What Are The 3 Worst Decisions You Have Ever Seen?

[Scott9945]

I can understand scoring it for Foreman, but there have been much worse decisions than that.

Foreman's decision win over Axel Schulz was just as bad, imo. The HBO cheerleaders made the Briggs fight seem worse than it really was.

[-PBP-]

How about Whitaker-Chavez or Paul Williams-Erislandy Lara? I guess I'd throw in Holmes-Spinks. I thought Holmes even edged out Spinks in the first fight, plus I've heard in a close fight judges usually give it to the champion, but I guess they didn't because Holmes was too outspoken at the time? Either way, he definitely should've got the decision in the second fight, so I'll say Holmes-Spinks 2 for my third pick.

I'd also throw in Foreman-Briggs. No way Briggs should've won that. The even worse part was that made Briggs the lineal heavyweight champion.

Whitaker vs. Chavez was a bad decision but it didn't really get treated as a draw after the fight. He defended his title, kept his belt, ended Chavez'winning streak and was bumped up to #1 pound for pound.

[Derranged]

How about Whitaker-Chavez or Paul Williams-Erislandy Lara? I guess I'd throw in Holmes-Spinks. I thought Holmes even edged out Spinks in the first fight, plus I've heard in a close fight judges usually give it to the champion, but I guess they didn't because Holmes was too outspoken at the time? Either way, he definitely should've got the decision in the second fight, so I'll say Holmes-Spinks 2 for my third pick.

I'd also throw in Foreman-Briggs. No way Briggs should've won that. The even worse part was that made Briggs the lineal heavyweight champion.

Foreman Briggs was terrible. Thats a fight that nobody really talks about, I guess mainly because Foreman was retiring and didn't make a real stink about getting robbed anyway. 9-3 for Briggs??

[Derranged]

Williams-Martinez 1 was only bad because of that judge who gave Martinez only ONE ROUND.

That fight easily could have went 7-5 for either fighter or a draw.

[BennyST]

Harold Johnson-Willie Pastrano

I knew that was coming.

[Norton]

1. Pacquiao vs. Bradley

2. Povetkin vs. Huck

3. Chisora vs. Helenius

[McGrain]

Derry Matthews UD12 John Simpson
Timothy Bradley UD12 Manny Pacquiao
Casamayor UD12 Santa Cruz


All horrible.



John Simpson has been on the bad end of some scandalous decisions.

[Scott9945]

1. Pacquiao vs. Bradley

2. Povetkin vs. Huck

3. Chisora vs. Helenius

Is it a coincidence that the three worst decision you have ever seen were all in 2012?

[danthepoetman]

I’m mentioning these fights not so much as horrible decisions in themselves, but because they were bad decisions on very high stakes, that might have made some historical ripples.

I remember being shocked at Ali being declared the winner after his fight with Jimmy Young in 1976. Ali being declared the winner over Norton later the same year was also bad (so bad, in fact, a riot ensued of such magnitude that the Yankee Stadium was recked; this holly temple of boxing stopped presenting any fight card for decades up until what? recently), but I felt then, it wasn’t yet as bad; I personally had it a draw (and a panel of experts later on, on national tv, including an old but still clear minded Joe Louis, also had Norton-Ali a draw). If Jimmy Young had been awarded the decision against Ali, as he should have been, he would have become the unified heavyweight champ (WBA and WBC), the close decision in his fight with Norton the next year could have gone his way and we would have seen him one more year later, in 78, fight Holmes in a better frame of mind, instead of seeing him loose to Ossie Occasio.
I think the first Walcott-Louis (1947) fight had a terrible decision. Louis was so disgusted with his performance he tried to leave the ring before it was announced in his own favour… Would have Louis “retired” then, instead of waiting one more fight? Probably not, but who knows! And when would have the rematch take place? Would he have given Louis an immediate rematch? My thought is, it could one way or the other have somewhat impacted the career of both Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano as champions…

Don’t get me wrong: I know perfectly how incredibly hypothetical this all is; but we’re talking to think, here, we’re talking for fun. I throw these in the air just as food for thoughts.
These two decisions were of course the result of the legend status of both Louis and Ali at this stage of their career. We like to forgive such lack of judgement from the officials because of that, and it’s understandable. I think you can put in the same category the decision of Lewis-Holyfield 1, the Real Deal being such a respected figure in 99.

A third decision which was not bad in itself but rather a debatable measure taken by a referee from which history could have been different, is those 3 points deducted from Henry Armstrong in his fight for the middleweight title against Ceferino Garcia in 1940. Imagine: Armstrong was already the featherweight, the lightweight and the welterweight champion. The fight with Garcia was declared a draw. Without these point deductions, Armstrong would also have become AT THE SAME TIME, the middleweight champion of the world.

These are my two cents for now. I haven’t thought enough about which decision was so outraging and such a disaster in itself to take place in an all time list of the worst. I might be back later for an opinion on that precisely. But you guys have all thrown in some good ones…

[BRITISH LlON]

Please share your list, here's mine -

1. Pernell Whitaker vs Jose Luis Ramirez 1 - I just watched this and scored it 120-108, that's right, 12 rounds to nothing, for Sweet Pea. I had him winning every single round and I only thought there was 1 were Ramirez was competitive (The 8th), but I still thought he lost it. Usually when I watch a robbery or just a bad decision in general, it makes me upset and angry, but towards the end of this I actually started laughing to myself because Ramirez was just getting owned that badly. I still can't believe that they gave it to him. He got completely and utterly schooled.

2. Richard Abril vs Brandon Rios - I had Abril winning 119-109 and I thought the round that I gave to Rios was close enough to have gone the other way. The rounds here were more competitive than in Whitaker-Ramirez but Abril still won at least 10 of them in my eyes. Brandon "Bob Arum's next cash cow" Rios got the decision, even though he didn't land any meaningful punches and Abril hit him completely at will.

3. Lennox Lewis vs Evander Holyfield 1 - I had Lewis winning 119-110 and it was ruled a draw. I could see maybe 3 rounds for Holyfield but that would be being very generous. Evander appeared to get hit with 3 or 4 punches for every one he landed. I have seen far more competitive fights than this that the judges scored 120-108 or 119-109 across the board (Toshiaki Nishioka vs Rendall Munroe and Nonito Donaire vs Omar Narvaez are two examples where the loser was far more effective than Holyfield)

Please give me your thoughts. I know that there will be other opinions/choices and I am interested in learning about them.

I dont think Lewis vs Holyfield was that big a robbery. it was a robbery but far from the biggest I ever saw.
Paul Williams vs Erislandy Lara is the biggest robbery I remember seeing. i gave Lara 10 rounds, gave Williams 1 round and scored 1 round a draw.

Chisora vs Helenius was also an absolute crazy robbery in which Helenius only won maybe 2 rounds in the whole fight.