By Keith Idec

LAS VEGAS – Even Canelo Alvarez’s promoter thinks Adalaide Byrd’s scorecard was way off.

Oscar De La Hoya acknowledged during their post-fight press conference Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena that Byrd shouldn’t have scored the Alvarez-Gennady Golovkin fight 118-110 for Alvarez. De La Hoya had Alvarez ahead by two rounds when their highly competitive middleweight title fight ended, but he understands why fans and media are outraged over Byrd scoring 10 of the 12 rounds for his promotional company’s franchise fighter.

“I was shocked,” De La Hoya said following their draw. “I’m in shock – 118-110 is a shocker.”

The retired legend tried to focus on the back-and-forth action Alvarez and Golovkin provided during an HBO Pay-Per-View fight that was nearly two years in the making. To his credit, however, De La Hoya didn’t ignore that Byrd’s scorecard tainted what otherwise was a terrific fight that offered its fair share of dramatic moments.

Judge Dave Moretti scored the fight 115-113 for Golovkin. Judge Don Trella scored it a draw (114-114).

“A lot of people are not understanding 118-110, just like myself,” De La Hoya explained. “That’s the bottom line, but I have to say that Byrd, yes, is a competent judge. She’s been doing lots of world [title fights] for many years. But yes, 118-110, yes, yeah, it is – but I can understand 115-113 and the draw, 114-114. I mean, personally, I had it 7-5 for Canelo [115-113]. And people can argue about either way, because it was such a great fight. I mean, that’s the bottom line.”

De La Hoya then tried to focus on the positives produced Saturday night.

“I think this is probably one of the best fights we’ve seen in recent years,” he said. “These guys fought their heart out. Gennady is a tremendous, tremendous champion. And Canelo is a tremendous, tremendous champion. And everyone has their opinion, but that’s what made it such a great, great fight.

“And I do feel bad for Byrd for taking a lot of heat now – 118-110, that was pretty widespread, I have to admit. But look, this is boxing. She’s, like I said, a very competent judge and been judging for many, many years. And Las Vegas is one of the best commissions in the world, and I personally felt like boxing won today. It was a win-win-win for everyone. I think this is what the sport needed, a fight like this, with Triple-G and Canelo.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.