Why do judges have to be hometown.

because promoters want to make sure that their fighter wins if there's a close fight

 

That doesn't make it okay though. I agree completely! Just like how they changed the rules to allow instant replay, they need to amend the rules to make it so that A) Fighters/promotors do not decide nor have any say who the judges will be and B) the judges that are ultimately chosen must be from neutral states (ie from neither home town or heavy following of either fighter). I begin to lose interest when judges ordain a winner rather than allowing one to truely win.

 

well the promoters pay the referees. Its part of the promotional fee. Thats why the sports needs to be organized. in a non-title bout, the state commission sanctions the bout but that is pretty much as far as their involvment goes. There needs to be an assocaition or a league like the ATP, the PGA, the NHL, etc. that pays referees and other external arrangements to make sure that there is no bias

 

Agreed completely, how can anyone expect there to be fair scoring when the judge is on the payroll??????

 

Well people go expecting the hometown fighter to win and the promoters make sure if its a close fight that the home fighter wins. The only time I can think of when a home fighter lost a close fight was when Bradley beat Witter.

 

there's a few cases. In Montreal the promoters lose alot of credibility if the hometown fighter gets a dodgy decision so usually a fighter will get a fair shake from the judges.

Miranda vs Demers is an example. It was on ESPN and Teddy Atlas had the fight scored for Demers, the home town fighter, but the judges gave it to Miranda.

 

NONE OF THAT MAKES IT ALRIGHT!!!!! I understand it's business, and it'd be great if the hometown fighter always won, but this isn't the WWE, winners shouldn't be preselected before the fight even happens!

 

Simple answer to a simple question. Nicely done. :good

 

Hometown judges or not, the judges are always influenced by the crowd reaction. The crowd was shitting their pants with excitment with every Diaz swing so I wasn't surprised by the decision.

 

Malignaggi getting a decision after a close fight in Diaz's hometown of Houston? If you were shocked at the scorecards you probably haven't been watching boxing very long. Everything Malignaggi said after the fight was pretty much right on the money. Fighters aren't always able to articulate the fact that their career has been left for dead and that they are now a professional opponent. Malignaggi did exactly that and he's getting blamed. All he can do is take care of what he does in the ring and at the end of the day, his career is ultimately determined by forces he has no control over.

Boxing has this uncanny ability to produce this empty feeling that can only come about when you've just watched a guy work his ass off for 12 hard rounds only to come away with a loss that should have been a win. We saw it earlier this year with Luis Collazo also. I know that Paulie Malignaggi, with his flamboyance and outspoken personality, doesn't make for a sympathetic figure and I know he himself got a gift against Ngoudjo. But what does that have to do with what happened in the ring last night in Houston?

 

I agree completely, it's the only way to get an unbiased opinion! If you want to fix the corruption in boxing, this would be a great start.