Sore point as judges bash Terry
TERRY FLANAGAN’S defeat by Maurice Hooker yet again exposed the problem with judging in boxing.
The Manchester man was in a very good but, crucially, close fight with Hooker last weekend in his hometown.
How British judge Phil Edwards scored it
117-111 for the American is beyond me. He certainly didn’t enjoy any home advantage.
The scorecard of
115-113 in favour of Hooker was fair, but it could have also gone the other way, depending on what you liked from both men.
But poor judging is becoming a bigger problem and one that is not going away. The sport’s authorities need to do something about it.
When football referees have a bad game, they often suffer some sort of retribution.
We didn’t let it spoil what was a very good card at Manchester Arena, though.
Tyson Fury got through his big comeback fight after two and a half years out of the ring with a win over Sefer Seferi.
We said from the beginning that he wasn’t going to go in with any worldbeaters just yet and he is going to be taller than everyone he fights.
In this case, he was obviously much taller but height is not the criteria for a heavyweight.
Fury was nervous going in and then he got a good reception from the 15,000-strong crowd, so he played to them for a couple of rounds.
Then he started throwing some shots and getting the rust out of his system.
This is the first baby step back from serious personal and mental health problems.
There were also good performances from up-and-coming guys like Mark Heffron, Nathan Gorman and James Metcalf on the card.
Now it’s on to Martin Murray’s fight at the O2 next weekend after we secured American-based Mexican Roberto Garcia.
Murray was rightly frustrated when WBO middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders pulled out through injury.
But in Garcia he will face a well-ranked opponent and it should make for an exciting fight.