Examples of why boxing keeps shooting itself in the foot

The last two years in boxing have been classified in many ways. There were callings of year of the upset, changing of the guards, but what I call the last two years in boxing is year of the controversy. In the last two years there have been more questionable and controversial decisions, than bad rulings in figure skating, and that can't be very good. When boxing fans go to message boards, they see threads about the controversy of the sport a lot, instead of threads about the great fights. Just this last week alone has brought a lot of controversy, as Ricardo Mayorga was arrested and Kali Meehan not getting the decision against Lamon Brewster. Let's take a look back at some fights that had a questionable decision in the last two years.

RAHMAN-TUA 2:

A fight that was supposed to be Tua's comeback party, and quest to the title was being spoiled by former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman. Rahman was nailing him with the jab and confusing Tua, who could only shoot out one punch at a time. Tua simply did not land enough shots in this fight to even warrant getting a draw let alone a victory, as Rahman simply did more than him. Now, of course there are the people who say that Tua landed the harder shots, but there were only 4 rounds in which I could give the Tuaman. The final verdict was a draw, but many people ringside and people who were watching on the tube felt Rahman won the fight. Since then, Rahman went on to lose to John Ruiz, and then won 4 straight fights again journeyman. Tua has been inactive since, dealing with legal problems with former manager Kevin Barry.

DORIN-SPADAFORA

This was a fight not many people were looking foreword too, as Spadafora was recognized as a boxer who was boring, but Dorin was a brawler who always came foreword. It was the classic boxer-puncher match up, but since Spadafora had problems making the 135 weight limit he had to stand in the pocket a little more than usual. Dorin would proceed to outwork him in many rounds, as he was landing hard shots that could be heard throughout the arena and made Spaddy back off a little bit. Spaddy came back a little bit in the middle and late rounds, but it can be argued that he still didn't do enough to win those rounds. Scores ranged a little more in this fight, but I feel Dorin won 9 rounds of this fight and should have gotten the nod. The fight was declared a draw; as Dorin went on to lose his title on the scales when he couldn't make weight against Miguel Callist. Dorin then went on to win a tune up against Chucky T and then lost, by KO-2, to Arturo Gatti. Paul Spadafora went on to vacate the title to move up to 140 pounds, as he has won a couple tune ups.

DLH-MOSLEY 2:

A big fight that had a big build up, and then had a big controversy. It seemed that DLH out boxed and outfoxed the lethargic Mosley. Even Mosley's Dad said he needed a KO in the last round, and the HBO crew seemed DLH had it all but won. Well this is the theater of the unexpected and Mosley got the decision, which enraged the HBO crew. A lot of people scored it for DLH, but some people at the arena scored the fight for Mosley. At the post fight news conference DLH threatened to put a full investigation into this, and thank god he didn't, as it would have even tarnished the sport even more. DLH went on to win a controversial decision against Felix Sturm and is getting ready to face Bernard Hopkins, while Shane Mosley lost his titles in his first title defense against Winky Wright, but gets a second chance on November 20.

BYRD-OQUENDO:

Some people thought this was worse than the DLH-Mosley fight, as Byrd seemed to think he lost even when the decision was announced. This fight between two friends was an ugly one, as Oquendo seemed to use his roughhouse tactics and got Byrd out of his game plan. He then went on to beat Byrd to the punch in the middle rounds and seemed to build a big lead. Byrd came on late, as it seemed he made the verdict just a little closer, but the verdict was never supposed to be up in the air. Well, again how wrong we are. As the scores announced Byrd, himself, said he lost, but somehow the judges gave him the fight. The judge who scored 9 rounds for Byrd in that fight needs to be banned forever, as that has to be one of the worse scorecards ever. Oquendo went on to lose to John Ruiz in his next fight, as Chris Byrd went on to get another controversial nod, this time a draw against Andrew Golota.

