majority decision win handed to Padabrsi, AKA Petchmanee CP Freshmart – the scores being 116-112, 115-113 in Padabrsi’s favor, the third judge having it a draw at 114-114.
This one was bad, and WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman knows it. Sulaiman, no doubt under pressure to act, took to social media shortly after yesterday’s Boxing Day thriller that was tarnished by such unfathomable scoring to announce how he will order an “immediate review” of the performance of the three judges.
“After a sensational close fight, Pradabsri is awarded a majority decision in Thailand,” Sulaiman wrote. “Canizales is a warrior who fought his heart out. I am disappointed at the performance of the WBC judges in specific rounds and will order an immediate review by the corresponding committee. WBC ring officials are accountable for their performance.”
So, will something – anything – get done as far as the far too frequently handed-in debatable, controversial, or just simply bad decisions in boxing? What can be done to stop decisions that leave fans screaming about robbery? Knowing which “specific rounds” Sulaiman was most disappointed with scoring-wise from yesterday’s fight in Thailand would be interesting.
The least that could be done here is for Canizales to get a rematch with Padabsri, but with the rematch happening somewhere other than Thailand, Let’s see if Sulaiman makes this happen and what else, if anything, the WBC president does about Boxing Day’s clanger of a world title fight decision.
To repeat from yesterday, the fact that all three ringside officials could not hand in a score that went Canizales’ way really is borderline criminal.
