Noise 2

It’s simple, and if a couple hundred of you all take the time to send your comments New Jersey’s way, it will go noted. So do it.

Email for the NJ Attorney General’s Office, which oversees the Athletic Commission.
http://www.nj.gov/lps/formmail.htm

 Suggest copy and paste your comments to to every address we can find.

My personal preference is to request of HBO support for, and pressure on NJ for, a reversal of the decision, not a rematch. Shouldn’t have to fight twice, he already won. But whatever is your thought.

http://www.hbo.com/boxing/index.html#/about/contact-us.html

Re: Paul Williams vs. Erislandy Lara decision, Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, July 9, 2011:

Thank you in advance for your attention, and thank you as well for working as you do for the health and safety of boxers, and for the health of the sport of boxing.

Regarding which, the health of boxing was severely compromised on Saturday, July 9, 2011, when the really, really wrong and unjust Win for Paul Williams was read. Williams threw punches, lots of them—he threw far more than Lara. But few landed, just 1 out of 5.* Worse, Williams was clearly a damaged fighter sustaining ever greater damage while losing badly on any realistic scorecard. He was hit with lefts by Lara so many times his face, the landing pad for 2010’s KO of the year, was swollen almost twice its normal size. Lara looked fresh as a daisy at the end of the fight, which is not definitive, but is nonetheless a worthy indicator.

For your review, and realizing that Compubox stats aren’t everything, these are overwhelming. http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/view.php?pg=williams-lara-compubox But please watch the fight, which should erase all doubt, never mind Compubox stats.

The judges were Al Bennett, 114-114, Hilton Whitaker III, 114-115, and Donald Givens 114-115. This was not a close fight. It was almost a shutout among all internet threadsters, press row, and the fight callers. Roy Jones Jr., who knows something about it, was publicly appalled.

This decision is such an injustice that, justly or not and for the first time in years, more than mere home cooking is perceived by many. Regarding perceptions of New Jersey, after last night’s decision, instead of thinking of the great state parks, the Meadowlands and Giants Stadium, the lighthouses and beaches, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, and Bruce Springsteen, the darkest side of Jersey’s history—Mob/corruption/fixed-fights—seems to leer and lurk again, turning decent boxing fans away from the sport they love, and away from New Jersey. It strikes me that fighters seeing this corruption-riddled-looking mess will go a long way to avoid fighting in, and bringing money into, Atlantic City, enough so that this decision will not only cost Lara, it will consistently and subtly deprive NJ of revenue. For sure I’d personally need the reassurance of a public and strict Commission reassessment to feel comfortable condoning this decision with my dollar by spending it there.

For the sake of the perception of State of New Jersey and the sport of boxing, I hope from the heart that the New Jersey Boxing Commission lives up to its usually good reputation, reviews the fight, and overturns the decision—without putting either fighter through a rematch. If that can’t be done, then an immediate rematch, as is being requested by Lara’s trainer, seems only right.

Thank you for your consideration,
SCG
*Boxing Scene, July 10, 2011
http://www.boxingscene.com/compubox-stats-lara-lands-half-power-on-williams—41350

http://www.boxingscene.com/team-lara-hbo-tell-williams-rematch-retire—41358

lots of good detail. I may bombard them, simply copying and pasting these Boxing Scene figures with an appropriate intro sentence.

It may be a coincidence but arguably the worse decision boxing history also took place in AC (I was there). It involved James Toney vs. Dave Tiberi.

Mike Dallas jr. vs. Mauricio Herrera:
Zac Young 95-95; Fritz Werner 92-98; Alejandro Rochin Mapule 94-96

Zab Judah vs Lucas Mattysse:
Joseph Pasquale 13-114; Hilton Whitaker III 113-114; Weleska Roldon 114-113

Devon Alexander vs. Lucas Matthysse
Carlos Colon 93-96; Denny Nelson 94-95; Brett Miller 96-93

Paul Williams vs Erislandy Lara:
Al Bennett 114-114; Hilton Whitaker III 114-115; Donald Givens 114-116

Devon Alexander vs Andriy Kotelnik:
Jerry Roth 116-112; Ohren Shellenberger 116-112; Denny Nelson 116-112

also reported by Rafael about 45 minutes ago.

http://www.boxingscene.com/paul-williams-vs-erislandy-lara-judges-suspended—41496

The voices ot the well known, especially boxers and trainers, speaking out seemed to help a lot. The huge media scorching (especially Ring, that mag has a lot of cachet) really helped. I hope they all do it more often. I think they don’t try for the same reasons we don’t more often, the sense that nothing said or done will help. So just in terms of encouraging greater response the next time—and there will always be a next time, it’s a subjective sport more vulnerable than most to hanky-panky—it’s progress, if not a perfect solution. And progress is a big bunch better that nothing.

Aaron Davis
New Jersey State Athletic Commission
Thank you for your immediate and courageous response to the Lara vs. Williams judging controversy. It’s a highly unusual and historic move, one which will be remembered and reflects well on the State of New Jersey. It’s a relief to know that something significant was done, and that the undereducated were in this case removed from the arena.

With this suspension, the New Jersey Commission has raised the bar for commissions worldwide. I can’t document this, but I’m pretty sure my name is legion in hoping that this brave and commendable step sets a new standard for commission behavior generally, throughout the boxing world. I think most fans hope that at least, in future, bad boxing decisions where corruption has been ruled out will live up to your example in publicly calling in for the review and reeducation of lackluster, inattentive, and therefore damaging judges—that this will become more the norm.

Thank you again for taking a lot of the edge off the injustice to Lara, and to boxing, and thank you as well for starting to lead the way to more frequent, attentive reaction to, and actions regarding, obvious and sometimes repeated bad judging. It’s too important to the fighters to be allowed to lapse, never mind the public and the press. Congratulations to you on this bold and heartening step.

Suzanne Gagne
Holyoke, Mass.

One thing everyone fails to note is that PW threw over 1,000 punches and I believe landed more than Lara. Thus, an argument could be made (however weak and remote) that the judges did have at least a perspective. Just saying.

Too many of the boxing writers out there are running wild with this when they forget the Toney-Tiberi affair—or Casamayor-Santa Cruz. Let’s have some historical perspective is all I am saying. I am not questioning the crticism of these 3 judges . I just have a hard time with sanctamonious rage when it is too myopic or too targeted. Everyone is piling on here but where were they on some others? Not BLH posters—but boxing writers. Peace.

The argument t for Williams re punch volume is pretty remote, unless you’re used to judging amateurs,seems to me.

 I agree that this is neither the first nor the worst of robberies; in particular, this past 12 months, there have been at least 4 controversial-at-best decisions and imo that they created a “cumulative blows” effect on the psyches of those watching and caring about the sport, which fueled this firestorm. It did have an effect, essentially for the first time ever that a Commission has taken such a step. So that’s a good thing, and here’s to its continuing effect. More noise, more light.

Cut me some slack here. Gee. Not fair.