On March 5th, boxing fans witnessed two spectacular performances by Jessie Vargas and Luis Ortiz with each fight having its own form of controversy. Vargas had to deal with bad decisions by the referee as he has faced before in the past which would be a big headline had it screwed him out of the fight. Ortiz, on the other hand, had to deal with a very incompetent judge.
Washington DC-based judge Lloyd Scaife may not have been looking to screw Ortiz over for the entire fight but was hell-bent on not giving Ortiz every round of the fight against hometown fighter Tony Thompson.
How so you may ask yourself. Look at it this way, Ortiz had knocked down Thompson in the first and the third round. He didn’t just knock him down, he dominated Thompson in those rounds as he did every single round in the fight. Obviously, the judge did not see it that way and has decided to give Thompson the first and third round with the score of 10 – 9 which is completely and absolutely absurd.
The scorecards may come as a shock to and it may seem normal to some that are used to the controversies happening boxing. It is not going unnoticed though as Scaife is being investigated for the controversial scorecard. With such a travesty taking place it would be the best interest of the commission to seriously consider no longer allowing Scaife to judge so that it may set an example that these actions will not be tolerated as it is bad for the sport.
Scaife is currently under investigation by the Washington, D.C. Athletic Commission, this according to a story published on RingTV.com written by Mitch Abramson. Should Scaife not face any disciplinary action, he should do the right thing and retire from judging any sporting events. We all remember what happened from CJ Ross when Floyd Mayweather Jr. took on Saul Alvarez. If the fight between Ortiz and Thompson went the distance, one would speculate that’s the scorecard in question could have been much worse against Ortiz.
