Ten of the Worst Robberies in the History of Boxing

[El Kabong]

Evander Holyfield vs Lennox Lewis 1

And ALMOST 2....I thought Evander did MUCH better in the rematch and the stats prove that out, but not a "robbery" just figured I'd give a shoutout to the more competitive of the two matches.


De la Hoya - Trinidad
De la Hoya - Mosley 2...at the VERY least Oscar won the rematch watch the fight, look at the stats, how it's any other way just shows you the judging is imperfect

Lyle, post the sources.

Just stirring the turd

[mikeeod]

Not sure if it is a robbery, but I thought Whitaker beat Chavez. It wasn’t the most blatant robbery, but difficult for me to see that one being a draw.

I thought Hagler beat Leonard pretty bad in that fight. Leonard has his moments, but they were not consistent, especially throughout the round itself.

I feel that BHop won both fights vs Jermain Taylor and thought at worst he deserved a draw vs Calzaghe. His style had become “boring” by then, and he tended to try and shut the other guy’s offense down and do just enough to steal the round. That being said, I felt he beat both of those guys.

Oscar vs Tito was pretty bad. I like Tito, and think the weight hurt him in that one, but Oscar won that night.

I’m a huge Evander fan. I thought he lost the first fight to Lewis, but thought he won the rematch. He lost one and drew one with Ruiz and I thought he deserved both of those. He outright lost one to Ruiz as well.

I thought Gatti deserved at least one of those fights vs Robinson.

Jeff Fenech won the first fight vs Azumah Nelson.

[Primo Carnera]

I’m gonna go with some amateur bouts.
1984 - Tyrell Biggs v Francesco Damiani
1988 - Roy Jones Jr. V the Korean guy
2012 - Savón v Joshua
2012 - Cammarelle v Joshua

[brocktonblockbust]

@El Kabong Lyle knows that the reason I said that is because somebody asked him for sources on another thread. I was just doing a parody of that. Lyle please fill in Primo car near about this stuff so that we don't have another inadvertent scenario

[Spicoli]

Foreman v Briggs up there. I think Randall was robbed in Chavez rematch. Eder Gonzalez wasn't just robbed v Juan M Coggi 1, the ref was basically a felony conspirator. Beasley was robbed when the ref wouldn't get off his chest. Mo Harris robbed v Larry Holmes. Sturm robbed v Oscar. Adolpho Washington robbed v Orlin Norris I. Lamar Murphy robbed v Miguel A Gonzalez. Sergio Martinez robbed twice..of a ko and a decision v Kermit Cintron. Manny v Mayweather was plenty of robbery.

[powerpuncher]

There are bad decisions and then there are robberies. Bad decisions are like the GGG and Canelo fights. You could score it for Canelo but most people had it for GGG. Bad decision but not a robbery.

The biggest robbery I’ve seen was Lara vs Williams. That was a completely one sided fight and Williams somehow won. Also, De La Hoya easily beat Tito and lost the decision. I consider it a robbery because I don’t know how you could have scored it for Tito.

There are other ones too but that’s all I can think of at the moment. I’ve seen plenty of bad decisions, but robberies are more rare.

[mikeeod]

When discussing robberies we usually focus on bad judges, but what about referees that have inserted themselves into fights to the point that they decided the outcomes? Some examples I can think of:

1. G-Man vs. Benn: Don’t want to offend my British friends so I will admit potential bias, but I remember the ref literally holding McLellan back after putting Benn through the ropes and providing Nigel with a few crucial extra seconds to clear his head. I also felt Benn got away with a ridiculous number of rabbit punches throughout the fight.

2. Floyd vs. Ricky Hatton: I feel that Ricky’s best chance was to fight inside and maul Floyd, not the prettiest tactic but his only shot at winning. I remember the ref constantly admonishing/warning Ricky and affecting the way he fought.

3. Chavez vs. Meldrick Taylor: I think Richard Steele was a great ref and I don’t think his last second stoppage was ill intentioned. That being said, that call cost Taylor more than just his belt and that fight. Maybe Meldrick ends up damaged goods regardless, but he at least deserved to have that win after leaving such a big part of himself in that ring.