The Ring Magazine has the breaking news:
"The three judges responsible for the controversial scoring of the Paul Williams-Erislandy Lara bout that took place last Saturday in Atlantic City, N.J. -- Donald Givens, Hilton Whitaker Jr. and Al Bennett -- have all been placed on indefinite suspension, according to a legal letter from Aaron M. Davis, commissioner of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board ("NJSACB"), issued on Wednesday.
The NJSACB, which regulates professional boxing in New Jersey, selected the three inexperienced judges for the HBO-televised junior middleweight bout that most observers believed Lara won handily. However, Givens (116-114), Whitaker (115-114) and Bennett (114-114) inexplicably scored the 12-round bout for Williams by majority decision, an action that sparked outrage throughout the boxing world.
After conducting a full review of the controversial scoring, the NJSACB concluded that there was "no evidence of bias, fraud, corruption or incapacity on the part of any of the judges," and therefore, the government agency is not authorized to invalidate the decision or mandate a rematch, although the commissioners believe a return bout is warranted.
However, the NJSACB was "unsatisfied with the scoring of the contest, even after hearing the explanations from the judges." Thus all three were placed on indefinite suspension and "required to undergo additional training prior to their return to professional boxing."
http://ringtv.craveonline.com/blog/168039-williams-lara-judges-suspended
Oh combat sport judging! When will you ever learn?
OriginalTUFer - I don't get it. Williams lost one decision, got knocked out once - and RJJ, the announcer of the fight, was calling for his retirement?
Please explain.<br type="_moz" />
He was in a really damaging war against Martinez and then got KO'd cold in the rematch. In his comeback fight he looked slow and his reflexes looked bad. He ate dozens of hard straight lefts that he just could not get out of the way of. The prevailing opinion is that he may be shot at age 30.
OriginalTUFer - I don't get it. Williams lost one decision, got knocked out once - and RJJ, the announcer of the fight, was calling for his retirement?
Please explain.<br type="_moz" />
Last Saturday, Paul Williams fought Erislandy Lara in a fight many feel Lara won handily. The judges scored the fight 114-114, 115-114, and 116-114 for Williams.
The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board issued an immediate investigation into the scorecards, and after having gone over the fight with each of the judges, they feel there was "no evidence of bias, fraud, corruption or incapacity on the part of any of the judges," but they were "unsatisfied with the scoring of the contest, even after hearing the explanations from the judges." "Thus all three were placed on indefinite suspension and 'required to undergo additional training prior to their return to professional boxing.'"
this is real encouraging. Hopefully this gets other commissions to start penalizing incompetent judges
OriginalTUFer - "He was in a really damaging war against Martinez and then got KO'd cold in the rematch. In his comeback fight he looked slow and his reflexes looked bad. He ate dozens of hard straight lefts that he just could not get out of the way of. The prevailing opinion is that he may be shot at age 30."
I see, he should retire.
It's one thing if Tito makes excuses because of back injuries, but if a boxer's reflexes are shot - he's done.
His reflexes aren't shot. There is a flaw in his game, a blind spot for the overhand left, which Martinez exposed in their second bout, and Williams refused to fix for his fight with Lara. Lara took advantage of this the whole fight and Williams looked profoundly stupid for not addressing the weakness during his training camp.
I dunno, he might he shot. He looked really slow and his shots looked like they didn't have anything on them. He was never a great defensive fighter but the amount of left hands he ate was alarming.
I mean, Sergio Martinez is almost certainly a far superior fighter to Erislandy Lara, and Williams managed to beat Martinez (close fight but the decision was legit) back in December 2009. That suggests to me that it's not just a weakness that got exposed, but that he has actually deteriorated as a fighter.
Talk of retirement makes me think his head wasn't in the fight. Plus, he probably thought he could coast against Lara, and save one final hard camp for his third and final fight with Martinez.
BushidoAristotle - OriginalTUFer - "He was in a really damaging war against Martinez and then got KO'd cold in the rematch. In his comeback fight he looked slow and his reflexes looked bad. He ate dozens of hard straight lefts that he just could not get out of the way of. The prevailing opinion is that he may be shot at age 30."
I see, he should retire.
It's one thing if Tito makes excuses because of back injuries, but if a boxer's reflexes are shot - he's done.
His reflexes aren't shot. There is a flaw in his game, a blind spot for the overhand left, which Martinez exposed in their second bout, and Williams refused to fix for his fight with Lara. Lara took advantage of this the whole fight and Williams looked profoundly stupid for not addressing the weakness during his training camp.
He's always been vulnerable to that left hand against southpaws. Quintana hit him with it a ton of times, even Winky Wright was landing it frequently. Just saying it's not really Martinez that exposed him with that.