Boxing judge on ‘break’ after split decision

The executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission admitted one of the fight’s three judges needs “a small break” from big fights after Saturday’s bout between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Alvarez was deemed to be a split-decision draw.

Adalaide Byrd turned in a scorecard that had Alvarez winning 118110, while Dave Moretti scored it 115-113 for Golovkin (37-0-1) and Don Trella had it at 114-114.

“I’m not going to put her right back in,” Bob Bennett, the NAC executive director, told the Los Angeles Times. “She’ll still be in the business … but she needs to catch her breath.”

Bennett said the judge, who has scored more than 100 title fights, had “a bad night” and he plans to meet with her.

“Unfortunately, she didn’t do well. I can tell you she conducts training for us, takes judges under her wing … but her score was too wide.”

Both fighters’ promoters agreed, and the draw means that Golovkin retains his three middleweight belts. Naturally, the result sparks talk of a rematch, but few were happy with the final result.

“What was that?” Oscar De La Hoya, the promoter for Alvarez (49-1-2, 34 knockouts) said.

“People are scratching their heads.”

Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, said: “Frankly, it is not good for the sport of boxing.”

As for the fighters, both declared themselves the true winner.

“This is not correct,” Golovkin said. “This is very bad for sport.”

“I have no doubt about it in my mind,” Alvarez said. “I won the fight.”

The numbers paint a murkier picture. According to the statistics tracking service CompuBox, Golovkin connected on 218 of 703 punches, while Alvarez landed 169 of 505. The Mexican fighter, however, had a slight edge in power connects — besting Golovkin 114 to 110.