By Jake Donovan
There’s nothing like a close and controversial decision to get fans talking.
Needless to say, there was – and apparently still is – plenty to talk about from last weekend’s rash of strange scoring throughout the globe. Though oddly enough, only one involved an American fighter, with none of the fights taking place on American soil.
Chief among the topic of highway robbery continues to be the seemingly ageless Bernard Hopkins rising from two knockdowns to rally back and outfight Jean Pascal, only to leave Quebec City with a majority draw.
That two of the three judges couldn’t find just one more round – or that one judge couldn’t pick a winner in two of the 12 scored rounds – denied Hopkins the opportunity to become the oldest fighter in boxing history to win a world title, as Pascal averted disaster in barely hanging on to his lineal light heavyweight championship in a fight where he started strong but quickly unraveled.
Pascal’s only saving grace was that the judges all opted for traditional scoring of the knockdown rounds, when a strong case could have been made for the opening frame having been deemed a 10-9 round. The only moment in which Pascal won the round was the flash knockdown late in the frame, having barely landed a punch to that point.
Credit to Hopkins for rallying back the way he did. At his age and after more than 20 years in service, he could’ve easily mauled, hugged and flopped his way to the nearest exit and simply called it a career. Instead, he dug deeper than he has in years, and from midway through the fight all the way until the thrilling finish looked like the much fresher fighter against an opponent almost young enough to be his son.
Then came the reading of the scorecards, which left the future Hall of Famer feeling like it was all for naught, that it was something he could have predicted long ago – and probably did, given his decades-long belief that he serves in an industry that has never welcomed his presence.
Still, as hotly disputed as has been the verdict that came Nord des Lignes, there exists the argument – beyond the arguing of the weekend in general – that it was the least controversial of the worst scoring incidents to occur on December 18.
Hours prior to Hopkins’ attempt to make history, wildly celebrated Russian cruiserweight Denis Lebedev traveled to Germany in hopes of unseating Marco Huck, who is as vulnerable as he is talented, not to mention among the more active top fighters in the sport today.
Saturday marked the fifth defense of the alphabet cruiserweight title that Huck acquired just 16 months ago. The Lebedev fight was his fourth of 2010, having won his previous three by knockout, albeit against a trio of American challengers not quite up to the task.
While Huck deservedly rates among the very best cruiserweights in the world today, he has a tendency to fade down the stretch. Such was his undoing in his only career loss, falling behind late in his December 2007 fight against Steve Cunningham in which he was stopped with just over a minute to go in the 12th and final round.
With stoppage wins in his previous eight fights, the belief going in was that Lebedev would end the fight the moment he was able to land something big.
It never quite happened, at least not to the point of putting Huck to sleep.
As a result, it has become widely believed that Lebedev was doomed from the start, as Huck escaped with a close and hotly contested split decision win. Two of the judges had Huck winning seven of the 12 rounds, while Lebedev was a decisive winner on the dissenting card of 116-112 in his favor.
The latter tally seems to be the most popular among those who watched the fight and bothered to blog or post about it after the fact. Others contend that it was a little closer, and perhaps more of a favorable hometown decision than it was an outright robbery.
Whatever the case, few seem to give Huck any credit for retaining his alphabet title or extending his win streak to a remarkable 12 straight mostly at the championship level in a span of three years.
Fortunately for the hard-working German – who suffered broken ribs early in the fight – there existed greater outrage over the fact that Hopkins was denied the opportunity to once again make history.
Yet both of the aforementioned bouts appeared to have become something of an afterthought by the time a junior flyweight title fight out of Argentina went viral.
Former titlist Ulises “Archie” Solis has barely lost a round ever since conceding his alphabet title to Brian Viloria in an April 2009 bout that made its way to honorable mention status among the year’s most notable fights, knockouts and upsets. Five wins later, it could be easily theorized that he earned the right to fight for what was once his.
Making that dream a reality required the diminutive Mexican to travel to Argentina. Awaiting his challenge was 39-year old Luis Lazarte, one of the more remarkable success stories of 2010. Not only did he manage to acquire his first alphabet title at such an advanced stage in his career (and life), but the upset win over Carlos Tamara came in what was his sixth attempt at a major title of sorts.
Still, at 10 years older than his hard-hitting challenger and coming up on 14 years in service, it seemed that Lazarte’s days at the top were due to expire.
The officials assigned to his bout with Solis obviously felt otherwise.
After 12 poorly officiated rounds, only one of the three judges gave Solis his just due, awarding him the bout by an eight point margin (117-109) that seemed to jive with most objective viewers able to take in the action either live or after the fact.
Matching scores of 113-113 denied Solis the opportunity to become a two-time titlist, and allowed Lazarte to continue to run on borrowed time.
If there is any justification in Hopkins being forced to settle for a majority draw, it was the fact that he was dropped twice and that he still managed to win the majority of the rounds on the official scorecards.
The opposite turned out to be the case for Solis, who managed a draw only because his opponent was docked two points for an assortment of fouls that really should have forced a disqualification.
Along with conceding hometown advantage, Solis had to contend with defending against punches behind the head and below the belt, and even at one point getting bit. His reward for going through all of that was ultimately being robbed of a decision win and the recovery of the title he previously held for more than three years.
Instead, the summary of the night was that once Lazarte was done punching Solis in the balls, the officials took turns kicking him in the ass.
Far more offensive than the pair of scorecards rendering the contest even, was the shoddy refereeing of Max Parker, Jr. The Florida-based official, who also doubles as a police officer, struggled throughout to maintain any semblance of control in the ring. At no point was Solis made to feel safe in the ring, as the term ‘protect yourself at all times’ was pushed to the absolute brink.
The overwhelming number of complaints and protests filed over the fight and its outcome has forced the sanctioning body whose belt was on the line to review the fight and determine the proper course of action to take in the immediate future. The best-case scenario for Solis is that the verdict is somehow overturned, although the most likely outcome would be an immediate rematch.
While nowhere nearly as controversial on the officiating aspect (aside from scores being whited out on the master scoresheet, though due to a transfer error), there has been a similar request on behalf of Hopkins by his promoter Golden Boy Promotions in regards to a return go with Pascal.
Chances are that the soon to be 46-year young modern day legend will have to wait out another rematch – one between Pascal and Chad Dawson, who intends to exercise a clause that allows him to attempt to avenge the lone loss of his career suffered at the reigning light heavyweight king.
Lebedev could very well once again meet Huck sometime in 2011. Sauerland Event plans to proceed with a Cruiserweight Super Six tournament and has invited the Russian puncher to participate.
While 2011 holds in store opportunity for redemption and revenge, boxing is forced to limp out of 2010 with a series of controversial outcomes. Suspect officiating around the globe wound up overshadowing what should’ve been celebrated as a strong finish to an otherwise disappointing year.
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of Boxingscene.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/JakeNDaBox or submit questions/comments to JakeNDaBox@gmail.com.