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wtf @ the bold, anyway, here's the scorecards my friends.
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You might think that disgraceful boxing judge Pierre Benoist might want to “man up” after turning in a 119-110 ballot in favor of Paul Williams over Sergio Martinez Saturday night in an HBO main event held in Atlantic City.
“Man up” is an excellent way to put it, I must admit, as the two other judges, both women, turned in reasonable tallies.
Veteran Julie Lederman, daughter of HBO voice Harold Lederman, called it a 114-114
draw while veteran Lynne Carter favored Williams 115-113 in a brawl in which both fighters were knocked down.
An inspection of the composite cards reveal the gross incompetence of Benoist.
He called the opening round 10-10 while Carter and Lederman both gave it to Williams, 10-9.
Then Benoist goes completely off the tracks, giving rounds two through 12 to Williams as though Martinez was taking a moonlight stroll on the gritty Boardwalk for those 33 minutes, like he was missing in action.
Carter gave rounds nine, 10 and 11 to Martinez and Lederman awarded 10, 11 and 12 to Martinez.
I rang Benoist up in Hackettstown, NJ, just like I called Texas judge Gale Van Hoy after his shameful card in favor of Juan Diaz over Paulie Malignaggi in another travesty of ring justice in HBO.
(Van Hoy favored Homeboy Diaz by a silly 118-110 margin in Houston, a fight which many thought Malignaggi won and caused such a controversy that the two have a rematch in neutral Chicago this coming Saturday.)
To his credit, Van Hoy answered my questions and defended his scoring. He manned up in the face of biting criticism but Benoist took the easy way out.
“I am not going to respond to you. You have any questions, you call the (New Jersey State Athletic) commission,” Benoist said. “I don’t want to hang up and God bless you.”
Then, of course, the spineless judge disconnected me.
Here's Paul Strauss on ESB decrying the lopsided scoring of Benoist:
A common refrain by Manny Steward, JIm Lampley and Max Kellerman was, "How would you score that round?" That comment was symbolic of the closeness of many of the rounds, and also the fact that both fighters never backed down. Just when one would land a good shot, the other one would surge back, seemingly to say, "Oh, yea, well take that!"
The fight was so close that you could argue either man edged out the other. Judge Julie Lederman thought so and scored the fight even at 114-114. Lynne Carter too had a realistic score of 115-113 in favor of Williams. It could have been just as easily the other way in favor of Sergio. However, the night was spoiled when Pierre Benoit's scorecard was announced.........119-110? What that hell fight was Benoit watching! Max Kellerman called Benoit's scoring disgraceful, and characterized it as being right up there with the Funeka and Malignaggi thefts.
Over at Maxboxing, Jason Pribila agreed, labeling the 119-100 tally "inexcusable:"
Julie Lederman’s card read (114-114) she gave Martinez the final three rounds, which was justifiable. Lynne Carter scored the bout (115-113) for Williams, which echoed the scores of many on Press Row. And finally, Pierre Benoist’s card was read at an inexcusable (119-110) for Williams.
In the end the right guy may have won, but a judge’s ridiculous score again became a part of the story. Benoist only gave Martinez the second round, even though his corner, promoter, and Williams himself knew that the fight was on the table during the championship rounds.
The moan of promoter Lou DiBella when he heard, “119” read, led a chorus of boos from a crowd that was otherwise thoroughly entertained.
“Either he’s incompetent – or worse,” DiBella said of Benoist, “because there is no explanation for that score.”
It’s scorecards like that this—with an 11 point difference between Carter’s count and Benoist’s total—that make me ashamed to be part of the boxing industry.
It’s not corruption that’s killing our sport, it’s rampant incompetence as displayed by Benoist.
I know that scoring rounds is highly subjective but for Benoist to be 11 points away from Carter and nine from Lederman is absurd.
Does it surprise you to find out that Benoist is a former politician, a hack who catapaulted into judging fights on the backs of other hacks?
I didn’t think so.
But here is something surprising.
You might say that inept scoring like Benoist’s is “murdering” boxing.
But the judge’s ex-Marine, ex-Golden Gloves boxer son, Emil Pierre Benoist, was a murderer, a mass murderer in fact.
Then age 20, Benoist killed shot and killed six men at random in August of 1977.
As 25 state troopers with dogs pursued the killer into a cornfield, he killed himself.
Just like boxing is killing itself with this kind of blasphemous officiating.
