Bob Bennett, Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, has thrown water at the claims of Canelo Alvarez receiving favoritism in the city of Las Vegas.
Some have claimed that Canelo has received preferential treatment from the judges, after winning close fights against Erislandy Lara and Gennady Golovkin, going to a controversial draw with Golovkin in their first bout, and somehow having one judge score a draw in his one-sided loss to Floyd Mayweather.
On Saturday night, Canelo returns to Las Vegas when he clashes with Daniel Jacobs in a showdown for the WBA, IBF, WBC middleweight titles at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Bennett defended his organization against the allegations, which claims that the NSAC has an agenda to assist Canelo due to his financial value to the city.
“I had 24-and-a-half years in the FBI and I indicted a boxing case for a fixed fight and I traveled all over the country to interview fighters who took a dive to get money under the table and it was proven in a court of law, do you think for one second I would say, ‘Hey, we’re going to favor Canelo here because he comes here often and he gives us a lot of business?’” Bennett said to Yahoo Sports.
“Or, ‘We’re going to favor Floyd because he is here so often?’ Hell no. Floyd was a world champ and he worked hard. It’s not up to me whether Floyd wins or loses. It’s up to Floyd. If I felt any of my judges were prejudiced or biased and I could prove it, I would report them to the FBI. We have no vested interest in the outcome.
"The Nevada State Athletic Commission’s only goal is to be fair and to get it right. We employ officials who have performed well under pressure and come up with the correct scores even in the biggest, most important and closest fights. Fighters want to come here and fight because they know we will go above and beyond to do that. Any suggestion otherwise is bullsh*t.”
