By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Filipino boxing judge Capt. Ramon Flores has been “given a warning” by the Games and Amusements Board “to be extra careful” in scoring fights after Manila Standard criticized him for a “ridiculously lopsided” scorecard in the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation lightweight title fight between champion Dennis Laurente and Japanese challenger Chikashi Inada last October 2. Japanese journalist and boxing manager Joe Koizumi had described Flores’ score as “too nationalistic” after he gave it to Laurente 119-109 while referee/judge David Chung scored it even at 115-115 and Japanese judge Nobuaki Uratani scored it in favor of the Filipino 115-114.
GAB Officer-in-Charge Atty. Emmanuel Palabrica conducted an investigation last October 13 at which Capt. Flores claimed he was “made to sit in a place where there were Japanese fans actively cheering for Inada, that he felt the pressure of the crowd but he struggled not to be unduly influenced by them.” However, Flores stated that he had deducted one point from Laurente on the instructions of the referee but “could not exactly remember the final score he gave both fighters and that he had scored based on his personal observation.”
In merely warning Flores the GAB noted that a licensed judge is “expected to observe a high degree of ethical standards in his dealing with the people involved in professional boxing. A boxing judge must be free from impropriety and the appearance of impropriety” adding that a judge “must exude the warm zeal of maintaining fairness and his conduct should be beyond reproach.” However, the GAB cleared Flores, stating he had “not breached the ethical standard expected of a boxing judge” although it did find the 119-109 score of Flores “grossly lopsided” and this could be “easily gleaned:” by comparing Flores’ scorecard with those of the two other judges.
In exonerating Flores, the GAB surmised that Flores “struggled too much against the undue influence of a biased crowd to the point that he may have unconsciously tilted the scale too much to the other side which resulted in a grossly lopsided decision.” Flores’s scorecard of 119-109 despite the one point deduction meant that in his appreciation Laurente won all twelve rounds which was completely contrary to the media reports on the fight and the scores of the two other judges. Interestingly, the GAB recognized Japanese judge Uratani’s “undivided fidelity to his duty as boxibg judge of upholding fairness, an act worthy of recognition.”
