Mykal Fox delivered the best performance of his career, yet still never stood a chance.

The leading candidate for the 2021 Robbery of the Year took place this past Saturday live in primetime on Fox TV from The Armory in Minneapolis, Minneapolis. Fox was believed by the majority of viewers to have easily won a twelve-round decision over Venezuela’s Gabriel Maestre, only for judges Gloria Martinez Rizzo (117-110), John Mariano (115-112) and David Singh (114-113) to turn in scorecards suggesting they bore witness to a completely different fight.

Or perhaps something worse.

Fox (22-3, 5KOs) was brought in as a late replacement for Canada’s Cody Crowley, who tested positive for Covid less than two weeks out from what was originally due to headline the August 7 edition of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) on Fox TV. The 6’4” welterweight has long established a reputation as a consummate gym rat always ready to fight, even on short notice as was the case here versus Maestre.

By round two, it was clear that Fox was game for the cause. A crisp left hand put Maestre on the canvas for the bout’s lone knockdown, and Fox seemed to do enough in the majority of the rounds thereafter to pull off the upset win and claim the World Boxing Association (WBA) title at stake.

It didn’t play out that way at all. From round three onward, Fox would only win three rounds on the card of judge Singh (Panama), two on the card of Mariano (Minnesota) and just one on the card for Martinez-Rizzo (Miami), whose conflicting boxing ties and racist views have quickly come into light in the aftermath.

The three judges agreed on seven of the twelve rounds scored. The only one to land unanimously in Fox’s favor was round two, where he scored a knockdown and couldn’t possibly be denied the round. Maestre was awarded rounds one, five, six, ten, eleven and twelve on all three cards, pulling out the fight on the cards of judges Singh and Mariano in the championship rounds.

Judge Martinez-Rizzo seemed to long admire the mere presence of the WBA-friendly Maestre, who won all but round two and four on her scorecard which has rightly come under fire.

Fox was the majority winner in just the 2nd, 4th and 12th rounds.

Singh and Mariano were in agreement on nine of the twelve rounds scored—rounds one, five, six, ten, eleven and twelve for Maestre and rounds two, three and nine in favor of Fox.

Mariano and Martinez-Rizzo agreed on all but two rounds. They saw Maestre winning rounds one, five, six, seven, eight, ten, eleven and twelve, while both awarding rounds two and four to Fox.

Martinez-Rizzo and Singh were only in agreement on the seven rounds scored unanimously for either fighter.

The awful scorecard turned in by Martinez-Rizzo was further magnified by a documented history of her political beliefs and racist views, first brought to the surface by BoxingScene.com columnist Corey Erdman. The Nicaragua-born judge is a staunch supporter of twice-impeached President Donald Trump, as revealed through her now deactivated Twitter account. Martinez-Rizzo has made claims that the 2020 U.S. Presidential election was stolen, referred to former First Lady Michelle Obama as a “monkey face” and claimed NBA legend LeBron James to be “so stupid that all he can do is play basketball, other than that go back to the (thoroughbred) stable), all within the past 14 months.

“Wow,” Fox—an African-American boxer—stated upon learning of the officials. “I was never gonna win on her card.”

Martinez-Rizzo was named the 2019 Boxing Judge of the Year by the WBA. She is currently married to longtime boxing personality Ricardo Rizzo, who has worked as a matchmaker, judge, supervisor and adviser to managers, promoters and sanctioning bodies (notably the WBA and formerly with the WBO). Neither bode particularly well for those who hope for any justice to come of a forthcoming investigation to be conducted by the WBA, as per sanctioning body president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza.

The declaration of an investigation has also come with the suggestion that the sanctioning body plans to order a rematch. That does nothing to resolve what took place on Saturday. The boxing world saw what took place in the ring and once again heard everything that’s wrong with the sport beyond the ropes.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox