Ian John-Lewis is downgraded by the BBBofC
The British Boxing Board of Control released the following statement today, March 10:
"Following an internal review of the scoring of the Josh Taylor v Jack Catterall contest by all three appointed judges, the Stewards of the Board decided to call Mr. Ian John-Lewis to appear before them to explain his returned card.
Having considered Mr. Ian John-Lewis’ explanation, the Stewards of the Board decided to downgrade Mr. John-Lewis from an A Star Class to an A Class Official.
Whilst the Board were satisfied that Mr. John-Lewis’ scorecard did not affect the overall result of the contest, the Stewards of the Board did have issue with his margin.
As the regulatory body for the Sport in Great Britain the British Boxing Board of Control continue to improve and maintain the high quality and consistency in scoring by our licensed officials. As such, the Stewards of the Board have further decided that in addition to each A Star Class Official being evaluated after each bout, as per current procedure, they will now also be subject to a separate individual annual review.
Finally, the British Boxing Board of Control have contacted the WBO, WBC, IBF and WBA supporting Jack Catterall to be made mandatory challenger for each or all Championship Sanctioning Bodies."
The statement above should come as welcome news to fight fans incensed by the scoring of the fight on February 26. The demotion of the official with the widest scorecard of the three ringside judges, plus the Board lobbying to the world governing bodies for Jack Catterall to be made mandatory for all the Championships seems to be a positive movement forward to rectify the wrongdoings.
The match between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall was a pivotal moment in the world of sports betting. Fans were waiting for the scores from the three appointed judges. The fight drew intense interest, especially with online bookmakers accepting £10 payments featured at platforms like MinDepositCasino.com, offering a wide array of betting options, including round-by-round predictions and prop bets.
The clash between Taylor and Catterall showcased the synergy between elite athletic competition and the excitement of sports betting.
However, IBF World flyweight champion Sunny Edwards questioned whether the actions taken were enough against a referee he deemed to be notoriously scoring cards wrongly for years, remembering his 117-111 score to Anthony Yarde over Lyndon Arthur in their first fight and also mentioned his own very narrow 115-113 points score against Mthalane Moruti when the other official had it at 118-111 and 120-108.
A fight fan responded to Sunny's tweet slamming the Ian John-Lewis for being "an absolute joke" and further stated that "This is a joke statement from the Board".
A few others questioned this particular part of the statement from the BBBofC: "Whilst the Board were satisfied that Mr. John-Lewis’ scorecard did not affect the overall result of the contest, the Stewards of the Board did have issue with his margin."
The reason behind this statement is that the Board had no issue with Victor Loughlin's scorecard, which was returned as 113-112 to Taylor.
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