VANDA-GARR:

This was the first fight I attended and I loved the atmosphere, but this has to be one of the worst decisions I've ever seen. Vanda seemed to be beaten to the punch in every round and even though he was aggressive, and tried, he still could not do anything of meaning against Sam Garr. As much as I love Minnesota fighters there is no way Vanda won this fight. I had it 98-92 for Garr as did just about every impartial viewer watching the fight, but of course Matt Vanda got the hometown decision. The hometown fans were happy and drunk, but the normal audience were very angry, and Teddy Atlas did his usual outrage about a federal commission. Can't say I disagree with him,

DE LA HOYA-STURM

This was supposed to be an easy tune up for the Golden Boy, as he was just preparing for Bernard Hopkins. Felix Sturm was undefeated but untested, as De La Hoya thought he would roll over him within the first 5 rounds. He sure fought like it, giving his all in the first round, but that was just the beginning of the end for Oscar. Sturm landed many jabs, as he bloodied De La Hoya's nose early and never let up on him. Oscar seemed confused and tired as early as the 7th round, and by the 11th round he just seemed done. Sturm was switching southpaw and seemed to win the majority of the rounds with his tactics of not letting Oscar steal rounds. This decision seemed like karma, as he previously had a decision go against him, which could have gone his way, but this fight was worse. I scored it 116-112 for Sturm as did many boxing experts, and some even went as far as 117-111 for Sturm. The judges somehow scored the fight for Oscar, and keeping the biggest super fight of the year in tact.

BURTON-AUGUSTUS

Now this fight has to get the worst decision of the year award. Augustus took this fight on a week notice and was going into the hometown of Burton, but this was nothing new to him. Burton was coming off a KO loss to Julio Diaz and didn't seem to have the skills to keep up with Augustus, who beat him to the punch almost every time and just seemed to beat on him. It seemed Burton was on his way to his 3rd loss, but the ref was also trying to help the hometown kid as much as possible too. He warned Augustus many times, but when Burton committed a foul it would go unnoticed by the biased ref. Also, he penalized Augustus a point for spinning himself out of a clinch as he seemed to do no wrong, but it was wrong in the eyes of the ref. It wouldn't matter though as Augustus kept on his toes and put on a boxing clinic and seemed to have easily won the fight. Burton somehow got the decision, giving people who think this great sport is rigged more room to speak. This has to be one of the worst decisions ever and one of the worst officiated fights ever. Thankfully, referee Dan Kelly will never ref again, but justice did not prevail in this fight. Burton did not win the fight, go talk to Teddy Atlas about this.

RAHEEM-JUAREZ

We all thought Burton-Augustus was as bad as it gets, officiating wise, but we were wrong once again. Referee Frank Gonzalez did everything in his power to help Rocky Juarez, as he deducted 3 points from Raheem for touching the back of Juarez's head. Now technically this is an infraction, but he wasn't hitting behind the head and when Juarez did the same thing he wouldn't get warned. To add to the fact, when both fighters had loose tape the ref did nothing and put the fighters in danger. This fight was a disgrace as Raheem was taken out of his fight plan and couldn't execute because he was fighting two opponents: Frank Gonzalez and Rocky Juarez. He was still able to win many rounds, but with all the point deductions it made it impossible for him to win the fight. He lost a decision, but gained many fans as he fought well.

MEEHAN-BREWSTER:

This is the most recent of the bad decisions that have tainted this sport and will not be the last. Meehan came in as a 10-1 underdog and nobody seemed to be giving him any chance to dethrone the new titlist. Meehan did come in with a plan though, as he seemed to hurt Brewster many times and kept the 1-2 in the face of Brewster all night. Meehan had him out in the 8th round, but Brewster showed heart and survived the round. He did win a couple of the late rounds, but that still wasn't enough. I scored it 116-112 as many people disagreed with Brewster getting this split decision verdict. It was the latest of many bad decisions.

Now boxing really need to do something about this, as fighters seemed to be getting screwed more than Jenna Jameson and Brianna Banks. Who knows what a commission would do, but it's worth a shot as this system we are running now is not working. Boxing fans need to do their part by making their voices be heard and show their disapproval for some judges. Whatever boxing does, it needs to stop shooting itself in the foot because eventually the foot will fall off.

That's it folks, keep rolling with the punches

Kyle Raymond