You Could Smell It From Texas!
THIS IS WHY PEOPLE THINK BOXING IS FIXED!
San Francisco, CA– Having been around the boxing game since the late 1960s, I’ve seen some decisions that made you wonder, “Who am I to believe, those judges or are my eyes lying to me?” Last year, I stood in this the Financial District of Frisco’ and asked the following question, “Is professional boxing fixed?” To the surprise of even myself, 72 out of 100 casual sports fans answered to the affirmative, that boxing was fixed! If you saw the IBF light heavyweight (175 lbs) title match featuring challenger Gabriel Campillo and champion Tavoris Cloud emanating from Corpus Christi, TX, Saturday night and I put forth to you the same aforementioned interrogatory, you would have to say, “Yes, the sport of boxing is definitely fixed!”
HOW CAN YOU WIN NINE ROUNDS & LOSE A 12 ROUND FIGHT?
After dropping Gabriel Campillo twice in the opening round, I scored the stanza 10-7 for Cloud. From that point forward, Cloud did not win another stanza until round six. The last one could have gone to Cloud, not in my mind, only if you were looking to “give him” a round. But the other nine frames, Campillo won sans any debate. My scorecard read 116-112 for the Spaniard Campillo. Historian Ronald Marshall gave Cloud the first, sixth & final (12) round (115-113), while BoxingTalk.com writer Socrates Palmer had Cloud winning only the first and last, meaning a 116-112 win for Campillo!
TWO BLIND MICE OR A PAIR OF CROOKS?
The three judges tabbed the match as follows: Joel Elizondo had it 114-112 Cloud, Dave Robertson’s unbelievable score for the American Cloud was 116-110, while Dennis Nelson had Campillo up 115-111. Look, as UFC VP Marc Ratner used to tell me when he ran the Nevada State Athletic Commission after one his his judges had mucked up, “Who cares about the scores, as long as the right guy wins.” Well on this occasion, the “right” guy got f****d!
AFTER KNOCKDOWNS IN ROUND ONE CAMPILLO OWNED CLOUD
With clean punching, quite often in fistic bursts/combinations, Campillo, a southpaw (left handed) handled Cloud like a pimp would a prostitute, I mean Gabriel Campillo turned Tavoris Cloud out with his overall ring generalship like a whore on a some street corner. Looking masterful with his jab, hooks to the body and head, as well as left hand crosses that landed at will on Cloud’s cranium. Simply put, for this writer, it was one of the most sickening moments I’ve ever witnessed since being introduced to boxing when Cassius Clay faced Henry Cooper on TV in 1962.
WILL SCANDALOUS IBF BACK THE BLACK GUY?
Yes, I’m throwing the race card in here as the IBF, its history awash in scandal when founder Bob Lee took bribes from Don King (AKA Fuzzy Wuzzy), Cedric Kushner (AKA The Fatman) and Bob Arum, who admitted to bribing Lee with around $150,000 to get the sanctioning body (or mob, depending how you look at them) to get German Axel Schultz into the top 12 so he could fight then heavyweight champion George Foreman in 1995. Seeing Cloud is an African-American, will the almost all Black IBF hierarchy allow Cloud to fight anyone other than Gabriel Campillo in his next fight?
OR WILL THE IBF DO THE RIGHT THING?
And if Cloud’s cuts, above and below the left eye, if they are so severe that Cloud cannot fight again for more than four months, will IBF head Daryl Peoples do what’s right and anoint Campillo with the “interim” IBF championship and then mandate Cloud meet Campillo when he is facially able?
“YOU CAN’T CLEAN DIRT” WAS A FAMOUS HOWARD COSELL QUOTE!
After witnessing this atrocity, (I tried and cannot come up with a better adjective) I then saw Paul Williams get in the ring. The last time I saw him fight it was against Erislandy Lara on HBO from Atlantic City, NJ. HBO judge Harold Lederman had it 10-2 in rounds, 118-110 on points for Lara. All three judges who unaimously gave the fight to Williams were “suspended indefinetly.” This evening, Williams (41-2, 27 KOs) shutout Japanese upstart Nobuhiro Ishida (24-7-2, 9 KOs) in a 12-rounder.
FAT GUY NO MAS, ARREOLA SILENCES MEDINA!
Heavyweight Chris Arreola (35-2, 20 KOs) stopped unknown Eric Molina (18-2, 14 KOs) in round one.
CATCH THE SPECIAL “SUNDAY EDITION” OF “RING TALK BOXING/MMA @ 11 AM PT!
Later today, at 11 AM PT (2 PM ET) “Ring Talk” will a one hour special combining both boxing and MMA.
Click here and then on Channel 2 & Listen Live Online! I am hoping to get HBO judge Harold Lederman to expand on the judging of the Tavoris Cloud-Gabriel Campillo fight and UFC fighter Kyle Kingsbury will preview UFC 144 which will be televised first with preliminary matches on FX TV and then on PPV from Japan this coming Saturday, February 25 starting at 5 PM PT.
Pedro “Ashamed To Be Associated With Boxing” Fernandez