The video above shows the announcement of the scores at the end of Saturday night's heavyweight fight between Eddie Chambers and Alexander Dimitrenko in Germany. If you don't speak German and you're wondering what led the crowd to start booing lustily, it was the announcement that one judge scored the bout -- which Chambers completely dominated -- as a draw. So Chambers won by majority decision, rather than the seemingly obvious unanimous decision. And that points, once again, to just how bad the judging can be in boxing.
I could go into detail about everything that was wrong with the decision of one judge, Paul Thomas, to score the bout 113-113, but let me instead direct you to this piece by Frank Lotierzo at The Sweet Science. You should read the whole thing, but here's the key:
Two of the judges had the fight 117-109 and 116-111 for Chambers, which reflected the fight that unfolded in the ring. Judge Paul Thomas scored it 113-113 which is absurd. The first reaction after hearing how Thomas scored the fight is to go crazy and rip him and accuse him of being incompetent and/or crooked.I know piling on the judges can get tiresome, whether it's in boxing or MMA or gymnastics or figure skating or any other sport that has judges. But sometimes a judge turns in a decision that is so baffling it makes you wonder how he can be a judge. This is one of those times.
Although both may be true, I can't say that's the case here. In watching the fight it's impossible to fathom that anyone who isn't a complete nit-wit could see the fight differently than it was. The Chambers-Dimitrenko bout was not a hard fight to score. Again, if you had your eyes open and were watching it objectively, it's impossible to come away thinking anything other than it was anoverwhelming victory for Chambers.
