by David P. Greisman

Former two-time titleholder Cassius Baloyi allegedly attacked a boxing judge following a split decision defeat this past Saturday against former 135-pound beltholder Paulus Moses, according to Namibian newspaper The New Era.

The scores of that bout were 97-93 and 96-94 for Moses, with the dissenting tally being a 96-94 scorecard for Baloyi.

But Baloyi apparently took umbrage with judge Jaap van Nieuwenhuizen, according to the report. It wasn’t clear from the article or from BoxRec.com which score belonged to van Nieuwenhuizen.

“They [Baloyi’s stable mates] were accusing me of having played a part in his defeat against Moses — saying I was maybe watching a different fight because the scorecards were so one-sided,” van Nieuwenhuizen was quoted as saying by the newspaper. “After a long, heated debated, he [Baloyi] started throwing insults at me and pushed me around before he unleashed a few punches at [my] chest.”

Baloyi, 37, has now lost three in a row, and four of his last five, getting stopped by Malcolm Klassen in 2009, dropping decisions to Mzonke Fana and Argenis Mendez in 2010 and 2011, and then losing to Moses. The lone win in-between was a 2009 decision victory over Roberto Arrieta.

That streak just might be signifying the sunset of a boxer who captured the vacant International Boxing Federal belt at 130 pounds in 2006 with a technical knockout over Manuel Medina; lost that belt in his next fight, against Gairy St. Clair; regained it in 2008 with a decision over Mzonke Fana, then lost it again two fights later in the aforementioned loss to Klassen.

Baloyi is now 37-7-1 with 19 knockouts.

Moses, meanwhile, is trying to battle his way back into contention. He held the World Boxing Association’s “regular” lightweight belt after defeating Yusuke Kobori, then lost it two fights later against Miguel Acosta. Prior to the Baloyi fight, he’d most recently lost a unanimous decision in March to 135-pound beltholder Ricky Burns. Moses is now 29-2 with 19 knockouts.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Follow David on Twitter @fightingwords2 or send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com.