GOLDEN BOYโS Eric Gomez โ who represents Canelo Alvarez โ asked the media to not to just focus solely on Adelaide Byrdโs mind-boggling 118-110 scorecard in the Mexicanโs favour, but few in the media could focus on anything else. The fight that led to the controversy was indeed a sumptuous one, but the greatest sporting events never leave such a nasty taste. And for Gennady Golovkin, it’s a taste that’s going to take some shifting.
When a decision like this occurs very often the reaction of the fighters is telling. While Canelo concluded the post-fight press conference somewhat triumphantly when he declared this was โthe Canelo eraโ, Gennady Golovkinโs reaction was only of disappointment.
โThis is terrible for the sport of boxing,โ said Golovkin. โIf these judges can do this, itโs terrible. I saw the total punches on the computer [punch stats], I saw the reaction to the decision, and everything is wrong.โ
The WBC, WBA and IBF middleweight championโs promoter Tom Loeffler added: โIt takes everything away from the performances of the fighters in the ring.
โI donโt see how she [Byrd] could score 10 rounds to two the other way but heโs still the champion. It could have been worse.โ
And thatโs the bright side in all of this. Not the glorious action or skill, but relief that Golovkin โ for so long unable to secure a fight like this โ did not lose his unbeaten record or titles as a consequence of incompetent officiating.
Golovkinโs trainer, Abel Sanchez, admitted he was concerned about Byrd before the fight.
โUnfortunately one of the judges turned up with a scorecard that was already written. I had some issues with her when we got the list of judges because of her erratic performances.
โShe needs to go back to school and learn how to judge a fight. She canโt be that blind, she canโt be that bad.
“Something has to be done about the decisions, itโs not fair on the fighters.”