Josh Taylor requests there not be three American judges for Lopez fight

Josh Taylor

JOSH TAYLOR hopes he doesnโ€™t have three American judges scoring his next fight.

The super-lightweight champion will leave for New York this week with his June 10 date at Madison Square Garden Theatre against Teofimo Lopez drawing ever closer.

Taylor has fought on a dozen occasions in contests scheduled for the 12-round distance. Judges score totals have been needed five times with Taylor 19-0 (13) getting the nod in each instance. In his last fight against Jack Catterall the Scot was lucky to walk away with a split decision win.

Prior to that there was an all-American scoring trio for his battle with Jose Carlos Ramirez. Despite having scored two knockdowns against Ramirez in May 2021 only two points separated the three scorecards on the night. Tim Cheatham, Dave Moretti and Steve Weisfeld arrived at the same total of 114-112 for Taylor.

โ€œObviously, Iโ€™ve requested to have three different judges, that there not be all American judges,โ€ Taylor told Boxing Scene.

โ€œSo, hopefully they accept what weโ€™ve requested and hopefully thatโ€™s the case. But I donโ€™t let things like that bother me anyway. I believe in myself and Iโ€™m confident in my ability, that itโ€™s gonna be that much of a dominant display, that the judges canโ€™t deny me.โ€

Scoring in boxing has been thrust into the spotlight once again following last Saturdayโ€™s undisputed lightweight bout between Devin Haney and Vasiliy Lomachenko.

Judges Tim Cheatham and David Sutherland both awarded the fight to Haney 115-113. Dave Moretti had the American fighter further ahead 116-112.

Lomachenkoโ€™s manager Egis Klimas called it a “robbery” and has since wrote to IBF President Daryl Peoples asking for the Ukrainian to remain as their number one challenger. Klimas and his team are also preparing to appeal the decision.

โ€œThe crowd at the MGM and the boxing world reacted to condemn what it believes to be an unfair and unjust decision that denied Loma his rightful victory and his lifetime goal of being undisputed champion of the world,” he said in his letter.

Taylor watched the fight too and isnโ€™t of the belief that Lomachenko had the fight snatched away from him.

โ€œHaving seen that fight, I donโ€™t know what all the huge fuss is about, the Lomachenko fight. I think it was a fight that couldโ€™ve gone either way.โ€

His upcoming opponent Lopez also had three US judges for his championship fight against George Kambosos Jr in November 2021. The Australian got the nod with a split decision verdict. Glenn Feldman and Frank Lombardi scored it 115-112 and 115-111 for the away corner while Don Trella had it 114-113 for Lopez.

โ€œI know what it is. I know how these people work,โ€ Lopez said afterwards of the decision.

โ€œThe referee knew I won tonight. Everybody knew I won tonight and Iโ€™m just thankful. I donโ€™t believe it was a close fight at all. At the end, I scored it 10-2.โ€

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