The Five All Time Worst Boxing Decisions

[Kel]

Nice article, props to the author. I agree totally with the Floyd Castillo fight, Castillo worked his arse off in the latter part of the fight only to get robbed I was fuming at that

[bzkfn]

A couple of horrible decisions I'd add to that. Casamayor robbing Santa Cruz on the Cotto-Mosley undercard was a bad one.

The worst one in recent memory for me was how 3 judges saw David Diaz beating Morales when it seemed pretty clear that Morales schooled him. The man would have been the first Mexican to win world titles in 4 divisions, and he wouldn't feel the need to continue fighting on.

[ElTerribleMorales]

i dunno if worst decisions ever but at least my picks are

(in no specific order)

Holmes Vs Spinks (both times)

DLH Vs Trinidad

Morales Vs Diaz

JCC Vs Whitaker

Cintron Vs Martinez

[Britkid]

Holmes Vs Spinks (both times)

Fight two was indeed terrible, but I would say fight one was up for debate, and Holmes had, had his luck in the previous 48 fights (Snipes and Williams stand out), thus he was due to lose a 50/50 call....

A good article, with fair well thought out arguments, but the five worst of All Time? Not all of them, in my opinion.

I remember Billy Hardy being screwed in a European Bantamweight Title fight in Italy, when one judge scored all the rounds even, except the 12th.

Sugar Boy Malinga was robbed blind in his first Benn fight, and even in the second fight one of the judges scored against him!

Henry Akinwande was on the wrong end of a terrible draw decision in Germany when he kicked Axel Schultz's ass for 12 rounds, first time round.

Schultz himself found out, turn around was fair play when he was robbed by George Foreman, who in turn was hard done by against Shannon Briggs.

Kirkland Laing found himself on the end of a shocking decision in Italy (against Oliva), when he was involved in a Italian speciality: The 12, 1 to 5 minute round fight; depending of course, on how the hometown fighter is doing!

Now they are probably not even in the top ten, hell, I have not even touched on Rivers/Walgast or Gonzales/CoggiI....

[CGM]

Number one on my list is Lewis Holyfield I. Surprised that was not included.

The author's comments re: delaHoya Trinidad were bang on. Trinidad was schooled. Even though DLH ran in the last few rounds, Trinidad landed nothing significant.

[SweetPea]

I have to take issue with 3 of the 5 listed in this column.

There's a big difference between a robbery and a controversial decision.

Robberies occur when one fighter dominates another and doesn't get the decision. Robberies occur when there is no way you could make a logical argument for the other guy winning. Robberies are the worst boxing decisions.

Mayweather-Castillo, Oscar-Pernell, Oscar-Tito.... those weren't robberies, they were close fights where you could make an argument that the right guy won. For example, I thought Pernell beat Oscar 114-112, but there were a ton of close rounds in that fight that could have gone either way. Oscar winning the fight didn't constitute a robbery.

Lewis-Holyfield I was an outright robbery and a much worse decision than fights like Mayweather-Castillo and Oscar-Pernell.

[leftylee]

Steve Forbes getting outrageously robbed by Demetrius Hopkins will always be on my list.

[J_C]

There's a big difference between a robbery and a controversial decision.

Robberies occur when one fighter dominates another and doesn't get the decision. Robberies occur when there is no way you could make a logical argument for the other guy winning. Robberies are the worst boxing decisions.

Lewis-Holyfield I was an outright robbery and a much worse decision than fights like Mayweather-Castillo and Oscar-Pernell.

I agree with this anaylsis. I watched Lewis-Holyfield 1 just the other day and had it 118-111 Lewis. How that dumb broad ever scored it for Holyfield i'll never know.

Whenever I score fights I always note down clean rounds and close rounds while I go. Clean being rounds I would argue were definitively won by one fighter and close where I could see some kind of argument for either fighter. In the Lewis Holyfield fight I didnt score a single clean round for Holyfield and there were 5 close rounds. So by my book even if you give Holy the nod on every close one he'd still lose 7-5. 100% robbery.

