By Keith Idec
NEW YORK – Even after he had some time to calm down, Floyd Mayweather Jr. didn’t temper his harsh criticism of the James DeGale-Badou Jack decision early Sunday morning.
Mayweather went as far as to say he doesn’t want his company, Mayweather Promotions, to return to New York because DeGale-Jack was scored a majority draw. London’s DeGale (23-1-1, 14 KOs) and Sweden’s Jack (20-1-3, 12 KOs) each scored knockdowns during their 12-rounder – DeGale in the first round, Jack in the 12th – and all three judges scored the highly competitive super middleweight championship unification fight by close scores.
Two judges, Julie Lederman and Steve Weisfeld, scored their entertaining encounter even (113-113). Glenn Feldman scored the fight for DeGale, 114-112.
An emphatic Mayweather still thinks the decision was as bad as the majority draw for which Jack settled against Canada’s Lucian Bute (32-3-1, 25 KOs) on April 30 in Washington, D.C. That 12-rounder was widely viewed as a decisive victory for Jack, who’s promoted by Mayweather’s company, but only one of the three judges scored that fight for the WBC world super middleweight champion (117-111, 114-114, 114-114).
“This is bullsh*t,” said Mayweather, whose company was the lead promoter for Saturday’s card. “We’re not gonna be like other promoters and pay judges off. We’re not doing that. Treat us fair. Just treat us fair.”
While Mayweather didn’t make any specific accusations against Feldman, Lederman or Weisfeld, having one of the sport’s most recognizable people indicate that there has been impropriety involved in judging Jack’s fights caused reporters to question Mayweather’s claims during the post-fight press conference.
The retired superstar also criticized how judges are assigned to fights.
“I don’t really understand what’s going on,” Mayweather said. “I think we probably need to get some younger judges. I don’t know what’s going on, but how I’m feeling, I don’t really wanna come back and really fight on the East Coast anymore. This is not right.”
When challenged regarding the seemingly competitive nature of the DeGale-Jack bout, Mayweather wouldn’t budge.
“No. No. F*** no,” Mayweather said, before referring to DeGale missing the press conference to go to a local hospital as a precautionary measure. “No. No. No. The boy [DeGale], he know he lost. He can come in here. Fighters come and do press conferences all the time, and then go to the doctor. … The fight wasn’t close.”
Mayweather also questioned why Jack’s fight against Bute remains a draw on his record, even though Bute failed a test for a performance-enhancing drug that should change the result to a no-contest.
“They tend to sweep that under the rug, when he fought in D.C.,” Mayweather said. “The guy failed a drug test, but then they still wanna put it on his record. [BoxRec.com], take that sh*t down. Take that down. Gonna get [taken down]? It don’t take no six or seven months, or a year. Take it down. That’s easy.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
