Kellerman Outraged at the Benavidez Jr.-Herrera Decision

    0
    1075

    alg-raissman-kellerman-jpgLast night from the Cosmo in Las Vegas, there were two highly debated fights. In the main event, Tim Bradley drew with Diego Chaves where most people thought Bradley should have got the nod. In the opening bout Mauricio Herrera lost his interim WBA title to Jose Benavidez Jr.

    HBO’s Max Kellerman was ringside calling the action and weighed in on both decisions

    “The Bradley fight was bad. Julie Lederman, I can’t remember her ever turning in a bad card,” Kellerman told ThaBoxingVoice.com. “ Of course you can disagree with her here and there but that was a bad card. You can’t score it 8-4 for Diego Chaves. I know she’s one of the few with integrity and she’s highly competent. So the only thing I can think is that sometimes in a fight you see one side of the ring, you’re mostly seeing on guy’s back and seeing the other guys front and seeing his punches landing. That guy is getting hit now; his back is to you so he’s got to be getting him.”

    But what really angered Kellerman was the decision between Herrera and Benavidez.

    “The first fight really bothered me. Herrera beat Provodnikov before Provodnikov was a big deal. He never really received the kind of credit for beating the guy who had the war with Tim Bradley and beat Mike Alvarado. Then he beats Danny Garcia and gets robbed. So he should be the junior welterweight champion. Then he beats Benavidez, a hot junior welterweight prospect. So really this should be a title defense,” stated Kellerman

    Kellerman says Herrera deserves high praise and it’s a shame he’s not celebrated.

    “Herrera should be celebrated as a guy who beat Providnikov, who won the Jr. Welterweight belt against Danny Garcia, and who should have had a successful title defense against a streaking prospect. Instead he winds up with no credit for Provodnikov and 2 losses from it.”

    But Kellerman knows the politics of boxing and feels Herrera is a victim of it.

    “If you want to tell me you can have 7 rounds to give to Benavidez, ok I can see it here and there,” stated Kellerman. “You think the majority of observers could find 7 or 8 rounds to give to Herrera. But why is it throughout the history of boxing that 99 times out of 100, they seem to give those rounds to the money fighter, the fighter that means more business going forward and in this case it wasn’t 7 rounds? And it was 8 and 9 rounds they have Benavidez.”

    But instead Herrera has another loss on his record and another setback and to Kellerman that just isn’t right

    “So here’s Herrera who is everything that’s right about boxing, losses on his resume, he doesn’t get discouraged, no big knockout power, no big promotional push. He has a big promoter behind him but he’s obviously pushed like other guys. He’s fan friendly, he’s got guts and guile. He should be celebrated, he should be in the running for fighter of the year, and he beat Garcia and Benavidez.”