Photo By Chris Farina
Oh Julie. Julie, Julie, Julie. We want to like you. We root for you. Your dad is awesome. A bit idiosyncratic yes, but he’s affable and just awesome to listen to. And you’ve made a name for yourself as a sound judge, proving more than capable of producing accurate and fair scorecards. And then you went and fucked it all up.
Jesus Christ, Julie Lederman awarded eight rounds to Diego Chaves. Now, this is puzzling, considering that Tim Bradley completely dominated the first half of the fight. It was only during the second half, when he eased up on the gas, that Chaves started to assert himself and actually start winning rounds–not all of them, mind you, but maybe a few.
I actually commented during the fight that it was playing out eerily similar to Bradley’s infamous first fight with Manny Pacquiao, where Pac completely overwhelmed Bradley early, before coasting from the middle rounds on.
I was half joking–I obviously didn’t expect anyone to come to the conclusion that Chaves had indeed won the bout. But Lederman’s treacherous scorecard of 116-112 for Chaves was the exclamation point on a god awful night for boxing judges. Instead of celebrating a Tim Bradley comeback win, his team was left with the kiss-your-sister taste of a draw.
The shit show started of course, with the utter screw job done on poor Mauricio Herrera. Herrera, who gets fucked by judges more than their significant others, once again outworked and outlanded his opponent, in this case young prospect Jose Benavidez. And once again, the judges went against him.
Now, Benavidez was certainly in the fight. I had it scored 115-113 for “El Maestro.” A draw or 115-113 would not have been out-of-the-question for either guy. We would have probably been okay with Herrera losing a close decision, even though he should have gotten the nod.
But then the scores were read. And no, he didn’t lose a close decision. He lost in a blowout. One judge, Dave Moretti, saw fit to give Benavidez nine rounds. Nine. Out of 12. This is especially troubling considering the kid didn’t really start fighting until about the fourth round.
Harold Lederman himself commented during the fight that Herrera’s style was one that was difficult to score. While that might be true, it’s hard to understand when three judges are the only people to see a fight a certain way. At best, it looks like they’re not very good at their jobs, and at worst, like something shady is going down.
While the words “shady” and “boxing” have been synonymous for decades, the lack of accountability for judges who completely botch their jobs is ridiculous. Look, judging fights is not an easy job. A judge has several criterion by which to score them, making many bouts subjective based on different situations.
Max Kellerman uses the “who would I rather be” method, which isn’t perfect, but it’s fairly sound, especially when it appears as though some judges use the “I’m not really watching the fight” or, “who is more popular” method.
Some fights are just hard to score. Bernard Hopkins’ fights have been difficult at times. The Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fights were tricky. We give some leeway because of the subjectivity. But 8-4 Chaves and 9-3 Benavides shouldn’t happen. Those are awful cards, and the judges who laid those scores down should be monitored.
Everyone can have a bad night at the office. In fact, it’s inevitable. Everyone makes mistakes now and then. I’ve said before–judges (and referees) are like NFL long snappers–you don’t really notice them until they’ve fucked up. But when they do, action should be taken. The job a judge does on a given night could completely determine the fate of a boxer’s career. Herrera, if six judges do their jobs properly, is 3-0 this year and probably frontrunner for Fighter Of The Year. Instead, he’s 1-2 and will hopefully get another shot on HBO.
I’d love to see the implementation of some sort of discipline for judges who continue to botch fights. If there is no accountability, how can we expect improvement? And there needs to be improvement. Scores like the ones from Saturday are part of what turns off the casual fan, those who dismiss boxing as a political cesspool of scumbags, where money buys success.
I’m not saying one bad score should end a judge’s career–but certainly a suspension or probationary period shouldn’t be out of the question. Think about it–how many times could you absolutely ruin something at work before you’re shown the door?
It should be no different in this instance. Except here, your job is done in front of thousands of people, with possibly millions more watching, with maybe a couple million dollars and a championship belt at stake. Is it out of the question to expect excellence? I don’t think so, but I do think it’s absurd to just shrug off another shit scorecard as “boxing as usual.” Bullshit. I’m tired of shaking my head after a fight, wondering what the hell I just watched, and why I continue to do so.
You’ve been warned, Lederman.
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Some Random Notes From The Boxing World:
Dammit, Floyd Mayweather is really sick of waiting for Manny Pacquiao to make this fight happen! You could almost feel Steve Farhood trying to suppress his laughter.
Seriously, Brian Kenny has plastic hair.
Paulie Malignaggi is a fine analyst. But his bizarre, almost comical hatred of all things Pacquiao related is just getting sad.
If Bermane Stiverne were any more relaxed, they’d have to check him for quaaludes.
Victor Ortiz is back!!! Let’s see him fight Marcos Maidana again. Then we’ll see if he’s back. There’s a 100 percent chance he ends up back on the floor.
Amir Khan is extremely fast, but he still lunges in dangerously, with his chin exposed for all to see. Maybe Floyd wouldn’t be able to dent him, but he’s still a vicious knockout waiting to happen.
Jack Reiss. Holy shit. This guy just brings the entertainment. Why is it so difficult for him to count to 10 correctly? That shouldn’t be that hard for a boxing ref. In this case, he counted to 10 and then let poor Jose Ramirez continue anyway, opting to let his corner save him from murder.
Abner Mares looked, well, like Abner Mares again. That was fun while it lasted.
How pissed off does Kevin Cunningham get when Devon Alexander doesn’t listen to him? We talk about how some boxers need better trainers, but some trainers need better boxers…
Antonio Tarver is still capable of putting another fighter to sleep. Unfortunately, he’s more adept at putting entire crowds to sleep first.
Goddamn I really like Andy Lee. He’d better be on that dumbass Gatti list, Lampley.
