They used to say if a boxer went to fight in Italy he would have to knock his opponent out to get a draw. In recent years Germany became the country to avoid because of home town decisions.
However on saturday the 17th of October Lewis Ritson fought Miguel Vazquez at the East of England Arena in Peterborough, a fight which was televised. I wanted Ritson to win because he’s a Brit but it soon became obvious that he had a hard night ahead of him. He plodded around the ring after former world champ Vazquez and got his head boxed off. Former boxer Matthew Macklin working as part of the commentary team scored it ten rounds to two in Vazquez’s favour.
The result was a foregone conclusion but the judges scored it 113-116, 117-111, 115-113 for Ritson. The judge who scored it 117-111 was Terry O’Connor who has form when it comes to questionable verdicts. He seems to decide who’s won before the first bell and was pictured looking at his phone while the fight was still in progress.
After the fight Ritson said he thought he’d won because his punches were harder, which proves he has an alarming lack of knowledge about the sport as any punch that lands is a scoring punch, and most of his punches missed the target completely.
I’ve never liked home town decisions in foreign countries, for them to happen in this country is unacceptable. This result was scandalous, disgraceful and embarrassing. O’Connor is to appear before the British Boxing Board of Control to explain himself but all three of the judges should be looked at, as even the score of 116-113 in Vazquez’s favour was hopelessly inaccurate. Either these judges are corrupt of they are incompetent, either way their jobs should be forfeited.
Nominated by: Allan
Reminds me of the Benn vs Eubank fight at Old Trafford. It was a draw, but I reckon Nigel was well robbed on the night. I also met Don King. The bullshit he came out with. Crap like ‘It’s great to be here at the Traf-ford Stadium!’ ‘Have you been here before?’ I asked. King replied ‘A thousand times.In my dreams’. I also saw Alan Minter acting the cunt, strutting around and demanding ‘respect’ like he was still world champion. The little jumped up cunt was pleasingly deflated when some little lad said to his dad within earshot ‘Who’s Alan Mint?’
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Going back a long way here but Bugner v Cooper 1971. Henry was British Champ and Joe the upcoming golden boy. Most viewers agreed that Cooper had won decisively but Bugner got the result and the crown which he promptly lost to Jack Bodell the Swathlingcote pig farmer.
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Good Afternoon Milord,
When I first started work, my mentor was Harry Gibbs’ best and oldest friend, Harry being the referee in question that night. Harry was, arguably, the best boxing referee in the world at the time and flew all over the world reffing matches.
Harry was a very funny bloke and good company. Of course I heard him talk about the Bugner v Cooper decision. At the time there were no judges and the referee made the decision. Gibbo would tell you that Cooper looked good at the start of the fight and after 6 rounds was well ahead on points, each round being individually scored and Gibbo handing his score to a panel at the end of each round. but Bugner drew the 7th and then came back into the fight. At the end of the 14th he added up his scorecard and saw that they were equal, he said he felt a little trickle go down his leg because he knew that there would be an upset but not to worry Henry was an old pro and would have saved himself for the last round so all would be well. Bugner won the last round convincingly and Harry had no option but to give him the fight.
TV viewers were influenced by Harry Carpenter’s commentary. Carpenter would do dog racing one night, swimming the next, athletics after that and was a bit of jack of all trades. What he wasn’t was an expert on boxing (neither am I) but he liked Cooper and that influenced his commentary and consequently the viewers opinion.
Harry didn’t mind, too much, the fuss about it all because for the following 20 years some newspaper would print some story saying that was the worst decision since the Cooper v Bugner fight and he would sue on it and had at least one free holiday a year out of it.
I was thinking about Harry a week or two ago and looked up his Wikipedia page and it gave a quote ” A good decision is one that is honestly made” .
I hope I haven’t been too boring.
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I remember the huge uproar at the decision. The only person who didn’t seem that bothered Henry himself.
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Outstanding stuff Wanksock, especially the inside knowledge re the legendary Harry Gibbs.
