Bad decisions not the mma is destroying boxing

July 11, 2011 BAD DECISIONS, NOT MMA, ARE KILLING BOXING By Adam Denman Boxing is known as the “sweet science”, a sport dedicated to the art of defensive mastery, elusive footwork, counter punching and warriors willing to go out on their shield. The main objective behind the sport is “to hit and not get hit”, something Floyd Mayweather has done perfectly throughout his career. In recent years, that style seems to have fallen into disfavor with fans, who would rather watch brutal exchanges of punches in the center of the ring. Boxing's popularity has taken a downfall because of the rise of Mixed Martial Arts in the mainstream market. The UFC, MMA's leading promoter, puts on bouts in an octagon-shaped ring surrounded by a fence that allows two fighters to beat the hell out of each other. But that's not the only reason for the popularity of boxing taking a major downturn. Another reason are horrible judges' decisions, like the one on HBO this weekend where Paul Williams walked away with a win in a fight that he deserved to win maybe three out of twelve rounds. Erislandy Lara consistently landed an overhand left to Williams' jaw throughout the fight that left HBO commentator Roy Jones Jr. calling for the fight to be stopped, and suggesting that Williams retire. In his last fight against Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams was stopped brutally with a left hand that sent him crashing to the canvas flat on his stomach. It seems he has never recovered. Many decisions over the last few years have been called “controversial” but this outcome is a travesty to the sport, and is another big reason for the decline in popularity. HBO's Harold Lederman unofiicially judged the bout nine rounds to three, or 117-111 in Lara's favor, and even though I don't always agree with his scores, this one he had right on target. Hilton Whitaker scored the fight 115-114, Donald Givens had the fight 116-114, and Al Bennett had the fight a draw, 114-114. This is the real reason boxing has taken a dramatic turn for the worse. Fans are tired of watching fights that are scored so incredibly wrong that they feel every fight is fixed. Over the last few years, that feeling has become common. It seems that when a fighter from a certain promotional company or popularity will get the decision even when they definitely don't deserve it. This reminds me of the Demetrius Hopkins-Steve Forbes fight back in March of 2007 when Forbes dominated the then undefeated Hopkins over twelve rounds, and all three judges scored the fight 118-110 in Hopkins' favor. The fight was promoted by Golden Boy, and his uncle, Bernard Hopkins worked for the company. The sport is not a downward spiral due to the rise of the UFC but because the judges are either biased or not paying attention to what is going in the ring. The blame should fall on the panel of judges that are making hardcore fans abandon the sport because there tired of watching fights that seem to be fixed, and scores that are corrupt. I just don't understand how a judge could watch the Williams-Lara fight where Lara landed more than 50% of his punches connecting on 224/530 while his opponent lands only 200/1047 for 19% and declares him the winner. At the beginning of round eleven, Williams corner said he needed a knockout to win, and Paul quickly obliged, understanding that he was way behind in the fight. For years, I have been a boxing advocate even when Oscar De La Hoya fought Floyd Mayweather in 2007, and one of the judges scored the fight in De La Hoya's favor 115-113 despite Mayweather's domination throughout fight. I was rooting for Oscar in that fight because I was an enormous fan of his but Mayweather deserved a unanimous decision, not a split decision. After watching the beating that Paul Williams suffered tonight, and the hard earned victory that Lara deserved but had taken away from him by the three judges, I wonder how many fans boxing might have just lost. In short, “something smells rotten in the state of New Jersey” and the decline of boxing will continue to fall on the judges' shoulders, not the rise of MMA. The sport of boxing will continue to take a dramatic hit if we allow these judges to walk away from this decision without any serious consequence. Thank these ringside officials for another hit to the popularity of the “sweet science” and a unforgivable loss on the record of the true winner Erislandy Lara. We don't need to see a rematch between these two fighters, we need to see the suspension of those three judges.