Former cruiserweight world champion and Sky Sports pundit Johnny Nelson was angered by the scoring of Saturday's heavyweight mega-bout between WBC champion Deontay Wilder and challenger Tyson Fury.
Wilder and Fury fought to a controversial twelve round split draw at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.
The scores were 113-113, 114-112 Fury and 115-111 for Wilder.
Fury was dropped twice in the fight - in the ninth and twelfth rounds. The final round knockout appeared to be the end, as Fury was laying motionless on the mat and somehow got to his feet and battled back until the final bell.
Nelson had Fury winning the fight by three rounds and saw no way that it could have been scored a draw.
He was extremely upset over the 115-111 scorecard in favor of Wilder.
"We hate to taint our sport with the word but that type of decision suggests possible corruption. Scoring like that of Mexican judge Alejandro Rochin, 115-111 in favor of Wilder, is just plain wrong. I’m not saying he is corrupt, no one wants to get sued here, but when scoring is that far from what we have seen, eyebrows are raised and questions must be asked. For boxing to move with the times it must be policed better," Nelson told Daily Mail.
"The judges should be made to sit down in front of a screen, re-watch the fight and show how they scored it with an independent adjudicator alongside them. You can affect someone’s life with these decisions. Boxers are putting their lives on the line for these fights, the least you expect from a judge is to be fair. If he is not then, tough, he should be exposed. I had the good fortune of watching the fight as a fan for once. The guys I was with said it was a fantastic fight but that’s the last time they will watch boxing... because of the injustice, the ridiculous scoring makes it a farce. It turns fans off.
"Wilder needs his next fight to be the Fury rematch. His bargaining power with Anthony Joshua is actually weaker today because he hasn’t resolved whether he is better than Fury. I still believe Joshua’s next fight in April will be against Dillian Whyte, so long as Whyte beats Dereck Chisora."
2023-10-22 09:21:20