Harry Carpenter* was indeed a Jack of all Trades but I rated him. As I did Reg Gutteridge. Harry attended every single boxing match at every Olympics he covered (must’ve been thousands) and, nearing retirement, dug out some of his old match-cards on which he’d annotated decades before with his opinions of all those boxers (based on three rounds). Can’t remember who exactly but these proved he spotted some greats long before they made it to the big time.
“When we were Kings” is currently on Iplayer- reminds me that even Muhammed Ali considered Harry one of his closest friends. As did a young and surprisingly well informed boxing historian Mike Tyson.
Norman. I agree. Minter was dicked by Marvellous Marvin and he can count himself lucky to have avoided the severe beatings of probably the greatest ever era in middleweight history. Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran etc.
My favourite fight from those times ? Probably Honeyghan taking Don Curry’s title away, outdoors in the middle of the afternoon in a heatwave. Curry was rated the best pound for pound fighter of the era.
* trademark quote “We’ll catch up with Tony Jacklin when he comes back into range of our cameras”
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I am glad you liked my story, I was quoting Gibbo on Harry Carpenter.
I have mentioned on here before that I try and sell leather to make a living, one of my earliest customers was Gola. They had a fantastic receptionist ‘Dodi’ a very beautiful blonde lady. I was waiting there in reception when Alan Minter came in and she asks his name. When he told her she said I didn’t recognise you with your clothes on.She immediately went a bright red, which strangely gave me the horn.
My only other boxing story was again in a shoe factory reception and there was another lad waiting who had a black eye. I assumed he was there for a job interview. My mate comes out and says have you met Jim McDonnell, I said no do you mean the boxer I was listening to him fight last week on the radio whilst I was camping in France. He had given Barry McGuigan a good hiding. The lad with the black eye was Jim who immediately becomes very chatty and asked how the fight had sounded on the radio.He had been managed by Mickey Duff (aka The Duffle bag) and was now under Barry ‘Earn. 6 months or so previously he had fought Gentleman George Mitchell for a world title and lost. At the pre-match press conference Gentleman George had been very friendly and Jim had been invited to post match party/meet the family etc. What a nice bloke said Jim until he got in the ring when he stuck his thumb up my nose which didn’t half hurt. Although use to pain as a boxer he said it was a different sort of pain and it put him off his stroke and he lost a fight he could have won. He said he got the same old bollocks when he met McGuigan at the press conference, (he didn’t like Barry as he had avoided a fight for years) so sat there
and was quiet all the way through. At the end of the conference he was asked if he wanted to say anything and replied yes he would like to invite everyone to a party after the fight. When asked what they were celebrating he said Barry McGuigan’s retirement. That set the tone for the fight.
Jim wanted to fight Azumah Nelson and I told him he was fucking mad as Nelson was a killer. He subsequently went 15 rounds with Nelson when many lesser men would have packed it in after 2. Jim is one the bravest men one of the nicest blokes I have met.
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You’ll like this Wank. True story.
In the early 80s I found myself scrounging to join a kick about with complete strangers one evening in Meyrick Park, Bournemouth. There was this tubby shortarse bloke, a Cockney caaannt mouthing and cussing; getting a bit irritating really ; going in a bit late and hard etc etc.
I finally got a bit fed up with being kicked araaand and gave him a bit of return medicine whereupon he went over squealing like a pig.
His teammates said “You don’t know who you’ve nobbled there, do you?”
“Er, no”
“Well meet The Champ….. that’s John H Stracey !!”
Whereupon he got up, dusted himself daaaan, shook hands and said , “Fair enough mate, no problems”.
TOP BLOKE!!!
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There was some discussion around Olympic boxing that there was an unconscious bias towards the fighter wearing red rather than blue.
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Not a particular fan of low class pugilism, but if I go down to cuntshole quarry in Pembroke I can see the local untermensch beating the shit out of each other for free, so why pay?
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Tyson Fury beat Wilder the first fight-a non boxing fan, fucking blind woodlouse could see that.
Fucking corrupt sport.
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Is that Miserable Northern Cunt doppelgänger on the left of the picture not wearing a mask for religious reasons?
