Taken for a ride?
Engineer Greg Ortega, president of the Association of Philippine Professional Boxing Ring Officials (APPBRO), Luzon chapter, said the other day the outcome of the recent Floyd Mayweather, Jr.-Manny Pacquiao bout in Las Vegas dealt a big blow to the sport because it didn’t live up to the hype surrounding the so-called Fight of the Century.
The APPBRO was organized in 2011 with international referee and judge Silvestre Abainza elected the first president. Ortega has succeeded Abainza. According to APPBRO vice president Ferdie Estrella, the organization has about 40 members. Other officers include Salvador Lopez as secretary and Bruce McTavish as sergeant-atarms. There has been an attempt to enlist boxing officials from the Visayas and Mindanao but so far, the APPBRO remains strictly a Luzon group.
At the start, the APPBRO assessed a membership fee of P500 with another P500 to finance operations. No additional fees have since been charged. Estrella said the group meets twice or thrice a year. Boxing officials are required to sign up with the APPBRO before applying for a license with the Games and Amusement Board (GAB). Estrella said an American boxing judge Robert Bridges recently joined the APPBRO. Dr. Nasser Cruz, GAB boxing chief, said the government agency recognizes the APPBRO as a legitimate organization established to foster camaraderie, uplift the standards of performance and promote the professional growth and welfare of its members. The APPBRO, in turn, recognizes the GAB’s authority and works hand-in-hand with the agency.
Ortega said under the guidelines detailed by boxing judge Tom Kaczmarek in the book “You Be The Judge,” he is convinced that Pacquiao deserved to win the decision. He disagreed with how the three judges Dave Moretti (118-110), Glenn Feldman (116-112) and Burt Clements (116-112) scored the fight.
“The judges scored like amateurs in an amateur fight,” said Ortega. “Using the Kaczmarek scoring factors, most of us saw Pacquiao won the fight. Pacquiao won the rounds for clean punching, also telling blows, and effective aggressiveness, ring generalship even for both. Defense naturally went to Mayweather. If ever Mayweather won on points, it was not as wide but close. A split decision would have been more credible.”
Ortega said Kaczmarek’s guidelines are often discussed in conventions and seminars for boxing officials around the world. “The guidelines are the universal basis of scoring in professional boxing today,” he said. “In a close or even round, the verdict is given to the boxer who carries the fight, not the evader. This is to discourage boxers from making the fight lullabies.”
Ortega said Pacquiao has nothing to apologize for. “He won the fight in our scorecards,” continued Ortega. “A true world championship fight could have been held on neutral grounds. Dubai made the offer but was rejected outright. The Money Team chose the MGM Grand because it’s the home of The Best Ever. I would not be surprised if it will be named TBE Grand. Only the Nevada State Athletic Commission knows how the judges were chosen. How could a judge who had scoring issues resulting in a draw by Marquez with Pacquiao be chosen in this very important bout?
“Not only the ring officials were American but also the commission in control of the event, the drug testing body USADA, the table officials who tallied the scores and to top it all, the promoter who was also the boxer. Not everyone knows the unwritten dictum in boxing giving the close rounds to the promoter’s boxer. Pacquiao wanting to make the fight happen was forced into accepting all the one-sided conditions thrown on the table by TMT. Top Rank was relegated to the sideline as mere witness.
“As seasoned judges, we know what happened on fight night. The best measure is to view the bout, round by round in slow motion and count, one by one, the punches thrown and landed. Pacquiao would come out slightly ahead. His effective aggressiveness gave him points. The ring generalship was even and defense to Mayweather. Defense is the least consideration of the four scoring factors.
“It is important for members of our organization to raise our observation ‘lest we are led into believing that running is the better tactic than effective aggressiveness.’ Our wrong understanding of the game could affect our job in appreciating the boxers’ performance. The biggest winners of the Dud Fight of the Century are mixed martial arts, UFC, Mayweather, his cohorts, Top Rank and Team Pacquiao. While the biggest losers are the sport of boxing, the fans who have lost interest in the sport and the upcoming boxers and people working the industry. The Fight of the Century has disenchanted millions of boxing fans. It became the biggest advertisement for MMA, thanks to Mayweather and his TMT. Meanwhile, APPBRO will remain steadfast, trustworthy, competent and fair.”
Estrella said he watched the fight in the company of friends. “It’s immaterial how we saw it because what counts is how the judges scored it in Las Vegas,” he said. “All I know was the fight was close and couldn’t have been as lopsided as how the judges scored it. Personally, I scored it 115113 for Mayweather but it was mental scoring. I didn’t write down the scores round by round so I could’ve been affected by the Scotch we were drinking. I couldn’t say my scoring was perfect, maybe a bit sketchy, but from what I saw, off the top of my mind, I thought Mayweather won.”
The disparity in views has made the outcome far from conclusive. Ortega, who is now in Montreal attending the IBF Convention, said he went bananas and was sad and disappointed when the judges scores were read to declare Mayweather the winner by unanimous decision. “Boxing fans were deceived into believing it would be a fair fight,” he said. “We were all taken for a ride.”