Home town judging the standard in USA.

[The Hammer]

According to ekstrabladet.dk the judges have now been changed. It'll be Steve Morrow (California), Stanley Christodoulou (South Africa) andog Michael Höök (Sweden).

The referee is important too. Goossen's California referee may try to protect Ward and let him hold and headbutt as much as he wants.

Steve Morrow has mostly worked Dan Goosen-promoted boxing events:

http://www.boxrec.com/list_bouts.php...judge&pageID=1

[Hitman932]

According to ekstrabladet.dk the judges have now been changed. It'll be Steve Morrow (California), Stanley Christodoulou (South Africa) andog Michael Höök (Sweden).

I feel compelled to point out something here.

Obviously Morrow is from Cali I think that it goes without saying that despite his South African heritage Christodolou is an "American" judge. He works in the US, has for a long time, and has done most of his big fights here.

This is why I take issue with the judges for the Dirrell-Froch fight. Just because it says "Belgium" behind someone's name doesn't mean that they even live there.

A guy like Daniel Van de Wiele is for all intents and purposes a German official who makes regular appearances on Sauerland event cards. He is regularly paid and employed by Sauerland who has an interest in Dirrell-Froch in that one guy is tailor made for Abraham (Froch) and one guy could cause AA some problems (Dirrell). From Sauerlands point of view it was much better for their fighter if Froch won that fight because he poses less challenge to their fighter head to head going forward.

Essentially what I want to boil this down to is that there are 3 different major European promoters in this event and there are only so many respected Euro judges. These promoters all have extended relationships with judges like Van De Wielde and Barrovechio as they have been working together for years.

To think that their can be no potential bias simply because they list a different country of citizenship is very naive.

[Hyde]

So? Almost all reporters at ringside had Valuev winning. Only those watching on crappy streams or with lousy scoring HBO commentating had Holyfield winning big.

For the record I had Holyfield up with a point.

come on Valuev won maybe 4 rounds at best.... it was a robbery without a doubt.

[Hitman932]

come on Valuev won maybe 4 rounds at best.... it was a robbery without a doubt.

I certainly thought it was robbery and have watched it twice since and scored it for Holyfield all 3 times.

That being said I was happy that Holyfield didn't get the nod.

It would have been a real shame for him to become the oldest heavyweight champion of all time based on such a pathetic fight when the current record held by George Foreman was set in such a dramatic and exciting fashion against the legitimate champion.

[BattlingNelson]

come on Valuev won maybe 4 rounds at best.... it was a robbery without a doubt.

Arguably the best boxing reporter Graham Houston disagrees with you:

What on earth is all the fuss about? Nikolai Valuev was unimpressive, no argument, and Evander Holyfield showed that at 46 he is still a fighter to be taken seriously, but the decision in Saturday’s heavyweight title fight in Zurich was hardly one of the worst of all time.

This could have been scored for either fighter. It so happened that Valuev got the majority decision. One point on one judge’s card was all that kept this from being a draw. It was that close. The 116-112 score in favour of Valuev by the Italian judge seemed too wide, but I had no quarrel with 115-114 in favour of Valuev by Swedish judge Mikael Hook or the 114-114 score by Guillermo Perez, from Panama. I actually had Valuev winning, 115-113.

The fuss about the scoring, I believe, comes in large part from the TV commentary that had Holyfield winning practically every round.

Then we had the Swiss fans getting right behind Holyfield and cheering every time the great old warrior landed a punch or made an aggressive thrust.
..........

http://www.fightwriter.com/?q=node/2022

[MUNG]

I had to do the routine because Annie cried about someone else doing it earlier.

I will say though that in 5 years on this forum and having discussed boxing with people from several Euro countries the great majority seem to have a huge chip on their shoulder when it comes to the US. They think it's a country filled with liars and cheats and they applaud out international failures and cheer out losses without even being able to explain why.

As someone who is proudly 50% Hungarian and 50% American I am truly glad that I have been able to enjoy the best of both worlds and understand exactly how pathetic and pointless the xenophobia is.

I wonder could it be something to do with what seems like a lot of americans doing the exact same.....

Id say its only a small proportion from europe and america that do it, but remember competition between many european countries is far more than competition with america. As far as i can see inter euro country events get far more coverage than another euro country versus america in anything.

[BattlingNelson]

I wonder could it be something to do with what seems like a lot of americans doing the exact same.....

Id say its only a small proportion from europe and america that do it, but remember competition between many european countries is far more than competition with america. As far as i can see inter euro country events get far more coverage than another euro country versus america in anything.

That'll be the truth right there.

[Hyde]

Arguably the best boxing reporter Graham Houston disagrees with you:



http://www.fightwriter.com/?q=node/2022

So? I'm not gonna change my oppinion just because of Graham Houston... I think Holyfield won that fight and I'll stand by it.

[Hitman932]

So? I'm not gonna change my oppinion just because of Graham Houston... I think Holyfield won that fight and I'll stand by it.

I think Graham Houston, who is normally my favorite, can kiss my ass on that one.

He not only tipped Valuev in that fight but he basically praised David Haye for fighting the same fight and called him a clear uncontroversial winner despite him doing no more than Holyfield did against the giant.

For the first time I am questioning Houston's objectivity.

[BattlingNelson]

So? I'm not gonna change my oppinion just because of Graham Houston... I think Holyfield won that fight and I'll stand by it.

I thought he won as well, but no way was it a robbery. Controversial decision but not a robbery.