By Keith Idec
LAS VEGAS – Keith Connolly is satisfied with how the Nevada State Athletic Commission went about approving judges for the Canelo Alvarez-Daniel Jacobs fight.
Jacobs’ manager voiced objections to specific judges that were included in the NSAC’s original pool of judges, most notably Adalaide Byrd. She scored Alvarez a 118-110 winner over Gennady Golovkin in their first fight, so Jacobs’ team obviously wasn’t about to agree to allow the NSAC to assign her to the biggest fight of the Brooklyn native’s career.
Once the NSAC approved executive director Bob Bennett’s selections at its April 24 meeting, Connolly and Jacobs were more comfortable. Three of boxing’s most consistent, experienced judges – Connecticut’s Glenn Feldman, Nevada’s Dave Moretti and New Jersey’s Steve Weisfeld – have been assigned to the score the 12-round, 160-pound title unification bout between Mexico’s Alvarez (51-1-2, 35 KOs) and Jacobs (35-2, 29 KOs).
Connolly remains nervous, however, because Alvarez has been awarded debatable decision wins in Las Vegas against Gennadiy Golovkin and Erislandy Lara, as well as a controversial split draw with Golovkin in their first fight. The fact that one judge, C.J. Ross, even scored Alvarez’s obvious defeat to Floyd Mayweather Jr. a draw (114-114) in September 2013 has Jacobs’ manager on edge entering their DAZN main event at T-Mobile Arena.
“I’m always concerned about the judging,” Connolly said. “I mean, you’d be lying if you said you weren’t. I think Bob Bennett did a great job. I don’t know who picks the first round, the pool of judges, where there’s like 10 of them in there – there were a couple really big land mines. Once we addressed that situation with Bob Bennett, there was really no push-back. He took the people out that we wanted [taken out]. We had one objection to the referee [Robert Byrd] – he took that referee out. So overall, he did an amazing job. I know it’s the same panel that [judged] the second Canelo-Triple-G fight, and there was a little bit of controversy. But individually, I don’t have a major problem with any of them.
"But, I mean, I think there should definitely be a spotlight on these judges. I had to do my job and the promoters have to do their job, and the fighters have to do their jobs. So why shouldn’t there be a lot of scrutiny on the judges? I have confidence that they’ll do well, but I still think there should be a big spotlight on them. I think Steve Weisfeld, Dave Moretti and Glenn Feldman should all be held to a high standard. Because if you are gonna be involved in a mega-fight, you have a fiduciary responsibility to do the right thing for the fans, for the sport, but most importantly, for the fighters.”
Connolly pointed out that if Jacobs comes out on the wrong end of another closely contested Alvarez fight, it’ll cost him a lot of money during what’s left of the 32-year-old boxer’s physical prime.
“Think about this – if Danny Jacobs beats Canelo Alvarez and they rob him on Saturday night, just of the victory, it’s of tens of millions of dollars over the next couple of years,” Connolly said. “And it’s also millions and millions of dollars in opportunities over the course of a lifetime. If ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard didn’t get that decision against Marvin Hagler, he wouldn’t be getting all of the opportunities on TV that he’s getting right now. That fight defined his career. Even though he had big wins against Tommy Hearns and Roberto Duran, he doesn’t get that win, he’s not the legend that he is today.
“So, I really think that if there is a bad decision, those judges should be held accountable. Just like a fighter, if he fails a drug test or if he comes in overweight, there’s penalties. If you’re a judge, and there’s a really, really bad decision, I think there should be repercussions. But I have confidence that they will do the right thing, because there has been a spotlight on the judges for this fight.”
Long Island’s Connolly attended the second Alvarez-Golovkin fight at T-Mobile Arena. He scored that fight for Golovkin, but he didn’t consider Alvarez’s majority-decision win to be nearly as questionable a decision as the draw in their first bout.
“I was at the second fight, in person, and I thought it was either a draw or maybe Triple-G by a 7-5 score,” Connolly said. “When I went back and watched the fight, even though I had a lot of the rounds close, I still had the same score, because I look at Triple-G’s jab like a power punch. … It seemed like he landed a ridiculous amount of jabs.
“I don’t think it was a robbery because there were close rounds. I just thought he was more consistent in the fight. Canelo Alvarez landed the wider, more eye-catching shots, but I still had Golovkin winning. If it was a draw, I wouldn’t complain because there were two rounds maybe you could flip. But I don’t think Golovkin lost either of those fights, to be honest with you.”
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
