The Tangled Web of Boxing's Officials

by Paul Magno

The incompetent 119-110 score issued by judge Pierre Benoist after Saturday's Paul Williams-Sergio Martinez bout has inspired a lot of articles and reports about the awful state of judging in the sport we love.

Just one week after Ali Funeka was robbed of a world title by a pair of suspicious 114-114 scores against Joan Guzman, Benoist's wide score completely ripped off the scab that had been healing since Gale Van Hoy incomprehensibly saw Juan Diaz utterly dominate Paulie Malignaggi back in August.

But as amateur and professional boxing pundits alike gnash their teeth about bad decisions and their negative impact on the sport, the wheels keep turning and absolutely nothing is being done to alter an obviously broken system.

Recently, the BPA (Boxing Promoters Association) issued one of the most laughably ironic statements of the year when they "expressed deep concern" over the state of officiating in boxing and offered to create a rating process to judge "competency and integrity" among officials.

Kids running the candy shop?

The most ironic part of their statement is that those officials showing the most competency and integrity would probably end up getting the fewest judging assignments.

Right now, as it stands, the pool of available boxing officials consists mostly of yes men and professional vacationers whose well-paid officiating getaways are paid for directly by the promoters.

Sure, the judges are technically appointed by the commission, but everybody knows that those in the running for appointment are among the group of judges already on the promoter-approved list of acceptable officials. The promoter, who is ultimately footing the bill for the judges, referee and the entire event, will not be forced to accept an appointment that they really don't want.

So, what we get is the same incompetent and/or corrupt officials being passed around from fight to fight with the full knowledge and approval of both promoter and a commission that is just happy to have a revenue-generating event in their home state and a paycheck in their pockets.

At this point, nothing short of a total restructuring of the system will improve the quality of the officiating.

The principal conflict of interest has to be eliminated if things are to improve. This means either establishing a complete separation between the promoter and the officials via strong and independent national commission or by ending the promoter's urgency to protect his own interests by ending his ability to sign fighters to exclusive contracts.

Until we can put an end to this ridiculous conflict of interest where, basically, the officials and fighters are on the same promoter's payroll, there can't be any real level of fair play. The commissions will swear up and down that there is indeed a system of revision and discipline when it comes to their officials, but the truth is easily seen.

And, right now, under the current system, how are the most egregious offenders disciplined for their transgressions?

Well, look at our friend Gale Van Hoy, who was at the center of a firestorm of controversy due to his ridiculous 118-110 score for fellow Texan, Juan Diaz. Van Hoy was punished with a trip to Germany and an assignment to judge a WBC interim title fight.

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Promoting Boxing Incest

by Paul Magno

While the general boxing public cries and gnashes its teeth about the rotten sanctioning bodies, I have always held to the belief that the real culprits are the ones with the smiles, the posed publicity photos and the flowery language...The Promoters.

The "alphabet soup" boys deserve their fair share of abuse, but let's not forget that, like in most criminal organizations, the real devils can be found by simply following the money. The sanctioning bodies are merely props playing the role of dim-witted Fredo Corleone to the major promoters' Godfather.

In the case of boxing, the promoters have the checkbooks and it's their ultimate call as to which fights get made and where we'll be able to see them. The promoters have their fingerprint on every aspect of the game, even when it comes to the officiating.

For those unfamiliar with the behind-the-scenes mechanisms of boxing and just how incestuous the relationships are, Mitch Abramson of the NY Daily News wrote an outstanding article on the subject over the weekend. It sheds a lot of light on just how whacked-out the situation really is:

After scoring a fight last Saturday in Houston, Gale Van Hoy, a 75-year-old professional boxing judge, got off his stool and huddled with his boss, Dickie Cole of the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

In a private meeting that night, Cole presented Van Hoy with an envelope. Inside the envelope was a check for $1,800.

The check was signed by Golden Boy Promotions, which promoted the fight between Brooklyn's Paulie Malignaggi and Houston's Juan Diaz.

If someone didn't know any better, the act of Van Hoy collecting a paycheck from Golden Boy Promotions might be considered a bribe. After all, his scorecard helped advance the career of a Golden Boy fighter, as Diaz has an exclusive contract with the company.

...In the dense world of boxing, judges who score these fights are on the payroll of the event's promoter.

For appearances sake, the promoter hands the check over to the commission, who then delivers it to the judges.

But the result is the same: The promoter is paying the judge to make a decision in a fight the promoter has a financial stake in.

The relationship doesn't end there. In California, if a judge lives more than 100 miles from the fight venue, he receives lodging and a per diem of $25, all courtesy of the show's promoter. Van Hoy told me he was given $80 for meals over two days while staying in a hotel for the night, courtesy of Golden Boy Promotions.

This is outrageous. In no other major professional sport is a team owner responsible for the salary and housing of its officials.

You don't see Yankees owner George Steinbrenner pulling up in a golf cart and cutting a check for "Cowboy" Joe West, or any other umpire. Major League Baseball handles that fiduciary duty. You don't see James Dolan, who oversees the Knicks, waiting in a Garden corridor to pay Dick Bavetta.

There is also no review process in most states after a controversial decision in boxing. Van Hoy said that Dickie Cole "was not unhappy at all," by his scorecard. That was the extent of Cole's evaluation of his performance. This is incredible. The NFL reviews every single play of a game and assigns a grade to the officials based on the number of correct and incorrect calls made.

