Was Clark Sammartino's scorecard the worst in boxing history??

He got the fighters mixed up. I'm not sure which scenario is the worse kind of incompetence though...

 

He obviously got the two fighters mixed up, but it's still pretty embarrassing for the American judge.

I can't believe he didn't spot his mistake before the cards were submitted. With the hold up for the decision to come through, it must of been pointed out to him beforehand. Not sure on the rules and regulations on this, but wouldn't he of been able to switch the scores around when it's blatantly obvious that he's got the fighters mixed up? Because if he could of switched them and didn't, for me, it's got to go down as one of the worst judging performances of all time.

 

I don't think this is the worst scorecard because everyone knew from the moment the scores were read what was up.
It turned out he made a big mistake by being incompetent, probably due to his advanced age, and shouldn't be judging anymore.

I think it's far worse that there are judges that knowing and willingly score it for the home fighter/bigger name/featured fighter if they see him lose. Sadly that happens far more often.
A lot of those scorecards are being discarded as just bad scoring because often they are kept close, so it looks like they were scoring legit and had just "a bad day at the office".
That I think are the worst scorecards. Never really giving a fighter a chance to win, unless he knocks his opponent down so many times that it's mathematically impossible to score against him, or knocks his opponent out.

 

It's totally incompetent, but judges who are either biased or corrupt are a far greater blight on boxing. It does make you wonder how many times this has happened before in 115-113 type fights and nobody has realised.

 

The only possible criminality here is a betting coup, which I doubt applies here.. (Betting on a split decision). On balance it was a 'human error' - jetlag, colour blindness ( the cards literally have have red corner/blue corner written on them to make it foolproof), excitement, stupidity, medication, health issues etc.... But what an error!
Winning every round a fighters max possible score is 120.
The two knockdowns mean Haskins max possible score was 116, right? - and that only if he won every round he wasnt knocked down in. So he CANT have got 118 points from a judge, even if that judge gave him literally all 10 rounds he wasnt knocked down in, right?. It is impossible. - it HAS to be a mistake, right?
As said above how/why this wasn't pointed out to that clown of a judge Sammartino and corrected in the looong delay before the announcement was made is baffling and troubling.
Human error indeed........

 

He at least has an excuse for why it's so bad... there's been other ones that are worse that we're legit just bad.

 

Seriously, it beggars belief that he mixed them up. He must have watched the intros, or was he talking a little nap at ringside? Also both fighters had there names emblazoned on the front of their shorts. It is simply inexcusable and this guy must surely be struck off as a judge after this as it can only be put down to gross negligence / incompetence, take your pick.

 

He judged the fight correct, yet got the names mixed up.
It´s not just his fault tho. The commission is also at fault. They must ensure that the judges do their best and know what is going on.

 

I wonder if the actual physical cards can be intercepted in an easily confusing manner. Suck to be a judge in a completely foreign place where you don't speak a bit of the language, and you're trying to figure out card without asking anyone anything, lol.

This has probably happened a lot more than we'll ever know in boxing. Funny, but true.

 

Good point.

 

Yes. He had the right score, but for the wrong fighter.

As a (presumably) qualified boxing judge who almost certainly has had to pass written examinations and practical evaluations while starting out, and has served in the role of judge for some 400+ professional contests (as per Boxrec), Sammartino's primary job should be to at least know which fighter is which, as identified by their ring trunks and which corner they are fighting out of.

At least the BBBofC have said Clark Sammartino won't be coming back to Britain to officiate. He's Rhode Island's and Conneticut's problem now.

 

He made a legit mistake where as CJ Ross was just bought and paid for so NO

 

You never know, Sammartino may have actually been paid off to score for Haskins and his go to excuse was to claim he got the fighters mixed up. The official decision was Burnett via Split Decision. For all we know, some fixer has just made a killing from the bookies by betting on a SD and paid off Sammartino for his card.

It's incompetence all round anyway. The other officials should have realised the two 10-8 rounds had been scored for Haskins and they would have quickly realised that it was just a mix-up. Shambles.

If this happened on a Frank Warren show, people would be slating Warren and saying "typical Boxnation...typical fisheyes..."