Quote Originally Posted by superheavyrhun View Post

I see where you're coming from in terms of getting the refs to score the fights as well....but we've got to make sure that the grass roots of boxing at the lower levels don't get priced out of arranging boxing events. Ultimately, the English title which this fight was for isn't one that is usually headlining shows in front of packed venues.

Normally it's a belt somewhere on the undercard, or often on shows with no tv coverage whatsoever, where the costs are run on very small margins. However, in cases like this where the draw of the fighters rather than the belt brought the big audience and Sky TV, it's been shown up and left a bitter taste for John McD. I'm not convinced there's a perfect solution, but perhaps an appeals panel or one judge along with the ref might be a halfway house.
I remember seeing this with a British title eliminator a few months back between Akaash Bhatia & Jamie Arthur. Bhatia appeared to control the fight, & at worst drew the fight, yet Dave Parris (big surprise there) came out with a 96-95 division in favour of Arthur. Obviously without major TV coverage, there was no uproar & Bhatia had to just accept the decision