Golden Boy COO Reacts To Lara vs. Williams Judges

By Lem Satterfield

BoxingScene.com sought the reaction of Golden Boy Promotions Chief Operating Officer Dave Itskowitch, who was ringside at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City for Saturday night's HBO televised, controversial junior middleweight majority decision by Paul Williams over fellow southpaw Erislandy Lara, the latter of whom is promoted by Itskowitch's company.

Judges Hilton Whitaker and Don Givens scored the bout at 115-114, and, 116-114, respectively, for Williams, with Al Bennett scoring it a 114-114 draw.

As a result of the unpopular decision, the 29-year-old Williams rose to 40-2 with 27 knockouts, and the 28-year-old Lara slipped to 15-1-1 with 10 KOs.

On Wednesday, however, Whitaker, Givens and Bennett were placed on indefinite suspension by New Jersey State Athletic Control Board commissioner Aaron Davis.

In a letter from Davis dated July 13, 2011, Williams' promoter, Dan Goossen, and Lara's promoter, Golden Boy Promotions, were notified of the indefinite suspension of all three judges.

"Basically, as we've been saying all along, we thought that Erislandy Lara won. Lara thought that he won, and his management thought that he won," said Itskowitch. "Most people who watched the fight, whether they were fans or the media, they thought that Lara won. I think that the letter goes a long way toward validating their position."

BoxingScene.com had it 117-111 for Lara, as did Keith Idec of the North Jersey Record and HBO's unofficial scorer Harold Lederman.

ESPN's Dan Rafael and USA Today's Bob Velin each had it had 116-112 for Lara, and HBO commentators, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones gave Lara nine rounds and only three for Williams, who faced a disadvantage in overall punches landed, 224-to-200, and, power shots, 178-to-161.

In light of the recent development, Lara's manager, Luis DeCubas Jr., told BoxingScene.com that he believed that Lara should be treated like the winner, and that he hoped that HBO officials would support another Lara bout on their network.

Itskowitch agreed

"Lara and his management want the rematch, and that's what we will endeavor to get for him. But if he does not get the rematch, then we expect that he will be treated financially like the guy that beat Paul Williams," said Itskowitch. "We've had some conversations about Lara, and other fighters' names have come up, but I haven't personally had any conversations with [HBO.] That's something that [Golden Boy Promotions CEO] Richard [Schaefer] deals with."

Has Lara's career received a boost from the attention despite the decision?

"I think that Lara's name is probably out there a little more, but I don't know if it's out there more than it would have been had he won the fight. But his name, as a result of the controversy, is definitely out there and people are paying a lot more attention to this," said Itskowitch.

"I don't know if it's going to get a mention on Sports Center or ESPN or if Sports Illustrated is going to write about it," said Itskowitch. "But suspension of three judges who were judging were same fight is newsworthy simply because I don't ever recall it ever happening. In the 15 years that I've been in the business, I don't ever recall this happening."

According to an official list obtained by BoxingScene.com from the NJSAC Board, the trio worked five of the seven fights that took place prior to their participation in Williams-Lara main event. In addition, the three judges also worked the swing bout following the main event.

Davis did not immediately return a message to BoxingScene.com to determine whether or not their collective activity levels were is common practice in New Jersey.

"I don't know if there is a fatigue factor. That's a question for them. That's a question for Aaron Davis," said Itskowitch. "That's a question for [HBO's ringside scorer Harold Lederman or Julie Lederman or someone who is a judge for their perspective."

On Saturday night, experienced judge John Stewart was working his 11th major world title bout when Rico Ramos dethroned Akifumi Shimoda for the WBA super bantamweight crown.

Also in the building was Julie Lederman, a veteran of two world title bouts, scoring Saturday night's fourth-round knockout by Johnny Gonzalez over Tomas Villa in defense of his WBC featherweight belt.

Meanwhile, neither Whitaker nor Givens had ever worked a world title bout, while Bennett had participated in only two.

Bennett was at ringside in South Africa for December's third-round knockout by Jan Zaveck that dethroned Isaac Hlatshwayo as IBF welterweight champ, and also he scored for the winner, 120-108, in May's lopsided unanimous decision by IBF super flyweight king Cristian Mijares over Carlos Rueda.

"I would much rather that the three judges had scored the fight in Lara's favor, and then no one would be suspended and we wouldn't be having this conversation," said Itskowitch. "No one would be crying foul or robbery and all of these things. But it happened, and we deal with it."

Below is a listing of the fights that they are known to have judged, and the order of the nine bouts on the card.

John Lennox TKO 4 Donnie Crawford --  Hilton Whitaker, Al Bennett, Don Givens

Brandon Quarles SD 4 Corey Preston -- Hilton Whitaker, Al Bennett, Don Givens

Thomas Lamanna TKO 1 Reggie Jenkins -- Hilton Whitaker, Al Bennett, Don Givens

Denis Douglin UD 6 Philip McCants -- Hilton Whitaker, Al Bennett, Don Givens

Jhonny Gonzalez TKO 4 Tomas Villa --  Julie Lederman, Alan Rubenstein, John McKaie

Chris Arreola UD 12 -- Hilton Whitaker, Al Bennett, Don Givens

Rico Ramos KO 7 -- Barbara Perez, George Hill, John Stewart

Paul Williams MD 12 Erislandy Lara  -- Hilton Whitaker, Al Bennett, Don Givens

Cornelius White -- Dhafir Smith -- Hilton Whitaker, Al Bennett, Don Givens