Lesser Known Bad Decisions/Robberies

James Toney vs. Dave Tiberi
Ike Quartey vs. Vernon Forrest
Herol Graham vs. Sumbu Kalambay II
Armando Muniz vs. Jose Napoles

 

Navarro/Kawashima

Navarro wins 120/109 on one card, but the other two judges give it to the local favourite 115/114 and 115/113...

 

An outrageously bad decision.

 

i still have trouble calling something a robbery unless i've seen it

 

I wouldn't call a fight a robbery unless I've clearly scored it for the other guy.

 

Anyone remember Danny Williams Vs John McDermott? Williams deducted 3 points collectively from the 11th and 12th and a sure 10-8 round in the 5th I still can't work out how one judge scored it 114-111. Absolutely digrsceful decision.

 

There's some stinkers on this list, but the best ones are when even the commentators get all worked up about the call.

Augustus vs Hooper was a terrible decision and rightfully lampooned by everyone, but the best robbery I've ever seen was an old time ESPN fight in the pre-Al Bernstein days. House fighter from Rhode Island named Rafael Lopez got his clock cleaned by an unknown journeyman named Veloz. The ref actually waved off three legit knockdowns and HELPED Lopez to his feet each time while Sal Marchiano (Bernstein's predecessor) went ballistic from ringside. They scored it something like 97-92 and Lopez maybe won one round. Home crowd booed Lopez out of the ring and then Marchiano went into the ring and confronted the ref as angrily as possibly could and they had an on-air confrontation with screaming and accusations flying. It was such good theater that it got reported (with photo of them arguing) in World Boxing and K.O magazine in their next issues. Hard to forget that one if you were lucky enough to see it.

 

Everybody that watched the Toney/Tiberi fight on tv thought Tiberi won. Many ringsiders were suprised that he survived. When offered a rematch within 60 days, Tiberi claimed to not be "medically able" to fight that soon.

 

Willie Jorrin Vs Michael Brodie for vacant WBC super bantam title. Jorrin had a terrible work rate and spent the whole time running and pot shotting with little success. Brodie out worked him and dominated, the only success Jorrin got was a knock down in the 10th. Brodie was the clear winner.

Jorrin would go on to defend his title twice, once against Oscar Larios and some japanese fighter, both decisions were also controversial. Was very happy when Larios KO'ed him in the rematch.

 

Boxed, every now and then, I fall into the temptation, and give in!

 

Gomez vs Lockridge (already mentioned)
Lockridge vs Pedroza
Minter vs Hamsho
Mancini vs Camacho
Borderline (Mercer vs Lewis)- Draw!

 

robin reid v sven ottke
ritchie woodhall v glen catley. woodhall says so himself

some say jmm got robed against freddie norwood in 99

 

Fair enough. Have a look then(research courtesy of o former poster:



All of these decisions were rendered by papers directly from ringside, not wire reports:

NY Morning Telegraph: Greb won 10 of 15 rounds
NY Evening Mail: "Decision depriving Greb of LHW Crown Calls for Sweeping Inquiry"
Newark Star Eagle: Gave Tunney only the 14th round
Newark Evening News: Greb gave Tunney as bad a beating as the first fight, it was one of the worst decisions handed out since the Walker Law
Jersey Journal: The only round Tunney won decisively was the 14th.
Standard Union:After weird decision Tunney is LHW Champion: Judges decide against Greb who had lead on points
NY Sun: Gave Tunney the fight because Tunney scored more points yet then states that Greb scored more points but that the writer took points away because Greb clinched too often...
The NY Evening Telegram: Gave the fight to Tunney
NY American: gave it to Tunney
NY Times: gave it to Tunney
NY Evening World: Scored it a Draw and added that Tunney did not deserve the victory despite the writer stating he was a great admirer of Tunneys
NY Tribune: called it a draw stating the decision met with much disapproval, writing for the same paper Grantland Rice called it a poor decision
NY Herald: Gave it to Greb, another writer for the paper called it a draw
Evening Journal: Gave it to Greb
Evening Mail: Gave it to Greb
Philly Ledger: Gave it to Greb
NY Daily News: Stated a draw would have been a better decision.
Pittsburgh Post: Gave Tunney only two rounds.
Pittsburgh Gazette Times: Gave it to Greb
Pittsburgh Press: Gave it Greb

Bill Muldoon chairman of the NYSAC stated it was a bad decision.

Thats 4 votes for Tunney, 15 votes for Greb, and 4 votes for a draw. So in essence 19 of 23 ringside opinions listed above believed Greb should not have left the ring without his crown. Thats pretty overwhelming particularly considering the strong words used in most of those articles saying things like "robbery" and calling for an investigation, etc. Lets also keep in mind that this was Tunney's hometown and the majority of those papers were hometown papers for Tunney.

Most reports state that when the decision was announced the audience sat stunned and a low murmur was heard throughout, confused by the decision. This was evident even among sections rooting for Tunney. It wasnt until after Greb left the ring and Tunney started out of the ring that he was given his ovation and the paper states this was given to him by his fans, not the entire audience, many of which hooted, hissed, and shouted robbery.

Here is a direct quote from Tunney on the decision: "Realizing there was some justice in Greb's claim of a bad decision, I offered him a return engagement." -Gene Tunney, A Man Must Fight, P. 162