If an official receives a number of failing grades, he is put on notice. No such scrutiny exists in boxing.

"Someone like Van Hoy, he'll be back in a couple weeks judging another show," Malignaggi said. "He doesn't get fined, nothing."

Without a national commission to police the sport, boxing is subject to the whims of the commissions of each state. The Texas commission didn't assign one neutral official for Diaz-Malignaggi, stacking the deck against the kid from Bensonhurst.

And the result? You get an uncomfortable decision for the hometown kid and the sport of boxing is the night's biggest loser.

Actually, given the abundance of nefarious types with shady dealings, it's a minor miracle that boxing isn't even more corrupt.

Right now, in the vacuum created by the absence of a real commission, the promoters are the only ones with the money and power to run the day-to-day operations of the sport...and the asking price, in return, is that their investments be protected.

Honestly, I'd rather have Fredo Corleone in charge.

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Houston, We have rip-off

by dafs117

Earlier in the week, Paulie Malignaggi wasn’t happy. He had a gut feeling that he was going to be on the bad end of a poor decision against hometown favourite Juan Diaz. What he didn’t know was how much controversy was going to follow the fight.

Middleweight prospect Daniel Jacobs stated his claim as a contender with a comfortable unanimous decision over Ishe Smith. Kicking off the broadcast on HBO Boxing After Dark, Jacobs showed his potential in a messy scrap with scores of 96-93, 96-93 and 100-89. 100-89? How did that happen? How did Jacobs win every round against a determined Smith? Smith made it a much more competitive contest than was expected and he gets a score like that from Raul Caiz. This is something that has to change in boxing.

Junior Lightweight Robert Gurrero won the IBF Junior Lightweight belt with an impressive victory over Malcolm Klassen. Klassen showed no authority in the fight as was expected as he failed to cut down the ring and tee off his punches. Gurrero looked slick in a victory that propels Gurrero up the pecking order at 130 lbs. The scores were respectable and accurate as Gurrero won by unanimous decision with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 116-113.

Then the main event included hometown favourite Juan Diaz in his first fight over 135 lbs against Paulie Malignaggi. Many expected Diaz to walk through Malignaggi and punish the ‘Magic Man’ and stop him late in the fashion Ricky Hatton did last year. But Malignaggi had other ideas.

Malignaggi started strong throwing the jab to keep Diaz at bay and off balance. Diaz took time to adjust to the tactics and couldn’t maul Malignaggi down. Diaz won the middle rounds in competitive rounds that could have gone either way. But Malignaggi finished the fight with style winning three of the last four rounds comfortably in my opinion. It looked to be a close decision which could go either way and I don’t think anyone bar Malignaggi would complain about a close decision that goes to Diaz. For the record, I scored it 115-114 to Malignaggi.

As the scores were read out, Malignaggi’s face was already in disgust. He knew that the judges had been swayed by the crowd. Raul Caiz scored it 115-113, David Sutherland scored it 116-112 and Gale Van Hoy scored the bout 118-110 all in favour of the ‘Baby Bull’ Juan Diaz.

As Max Kellerman did another lousy interview he read the panel’s scores. Harold Lederman scored it 115-113 to Malignaggi. “At least somebody scored the fight right. Raul Caiz had the closest scorecard and he’s golden boy’s gopher. Of course I’m not going to get a rematch. Boxing is full of sh*t. Diaz can call out Marquez again and I have to take anything that will come my way. Boxing is full of sh*t.”

The villain here is not Juan Diaz. He deserves more credit than he will get as he outpointed the Brash Brooklyn Malignaggi. He won the fight because he kept plodding forward when Malignaggi took a breather. His relentless pressure wins him rounds. It wasn’t his best showing but it was effective.

The villain isn’t Paulie Malignaggi either. The New Yorker put on an excellent display of courage against one of the toughest boxers in the sport. Mostly everyone on the forum scored the bout to Malignaggi. He has fallen out of love with the sport and wants to walk away from it. After that performance, he is still a top contender at 140 lbs.

The crook is Gale Van Hoy. We excuse Raul Caiz and David Sutherland because we respect that others can see close rounds go another way. But 118-110?? Are you serious? Did you have dogsh*t in your eyes when you watched that? Maliganggi gave everything he had and the Texan gives an awful score which is an insult to the sport, to his profession, to Malignaggi and to Diaz as it takes the limelight off a stunningly competitive match-up. The worst thing is Malignaggi knew it was going to happen. He complained about the weight, location, size of the ring and judges. He said “Raul Caiz practically works for Golden Boy and Gale Van Hoy is a Texan”.

Nobody can defend a score like that. Van Hoy needs to be thrown out of the top contests and he can’t be Texas’ #1 judge. As NASA prepare to send another space shuttle up in the sky, they might get a report: Houston, we have a problem with the scoring.

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The BTBC Spotlight

118-110 for Juan Diaz? Really? Gale Van Hoy is a fine judge...until he's asked to judge Golden Boy fighters in his own home state of Texas. Then, Van Hoy becomes a bumbling fool who gives the appearance of not even watching the bouts in the ring.

Before this latest debacle, Van Hoy scored Chris John-Rocky Juarez 114-114 in a bout that should've been a clear win for John.

Coincidence? Fine judge one moment...hometown puppet the next...Hmmmm...

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