Boxing has been in a conundrum over the past months and the Gennady Golovkin vs. Canelo Alvarez match was not spared. Scoring by judges received the ire of boxing fans and Adelaide Byrd is the latest one to take the heat.
With the Golovkin vs Alvarez fight ending in a draw, Byrd was the judge in the spotlight. She scored it 118-100 in favor of Alvarez, something that GGG branded as unbelievable. She has been a judge for over 20 years with the recent mega bout being the 442nd fight she has scored, according to the Sun. So did she something the other judges, Dave Moretti and Don Trella, missed?
Is corruption at play?
With the way Byrd scored it, there are now insinuations of corruption at play. ESPN boxing analyst Teddy Atlas was not shy in airing his displeasure with the scoring. Atlas likewise blasted the scoring done for the Jeff Horn vs. Manny Pacquiao fight, something he branded as a product of “corruption in boxing,” the NY Post reported.
As far as the Golovkin vs. Alvarez fight is concerned, the match somehow went the same route as the Horn vs. Pacquiao bout. Golovkin came out aggressive as expected and Alvarez showed up only in some rounds.
Horn pretty much did the same with Pacquiao smoking on the 10th. Could Byrd have only judged the later rounds? Right now, the answer to that is anyone’s guess.
De La Hoya defends Byrd
It hardly comes as a surprise that Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya would come out to defend the embattled American judge. Despite his boy losing, the former boxing champ stood up for Byrd.
“A lot of people are not understanding 118-110, just like myself. That’s the bottom line. But I have to say Byrd is a competent judge, she’s been doing lots of world titles for many years,” said De La Hoya in a report from BJ Penn.
Most will lash out at De La Hoya since he does represent Canelo. In fact, he even revealed scoring it 7-5 in favor of Alvarez.
The consensus right now is divided. Some believe the draw is righteous while others believe it should have been in favor of Golovkin. A rematch is more than likely to happen, though there is no date set yet.
For his part, Alvarez believes that he won the fight. He is ready for a rematch but stressed that it will only happen if the fans want it. Seeing the magnitude of the first meeting, there is no doubt that boxing fans want to see a sequel since most want to see who is truly the best in the middleweight division. The rematch, once set, could finally settle all that.
