Less than two weeks ago, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, Bob Bennett, denied reports that controversial boxing judge Adalaide Byrd was under some form of suspension. (photos by Erik Verduzco)
In fact, Bennett made it clear that Byrd would expected "back soon."
Bennett was not kidding, as Byrd made her return last Saturday night at Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall in Las Vegas, where she worked the Mayweather Promotions card that was topped by Sharife Bogere. She worked at least two fights, including Cameron Kreal's bout with Shoki Sakai, which she scored a draw.
Byrd was highly criticized and came under heavy fire for her 118-110 scorecard in favor of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in last month's showdown with middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The bout ended in a split draw, with the other two judges scoring it 114-114 for the draw and 115-113 for Golovkin.
Byrd's scorecard was so outrageous that even Canelo's own promoter, Oscar De La Hoya, disagreed with her view of the fight. - which saw Golovkin only win two rounds
It wasn't the first time where Byrd was under fire for a bad scorecard.
There was a loud outcry for Byrd to suffer the same fate as C.J. Ross, who was banned from scoring high profile fights after issuing controversial scorecards for the first Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight in 2012 and the Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo in 2013.
When speaking with the Las Vegas Review Journal two weeks ago, Bennett denied reports that Byrd was under suspension and also rejected talk that she would be shelved for the remainder of the year.
“She’s not on suspension,” Bennett said to the Las Vegas Review Journal. “We’ve rewatched the fight (Canelo-Golovkin) together and we went over her scorecard. We decided it would be best if she took a break. We’re expecting her back soon.”
“It was one bad night. We want her to be OK mentally and then we’ll move on.”