Everybody remembers that British judge who scored the Holyfield - Lewis 1st fight 5-5-2 (115-115). Larry O'Connel. But that wasn't the first example of weird scoring by Larry. He was the referee and the judge in the Lewis - Ocasio bout. Larry scored it 80-77 (a very close score) for Lennox. Giving only 3 rds to Lennox and 5 rounds even. I've just watched the fight and haven't problem with scoring which was 6-2 (78-74) in favor of Lewis. So Lewis won 8-9 rds in the 1st Holyfield fight (Larry gave him only 5). Against Ocasio Lewis took 6 rounds (Larry gave him only 3). What's that? Incompetence? Or bad blood? Does anyone know the stories about the two?
I've sat next to him a few times at the fights and he lives near me. He comes across as an honest man.
Don't think theres anything untoward between the two. He referreed Lewis' fight with Mason in '91 which made Lewis a household name in the uk.
We used fraction scoring back then; so Lennox was scored the winner by six rounds to none, with only two even, by Mr O'Connell.
I think in all fairness Larry O'Connell tries to be too fair, particularly if he is judging a British fighter in a foreign country. I don't think anyone could ever accuse him of being biased towards, or against certain fighters.
