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Bad taste in the mouth for boxing once again


Phil D. Jay
WBN Editor
Adamek win rankles with fans

Another judging decision has caused many boxing fans to become disillusioned with the sport once again after the shambolic announcement of Tomasz Adamek’s win over Steve Cunningham in Pennsylvania last night.

Even veteran ring announcer Michael Buffer could not hide his embarrassment as a 115-115 scorecard reading was rectified to hand the Pole a decisive 115-112 third card and the undeserved victory in Bethlehem.

The general consensus amongst fans on social media sites and through forums was that Cunningham came through the entertaining twelve-round battle with a closely-fought points win, which mirrored my card of 115-113 to the American.

Although ‘USS’ was given that score by Tom Miller, cards by Debra Barnes and Dave Greer ultimately saw the fight Adamek’s way to the disbelief of the neutral and Cunningham fans and has once again opened a debate for an overhaul of judging.

High profile scoring mishaps, as in the Pacquiao v Marquez III and Pacquiao v Bradley bouts in the past year or so have already cause uproar in the sport - although poor scoring seems to be widespread and is beginning to make a mockery of some great battles.

The WBC are moving closer to introducing an electronic scoring system after running several tests over the past few months, but this still has room for human error and scoring based on successful punches landed would be more of a step in the right direction.

Let's hope it is not too long in coming.

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