JOHN "THE QUIETMAN" RUIZ

Bad decisions hurting boxing

The horrible decision on a recently nationally televised show from Houston was another perfect example of what’s wrong with professional boxing.

Paulie Malignaggi went into the fight against Juan Diaz, letting everyone know the deck was stacked against the Brooklyn junior welterweight, who agreed to fight at a catchweight of 138 ½ pounds, in a small ring in Diaz’s backyard with a Texas referee and handpicked judges. And he was right.

Malignaggi clearly won the fight, I had him ahead by two rounds, but very few outsiders ever win a decision against a Texan in Texas. The judges’ score were all in favor of Diaz – 115-113, 116-112 and, incredibly, 118-110. How one judge gave eight of 10 rounds to Diaz and still keeps his job is amazing.

It’s all about green, fans, and I don’t mean the type on a golf course. Television networks protect promoters and fighters who bring them popular fights and big-time promoters protect their fighters who sell tickets. The hell with being fair, they may as well say.

Fans, just like you reading this blog, suffer through bad decisions, but the real crime is screwing fighters who gave it their all, risking their lives only to be robbed of a deserved victory.

I remember a similar outcome years ago when my friend, Micky Ward, fought Jessie James Leija in San Antonio. Micky opened-up a cut over Leija’s eye with a punch, but the same referee who worked the Diaz-Malignaggi fight – Lawerence Cole (the son of the head of the Texas boxing commission) – ruled that it was an unintentional head-butt, later claiming he didn’t see a punch so he assumed it was a head-butt. As soon as the required amount of rounds passed, they went to the scorecards and, of course, Texas native Leija won a technical decision.

These problems exist because networks invest in fighters to build their popularity and increase viewership. It goes beyond networks, though. Promoters are supposed to protect their fighters but generally use them until they can’t make any more money off of them and then cut the fighter loose. And boxing organizations play a role, too, pulling in excessive sanctioning fees for title fights.

Boxing is an emotional sport, really a business. I don’t blame fighters like Malignaggi for erupting and saying some things after the fight on national television that he may want to take back. I’ve been there myself but was able to bite my tongue.

Fans call bad decisions, “Another black eye for boxing,” but, unfortunately today, that statement is used all too often and has become a regular way to describe a fight. There’s something terribly wrong and somebody in power must step up to the plate and change things. We’re losing boxing fans and one of the primary reasons is horrible decisions, especially when those fights are viewed by so many fans on television.

John "The Quietman" Ruiz