Williams, Martinez and all the other fighters deserve competent refs and competent judges.
Is Nevada the only state where such professionalism can be found?
“Man up” is an excellent way to put it, I must admit, as the two other judges, both women, turned in reasonable tallies.
Veteran Julie Lederman, daughter of HBO voice Harold Lederman, called it a 114-114
draw while veteran Lynne Carter favored Williams 115-113 in a brawl in which both fighters were knocked down.
An inspection of the composite cards reveal the gross incompetence of Benoist.
He called the opening round 10-10 while Carter and Lederman both gave it to Williams, 10-9.
Then Benoist goes completely off the tracks, giving rounds two through 12 to Williams as though Martinez was taking a moonlight stroll on the gritty Boardwalk for those 33 minutes, like he was missing in action.
Carter gave rounds nine, 10 and 11 to Martinez and Lederman awarded 10, 11 and 12 to Martinez.
I rang Benoist up in Hackettstown, NJ, just like I called Texas judge Gale Van Hoy after his shameful card in favor of Juan Diaz over Paulie Malignaggi in another travesty of ring justice in HBO.
(Van Hoy favored Homeboy Diaz by a silly 118-110 margin in Houston, a fight which many thought Malignaggi won and caused such a controversy that the two have a rematch in neutral Chicago this coming Saturday.)
To his credit, Van Hoy answered my questions and defended his scoring. He manned up in the face of biting criticism but Benoist took the easy way out.
“I am not going to respond to you. You have any questions, you call the (New Jersey State Athletic) commission,” Benoist said. “I don’t want to hang up and God bless you.”
Then, of course, the spineless judge disconnected me.
Here's Paul Strauss on ESB decrying the lopsided scoring of Benoist:
A common refrain by Manny Steward, JIm Lampley and Max Kellerman was, "How would you score that round?" That comment was symbolic of the closeness of many of the rounds, and also the fact that both fighters never backed down. Just when one would land a good shot, the other one would surge back, seemingly to say, "Oh, yea, well take that!"
The fight was so close that you could argue either man edged out the other. Judge Julie Lederman thought so and scored the fight even at 114-114. Lynne Carter too had a realistic score of 115-113 in favor of Williams. It could have been just as easily the other way in favor of Sergio. However, the night was spoiled when Pierre Benoit's scorecard was announced.........119-110? What that hell fight was Benoit watching! Max Kellerman called Benoit's scoring disgraceful, and characterized it as being right up there with the Funeka and Malignaggi thefts.
Over at Maxboxing, Jason Pribila agreed, labeling the 119-100 tally "inexcusable:"
Julie Lederman’s card read (114-114) she gave Martinez the final three rounds, which was justifiable. Lynne Carter scored the bout (115-113) for Williams, which echoed the scores of many on Press Row. And finally, Pierre Benoist’s card was read at an inexcusable (119-110) for Williams.
In the end the right guy may have won, but a judge’s ridiculous score again became a part of the story. Benoist only gave Martinez the second round, even though his corner, promoter, and Williams himself knew that the fight was on the table during the championship rounds.
The moan of promoter Lou DiBella when he heard, “119” read, led a chorus of boos from a crowd that was otherwise thoroughly entertained.
“Either he’s incompetent – or worse,” DiBella said of Benoist, “because there is no explanation for that score.”
It’s scorecards like that this—with an 11 point difference between Carter’s count and Benoist’s total—that make me ashamed to be part of the boxing industry.
It’s not corruption that’s killing our sport, it’s rampant incompetence as displayed by Benoist.
I know that scoring rounds is highly subjective but for Benoist to be 11 points away from Carter and nine from Lederman is absurd.
Does it surprise you to find out that Benoist is a former politician, a hack who catapaulted into judging fights on the backs of other hacks?
I didn’t think so.
But here is something surprising.
You might say that inept scoring like Benoist’s is “murdering” boxing.
But the judge’s ex-Marine, ex-Golden Gloves boxer son, Emil Pierre Benoist, was a murderer, a mass murderer in fact.
Then age 20, Benoist killed shot and killed six men at random in August of 1977.
As 25 state troopers with dogs pursued the killer into a cornfield, he killed himself.
Just like boxing is killing itself with this kind of blasphemous officiating.
Williams, Martinez and all the other fighters deserve competent refs and competent judges.
Is Nevada the only state where such professionalism can be found?
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