WBC hope to revolutionize judging ahead of heavyweight undisputed showdown
Boxing at the highest level has continued to be plagued by questionable judging decisions.
Last week fans were witness to another puzzling verdict, as WBC featherweight world champion Rey Vargas was given a lifeline, walking away from his title defence against Nick Ball with a draw, despite being knocked down twice and facing unrelenting pressure throughout the entire the fight.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman appears to have grown tired of the abundance of dodgy decisions that we have seen in recent years, advocating to double the number of judges scoring a fight in an attempt to negate the effect a bad scorecard may have.
Looking back at last weekend’s ‘Knockout Chaos’ event, and more specifically the Vargas-Ball bout, Sulaiman made clear that something needs to change.
“What we saw last week in Saudi Arabia was another example of how fragile officiating worldwide continues to be,” he relayed to BoxingScene.
“We saw one judge have it one way big and another judge having the other guy winning. Controversy like that in the Fury-Usyk fight will kill boxing.”
Sulaiman has wasted no time in trying to get rules in place to ensure the integrity of the undisputed heavyweight showdown is protected, sending an emergency petition to the WBO, WBA and IBF, as well as to the promoters of Fury and Usyk.
“Fights, especially those at this highest level, deserve this and so I’m putting forward this proposal now to all sanctioning bodies, promoters and fighters,” Sulaiman revealed.
Despite the WBC president’s enthusiasm towards the proposal, the rule adjustment is seen as a long shot, with every involved party having to agree on the proposal for any changes to be enacted.
“It has to be something we all agree on,” Sulaiman relayed.
No further progress has yet been made, with Sulaiman still waiting on a response from the teams of both Fury and Usyk.