The Five All Time Worst Boxing Decisions

[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.

[ElTerribleMorales]

Calzaghe Vs Reid was pretty bad also

DLH Vs Sturm

HOLYFIELD VS VALUEV!!!

[Britkid]

Bad decisions and Sven Ottke were close buddies, ask Robin Reid, Charles Brewer and Byron Mitchell.

[Dr. Steelhammer]

Huerta-Kid diamond

[iwng100]

Dorin clearly dominated Spadafora a few years ago in one of the best fight of the year but one of the judges saw it draw and another one gave it to Paul, one of the worst draw decisions IMO.

[Hulk]

Spinks vs. Mayorga.

Ricardo Mayorga was robbed in that fight, with terrible judging and bs point deductions. They took an exciting power punching welterweights title and gave it to a boring runner because of his last name.

[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.

[JazMerkin]

Numbers 1 & 2, I definitely agree with, but 3,4 & 5 just don't work because those are all close fights which I've heard people score to both fighters. I thought Mayweather beat Castillo by a round, that Oscar beat Trinidad by 2 & the Whitaker beat Oscar by 2, but none of that makes them robberies, it just makes them close fights. People throw the word robbery around far too much, I remember all kinds of nonsense like that on here after the Berto-Collazo fight. The Lewis-Holyfield first fight should undoubtedly be in there, as should Oscar-Sturm IMO. Can't think of another off-hand, but Emmanuel Augustus could have a Top 10 all on his own.

[HattonTheHammer]

Numbers 1 & 2, I definitely agree with, but 3,4 & 5 just don't work because those are all close fights which I've heard people score to both fighters. I thought Mayweather beat Castillo by a round, that Oscar beat Trinidad by 2 & the Whitaker beat Oscar by 2, but none of that makes them robberies, it just makes them close fights. People throw the word robbery around far too much, I remember all kinds of nonsense like that on here after the Berto-Collazo fight. The Lewis-Holyfield first fight should undoubtedly be in there, as should Oscar-Sturm IMO. Can't think of another off-hand, but Emmanuel Augustus could have a Top 10 all on his own.

agreed 1 & 2 are valid and 3,4 and 5 are a bit silly.

I had all 3 of those fights scored to the eventual winner and again why i dont mind people refering to these close calls as incorrect i find it extremely harsh to refer to these as robberys.

If you wanna talk robberys talk lewis-holyfield 1, chris john getting the decision over marquez in indonesia, and as youve already mentioned the 3 115-113 scorecards for ODLH over sturm (ODLH winning wasnt what was fishy it was the 3 EXACT scores that was)

So far this year thankfully we`ve been treated to some spectacular knockouts in the big fights by the likes of pacquiao, mosley, dunne, froch etc and the only questionable decision i can think of from the top of my head was berto getting the win over collazo.

lets hope this trend continues throughout 2009

[J_C]

If you wanna talk robberys talk lewis-holyfield 1, chris john getting the decision over marquez in indonesia, and as youve already mentioned the 3 115-113 scorecards for ODLH over sturm (ODLH winning wasnt what was fishy it was the 3 EXACT scores that was)

Might have to watch that one, not seen that Oscar fight. What youre saying about the scorecards is what i thought about the Dawson-Johnson fight all being 116-112 Dawson, that stunk bigtime. All exactly the same very wrong score, whats that about?

Btw im not saying it was one of the BIGGEST robberies ever in terms of a declared winner but I thought it was in scoring terms. By my book youd have to score every single close round to Dawson to get that score (Johnson clearly without a doubt won 4 rounds but there were 5 close rounds). All 3 judges scoring every close round to Dawson, thats 3 lots of 5 close rounds going 15-0 to Dawson. My score was actually 116-112 Johnson fwiw.

[J_C]

I just watched number 5 on that list, Mayweather v Castillo.

I scored it a 113-113 draw (6-6 with 1pt deduction for each fighter). So to put it on the top robberies of all time is laughable frankly.

For me it was pretty much a tale of 2 halves, with Mayweather owning the 1st half and Castillo owning the 2nd. I had it 4-3 to Castillo in clean rounds and I scored the 5 close rounds 3-2 to Mayweather.

Having said that the actual point scores were way out of order (115-111 x2 and 116-111). So the scores were awful but real close fight. Kind of reminiscent of the scoring I mentioned above in the Dawson v Johnson match, every close round got scored for Mayweather across the board 15-0.

[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.