by David P. Greisman
Artie Pelullo thinks that the judge who handed in a 98-92 scorecard in favor of Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. over Brian Vera should be out of a job.
“She’s [Gwen Adair] just bizarre. She shouldn’t be judging anymore,” Pelullo, who promotes Vera, said on an Oct. 2 conference call.
Adair only gave Vera rounds 8 and 9. Marty Denkin, who scored the bout 97-93 for Chavez, only gave Vera rounds 3, 8 and 9. Carla Caiz, who scored the fight 96-94 for Chavez, gave the first four rounds to Vera and the final six rounds to Chavez.
“Part of the problem is that the officials are not held accountable for their action,” Pelullo said. “There is no suspension in place. There’s no fines. There’s no review. All of the commissions, they stand by their officials, right or wrong — which is wrong. I’m a licensed fight promoter. Should I make a mistake, should there be a problem, there are repercussions for me. But there’s nobody that holds the officials accountable. Very few times does anybody saw, ‘Hey, you were wrong. You’re suspended. You’re fined,’ or whatever.”
The three New Jersey judges who scored Erislandy Lara’s fight with Paul Williams in 2011 as a majority decision for Williams were suspended. C.J. Ross, the judge who saw Floyd Mayweather vs. Canelo Alvarez as a draw last month, has since taken an indefinite absence from the sport.
Adair was inducted in 2005 into the World Boxing Hall of Fame — a California-based institution that is not affiliated with the International Boxing Hall of Fame situated in Canastota, N.Y.
Pick up a copy of David’s new book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon . Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com
