MMA/BoxingVideo

“An Incompetent Decision”: HBO Announcers Enraged By, Refuse To Accept Boxing Result

by Timothy Burke | 1:32 am, July 10th, 2011

The main card of Saturday night’s HBO event in Atlantic City left commentary team Bob Papa, Roy Jones, Harold Lederman, and Max Kellerman befuddled and angry after Paul Williams won a majority decision over heavily-favored Erislandy Lara in a junior middleweight bout.

“That stinks,” Kellerman said after the fight, and the longtime boxing analyst showed open contempt for Williams in the postfight interview while telling the previously-unbeaten Lara that he was “the real winner.”

Lara led in nearly every boxing metric and opened large cuts on Williams’ face. Here’s the post-fight commentary highlights of what BoxingScene.com called “a travesty”:

Perhaps most telling was Roy Jones, Jr. equating the result to “Seoul Korea,” a reference to his inexplicable defeat at the 1988 Summer Olympics, a decision considered to be one of the most controversial in boxing history.

Ivan_alfaro_vazquez

It was ridiculous. I can’t imagine loosing even after you win. Things like that can scar a boxer’s career. Justice should be made.
Mactohu

Ridiculous doesn’t even cover this! I was rooting for Williams and was disappointed that he was routed by Lara… then came the decision. Wha…? One of the many black eyes for a sport that has long been on the ‘ropes’! Just SAD. SAD.
Joe

As the HBO announcers said, this was a ridiculous outcome to a fight that Lara clearly won. I have been getting into Professional Boxing again since I obtained HBO a few months ago. This type of decision is why Pro Boxing has such a poor reputation and why interest in it has declined. This decision MUST be reviewed and reversed for Professional Boxing to have any credibility.
Herb

This was a disgrace, pure and simple. Lara hit Williams repeatedly with the same left hook and Williams had no answer. He was beaten as badly as a fighter can be beaten without being knocked out. Apparantly, the judges in New Jersey are as incompent and as stupid as their politicians.
It figures.
Herb

This was a disgrace, pure and simple. Lara hit Williams repeatedly with the same left hook and Williams had no answer. He was beaten as badly as a fighter can be beaten without being knocked out. Apparantly, the judges in New Jersey are as incompent and as stupid as their politicians.
It figures.
Robert

Track these judges and monitor their bank accounts. This was a fixed decision. Horrific travesty. This decision should be reversed by the boxing governing bodies. There is no reason for a fighter who so decisively won a match to have this mark on his record.