This was far beyond bad judging. Look a couple of terms are waaaaay overused in this sport like great, robbery, p4p etc. But this was outright criminal on live TV for the world to see. It wasn't "oh could have gone either way..hard to tell..I can see a draw". It was not close. Not a particularly enthralling fight but late replacement Fox controlled the tempo, the ring control and cleaner punches putting Maestre down and hurt early. Not even mentioned is how Maestre and corner had skinned gloves and the ref made them re-wrap before the start. Ref said 'well makes no sense they are signed off on by someone in the back' . That was quickly swept under the rug. One judge David Singh was brought in late...oh and happened to have never judged a fight in the U.S and just a dozen or so outside of his Country Panama..which just so happens to be where the WBA is based. And Gloria Martinez Rizzo who had an insane 117-110 Maestre (including his KD) just so happens to be married to a high ranking WBA executive. Hey I'm not one to jump into tin foil hat conspiracies as seems to be the new norm last few years..but this was a set up in plain sight. This was Kid Diamond v Huerta territory.

Said it awhile ago and I think it caught up now. Seems like the last year or so we've seen these cards where two judges have it fairly close, 1-3 point differences maybe. And then you see this outrageous lone card of 118-110 or 117-111 territory. The insurance policy. It's almost like the 'shiny object' for everyone to focus on and just like two weeks ago in Charlo v Castano fans start yelling "robbery robbery" in what was actually a very tight fight and imo a legit draw. But focusing on the one wide nutso card sort of blurs things and it feels like in this instance it finally backfired. I've not found a single soul calling Maestre v Fox close or coin flip. But outright obvious robbery, that fits the bill.