Vegas seems to have a bit of stigma for protecting the named fighter on the cards in the big fights so was thinking of how many examples crop up where it has gone the other way in close fights. A few I could think of: Mayweather v De La Hoya - sort of a cross over fight between the previous money king and the future money king. Right man got the nod but it was a split and imo I can't see how you can give Oscar the win. Some do though. Lewis v Holyfield II. Fight was more competitive than the first which ended in a very controversial draw but Lewis got the nod this time in a close fight to score. Tito v Oscar - Tito was a big name too but Oscar was the clear main draw at this point. Fight was seen as a total robbery. Hopkins v Taylor. Controversial decision to end Hopkins streak. So how bad is Vegas for scoring, most places have a distinct advantage for the home fighter, Germany was known for it the most under the Ottke reign of terror but the UK is pretty bad these days. Places like Spain, Italy, France were always hard to get a decision in back in the day though they have all dwindled in terms of their standings in the boxing world. Australia took some stick after the Horn v Manny fight, Mexico barely host big fights despite being one of the biggest boxing nations and the Far East don't tend to mix too much with the Western world to make big fights so it's hard to get a true comparison. I guess that in boxing as a whole if your not in the red corner then your starting with a disadvantage from the off.
You just handpicked a few fights to make a case. It's not as much as the location, but the judges themselves.
Germany and South Africa are still the worst … basically impossible to win even one round that's vaguely close there against the hometown guy.
With all the fights in Vegas, only a couple went the way of the b-side and/or foreigner. It hardly ever happens, so the stigma is legit. Thing is, the US always seems to point to Vegas, and mostly play it off as one of the charms of "Sin City", like the longtime mob involvement, but it happens all over the US. People that regularly watch PBC or ESPN FNF cards before that often see homecooking upto disgraceful robberies on a weekly basis, and sometimes multiple per card. Vegas is the US a-side Fort Knox though.
I recall many many close decision wins for the guest fighter in Germany. About as many as hometown robberies for the hometown fighters. I don't think there's any idiosyncratic bias in Germany -- not more than other countries. Not sure about South Africa, obviously that country ranks very highly on the world corruption index so I wouldn't be surprised.