[Britkid]

Number one on my list is Lewis Holyfield I. Surprised that was not included.

Personally, I like the fact the author did not include that fight.

Yes, Lewis did deserve the decision, but he fought a very safety first fight in the opponents home country, and history says, normally that leads to disappointment.

For what ever reason, the fight became (the latest) final straw for poor decisions, and it was investigated. But remember right or wrong, the British judge had the fight even, maybe the fight like say Leonard/HearnsII was a damning indictment of ten point must, rather than the judges?

[CGM]

Number one on my list is Lewis Holyfield I. Surprised that was not included.

Personally, I like the fact the author did not include that fight.

Yes, Lewis did deserve the decision, but he fought a very safety first fight in the opponents home country, and history says, normally that leads to disappointment.

For what ever reason, the fight became (the latest) final straw for poor decisions, and it was investigated. But remember right or wrong, the British judge had the fight even, maybe the fight like say Leonard/HearnsII was a damning indictment of ten point must, rather than the judges?

Call it whatever you want, it was a terrible decision. Yes, lewis was cautious, but he boxed beautifully for a big man. No I would say it was a damning indictment of the judges, whatever scoring system you use, it was Lewis all the way.

[ElTerribleMorales]

Holmes Vs Spinks (both times)

Fight two was indeed terrible, but I would say fight one was up for debate, and Holmes had, had his luck in the previous 48 fights (Snipes and Williams stand out), thus he was due to lose a 50/50 call....

A good article, with fair well thought out arguments, but the five worst of All Time? Not all of them, in my opinion.

I remember Billy Hardy being screwed in a European Bantamweight Title fight in Italy, when one judge scored all the rounds even, except the 12th.

Sugar Boy Malinga was robbed blind in his first Benn fight, and even in the second fight one of the judges scored against him!

Henry Akinwande was on the wrong end of a terrible draw decision in Germany when he kicked Axel Schultz's ass for 12 rounds, first time round.

Schultz himself found out, turn around was fair play when he was robbed by George Foreman, who in turn was hard done by against Shannon Briggs.

Kirkland Laing found himself on the end of a shocking decision in Italy (against Oliva), when he was involved in a Italian speciality: The 12, 1 to 5 minute round fight; depending of course, on how the hometown fighter is doing!

Now they are probably not even in the top ten, hell, I have not even touched on Rivers/Walgast or Gonzales/CoggiI....

no doubt, but i personally felt that he did enough to win both fights, especially the rematch

[Kirkland Laing]

I remember Billy Hardy being screwed in a European Bantamweight Title fight in Italy, when one judge scored all the rounds even, except the 12th.

He got robbed against Orlando Canizales in their first fight as well. I worked all Christmas to buy a ticket for that one so I'm a little unbiased but he did beat him. He got robbed of his two best moments as a boxer, got his nose broken badly in the first round against Naz (although he was past it then.) He would have done well today with a good promoter.

[boozeboxer]

Emmanuel Augustus was the loser in the biggest robbery i have ever seen. DOn't remember who he was fighting.

[CFH]

Emmanuel Augustus was the loser in the biggest robbery i have ever seen. DOn't remember who he was fighting.

Courtney Burton?

[Britkid]

I remember Billy Hardy being screwed in a European Bantamweight Title fight in Italy, when one judge scored all the rounds even, except the 12th.

He got robbed against Orlando Canizales in their first fight as well. I worked all Christmas to buy a ticket for that one so I'm a little unbiased but he did beat him. He got robbed of his two best moments as a boxer, got his nose broken badly in the first round against Naz (although he was past it then.) He would have done well today with a good promoter.

He gave Canizales hell no doubt, but a split loss was fair(ish). Although, perhaps hometown advantage could of been more persuasive......

Fair dues to the classy Canizales though, he gave Billy his deserved rematch and showed how good he was, by dominating, all be it, on home turf himself.