Robbed

I grew up around boxing, my father and uncle both involved heavily as a boxer and a trainer respectively. After an injury side-lined my father I was still an avid follower with him as my guide. I love boxing, more than any other sport. Basketball, football, those are games, boxing isn't a game. It's a fight. Two men going toe to toe is beautiful to me. It's as much an art as Van Gogh and Picasso.

I've followed the debates against boxing and for it. I've been disappointed in the past with certain decisions in big fights. But usually by watching the fight again, you can see where the judges decided the way they did. There's been 'black eyes' on the sport but that's expected. But tonight I think boxing was 'knocked out'.

In tonight's Oscar de la Hoya vs. Shane Mosley fight Oscar was robbed. He fought the better fight, he landed more punches, more jabs, more power hits, he moved better, he won the fight. But 3 men gave the belts to Sugar Shane.

George Forman, one of the ringside announcers and former heavyweight champion, favored Mosley but gave the fight to de la Hoya. He was mad at the decision. He mentioned a conspiracy towards de la Hoya's promoter, Bob Arum. I agree. Something is going on there. This was not a correct decision. Even Mosley's father was telling him he needed to knock out Oscar to win before the last round. His own father had Oscar in the lead.

This calls for a change in the way this sport is judged. We can no longer trust the judges. They are too easily compromised. Most of them are not even ex boxers. It's bullshit. This sport means too much to too many people for it to become laughable. It's boxing not wrestling. It's about pride and heart and skill, not money and politics. I wish that statement was still true.



Freon