Worst Decision in Boxing 2010
Boxing always has bad results. That’s just the name of the game, and it’s why they say to leave it out of the judges’ hands. In recent years, most fans have been too quick to yell “ROBBERY!!” just because a fight was close and didn’t go to the fighter they thought should have won. A fight that is close enough to be won by one or two rounds by one fighter could usually be won by the other with a slight change of perspective. Still, sometimes there are flat out robberies, and in 2010, we saw a perfect example of that in January.
2010 Robbery of the Year: Beibut Shumenov SD Gabriel Campillo
On the morning of January 30th, 2010, I know more than a few boxing fans who woke up and said, who the hell is this Beibut Shumenov, with a 9-1 record, and now the WBA light heavyweight title? The touted prospect was moved quickly into a title match against Gabriel Campillo in August of 2009, and he lost a majority decision. Then came a rematch between the two, and most feel that the second match had a much clearer outcome than the first match did. A much clearer win for Gabriel Campillo, that is.
Instead, Shumenov took home a Split Decision, with scores of 117-111 and 115-113 in his favor, and 111-117 for Campillo. Most observers were fairly shocked at the outcome, as it appeared that for the entire second half of the bout, Campillo was in control. Not only was he the busier fighter, coming forward and being aggressive, controlling the action, but he also nearly stopped Shumenov in the 9th round. [You can watch Shumenov-Campillo II on DailyMotion here.]
Surely Shumenov had his moments in the bout, but most came in the first few rounds of the encounter. He came out looking to establish himself and was winging some huge shots, some of which caught Campillo and had him buzzed. In the third, he opened up a gash with a big right hook. But his good moments were few and far between, and were largely over by the fifth or sixth round, at which point Campillo took control of a seemingly exhausted Shumenov.
That’s not how the judges saw it though, and two out of three awarded Shumenov the victory. Since, he defended his title against the undefeated Viacheslav Uzelkov, a good win, especially since he got knocked down in the first round, and is now lined up for a unification match against Juergen Braehmer for January 8th, 2011. Who knows if Campillo, at 20-3, will ever got a shot at another major title again.
Robbery of the Year Runner-Up: Shane Mosley vs. Sergio Mora Draw
Watching this bout while it happened, I thought Shane Mosley defeated Sergio Mora with a 118-110 scorecard. Granted, that’s a bit wide, but plenty of other observers and respected boxing pundits thought that Mosley won by six or seven points. ProBoxing-Fans.com also conducted a post-fight poll, where 60% of fans thought Mosley won, 24% thought it was a draw, and 16% thought Mora won.
Mora seemed unwilling to engage Mosley throughout the duration of the bout, and fought only in rare spurts. Mosley outworked him, landed more, and seemed to dictate the bout. Before the scorecards were read, you couldn’t have bet me enough money to say that Mosley wouldn’t get the W.
Regardless, Mosley certainly seemed past his best on that evening, which means, he’s perfectly ripe for a May 2011 showdown with Manny Pacquiao, of course.
Other bad decisions: Pascal vs. Hopkins Draw; Alexander UD Kotelnik; Sylvester SD Karmazin
Check out the complete collection of the ProBoxing-Fans.com 2010 boxing awards!