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Why has the boxer on the left got his bum crack on the wrong side of his body? Literally arse about face.
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I’ve seen some piss poor decisions in my lifetime as an ardent boxing fan , Leonard v Hearns 2 was a draw ? Although I was a Leonard fan hearns clearly (IMHO) won the fight
Benn v eubank 2 (all ready mentioned) was a complete farce as benn had done a number of the Brighton braggart , boxing’s littered with dodgy decisions but the ritson fight last week takes some beating, I like ritson and have seen most of his fights , he can punch a hole thru a wall but given movement he struggles to find the target, last week he was given a boxing lesson by a former world champion and ritsons lucky as fuck that the guy couldn’t knock the skin off a rice pudding or he would have found himself flat on his back , after 12 pretty much one sided rounds how the judges gave it to Ritson was anybody’s guess ….
Appalling joke decisions like this tarnish the sport……..
Will ritson rematch him? Highly unlikely as he wouldn’t fare any better and the next time the judges may have their glasses on!!
Bent cunts……..
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Boxings vulgar.
Get out more.
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Not at all boring WS. Harry Gibbs was a great ref and probably did make the right decision. The problem with Bugner was that he looked like a Greek god and punched like a Greek dancer. There was a disconnect between his physique and power. He was hard to beat but too defensive. Of course heavyweights then were about 14 stone and not the giants we have now. There was a group of well matched, game British boxers like London, Walker, Bodell who were good if they didn’t meet top americans.
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I am probably wrong but I think Joe Bugner killed someone in his 2nd fight and that stopped him from going in hard on anyone.
1980’s Joke for you
Q) What did Rock Hudson and Billy Walker have in common?
A) They had both been knocked around the ring a bit.
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Cooper V Clay – Henry Cooper had Ali (clay at the time) all over and put him down with a brain scrambling left hook the last row of the audience were concussed by (you might get up from that but you are useless for at least a minute afterwards).
Angelo Dundee then starts messing about with Ali’s gloves and the count and repair period on the gloves were extended because a useless ref allowed himself to be bullied by Dundee and a clearly cabbaged and in no position to fight Ali was allowed to to recover and carry on.
Ali goes on to be world champion, Cooper goes by the wayside.
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Cooper was a great boxer but plagued by cuts. His skin was paper thin. Clay / Ali won the rematch this way.
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Tyson Fury getting back up in the first fight with Wilder was jaw dropping,
And bet Wilder would agree.
Watched a documentary about Chuck Wepner the other week, and how Sylvester Stallone based Rocky on Wepners life.
Finally settling out of court for a undisclosed amount for the skint Wepner.
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Boxing used to be tremendous but then became mostly shit.
Most refs now are soft and first sign of trouble wave a fight off.
Rocky Marciano and Jack Dempsey were a treat.
When some black scientists invent time travel I’m off back to the Roaring Twenties to watch Dempsey.
Where did it all go wrong?😀
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Triple G’s ‘defeat’ (and ‘draw’) was utter bollocks too.
That’s what happens when you fight a Mexican in LA on ‘Golden Tranny’s’ card.
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Not really relevant to dodgy boxing decisions – but it still makes me laugh seeing show pony glamour queen Anthony Joshua get taken to school and put on his arse by lardy dago Andy Ruiz Jr! 😀
And watching Nigel Benn cabbage dog torturer and killer Gerald McClellann (it was a bad thing to happen but I detest people who are cruel to dogs).
And the funniest thing? Joshua has yet to face Tyson Fury and, inevitably, Deontay Wilder.
He won’t be so attractive to Owen Jones after that.
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Foxy@
I hate Anthony Joshua with a passion, the mirror loving shower gel selling bigheaded cunt.
I dont rate him as a fighter, and cant fuckin wait to see him in the ring with Tyson Fury, who I think is a great champion.
Theyre discussing a venue at the mo (Eddie Hearn on telly)
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Boxing these days is a right load of shit. And that cuntish MMA. Both as fixed as the wrestling.
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Speaking of MMA https://twitter.com/jasonbermas/status/1088951182440235015?lang=en
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