Contributor: Josh Hall
Thinking back on the mega-hyped boxing event of the century aka #TheOne, I feel really let down. That happens sometimes when an event doesn’t live up to expectations or when your fighter takes a beating, and it is part of being a fan. You have to take the good with the bad. However, fans should not be expected to tolerate watching judges taint the majority of the card with scorecards that have no basis in reality. After watching an amazing clinic in the ring from one of the all-time greats (as much as I hate having to admit that), the thing that sticks out at me the most is that somehow a judge scored this totally one sided domination a draw.
I could very easily begin this at the start of the card where a clear decision turned into a split somehow, but Mayweather/Canelo is the fight everyone paid to see. It also happened to be the one fight on the card that put the cherry on top a night of embarrassing judging.
I would not call myself an expert by any means in regards to scoring a boxing match, but I know enough to reasonably assess a fight under the 10 point must system. Fortunately, the main event here didn’t take an expert to judge. It didn’t even take a serious boxing fan for that matter. Unfortunately, CJ Ross struck again with one of the most indefensible scorecards in the history of the sport. The right man had his hand raised, but that by no means excuses the 114-114 scorecard from the judge trying her hardest to take the “worst combat sports judge” title away from Adelaide Byrd (not the last you will hear of her in this, sadly enough).
Scoring a fight is very much a subjective thing. It is hard to say that someone is flat out wrong under those circumstances, but CJ ROSS WAS 100% WRONG HERE. I apologize for yelling, but that is the kind of scorecard that damages the integrity of the sport. In the 12 rounds of action, Mayweather outlanded Canelo 232-117 while thoroughly outclassing the younger fighter 
with his incredible speed and timing, and yet Ross somehow saw the fight even at 6 rounds apiece.
To throw a little bit of anecdotal evidence in there, I watched this fight at a party where there were roughly 50-65 people there (and a pleasantly high number of people that actually were serious boxing fans), and one person cheering for Mayweather. There were a number of hardcore Alvarez fans there, and not a single one of them could even attempt to justify the 114-114 scorecard. No one even tried. Even the casual fans knew they had seen a one sided fight.
For the exactly zero people that care about my personal scorecard, I had it 119-109 Mayweather, and could see giving Alvarez one more round. Giving him a third round would be a huge stretch, and giving him a fourth involves some serious mental gymnastics in my opinion. The 6-6 card here is literally one of the worst things I have seen in boxing, and this is far from the first ridiculous card submitted by a judge that just didn’t get it. Speaking of…
This is not the first time Ross has totally dropped the ball in a huge fight. She was also one of the two judges that somehow 
found a way to score the Bradley/Pacquiao fight 115-113 for Bradley in one of the worst decisions in recent memory. These cards are indefensible. This is unquestionable. What is just as bad is that the NSAC would assign her to another fight of this magnitude with the Bradley fight still fresh in the mind of many. However, this sadly shouldn’t be a surprise.
On the undercard of this event one of the consistently worst judges in combat sports was given yet another chance, and once again completely failed. Adelaide Byrd has shown repeatedly to not understand how to score fights in both boxing and MMA, and the amount of times she scored obvious fights totally wrong is mind boggling. Byrd scored Molina/ Smith 116-112 for Smith in a fight where he was wholly ineffective and he only won about 4 rounds. The other judges had it 117- 111 and 116-112 for Molina, so Byrd’s card was not even close to that of her colleagues.
The impressive thing about Byrd is that she also brings her wonderfully” accurate scoring” to MMA as well. You may remember her for the amazing 30-27 scorecard she turned in en favor of for Varner the Varner/Guillard UFC fight (the other 2 judges ad it 30-27). She also had the wonderful 30-27 score in favor of Carlos Eduardo Rocha in his split decision loss to Jake Ellenberger. For the cherry on top, Byrd also scored the close Trout/Alvarez fight 10 rounds to one for Alvarez.
How far will it have to go before the problem is addressed? One mistake can be understood and forgiven, but judges that consistently get it wrong are a stain on the combat sports world. The judges have only one job at ringside. It’s time to make sure they actually do it. If not, the combat sports world would by far better served by finding people that can.
-Josh can be reached at [email protected] or @jhall282.
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