Ronnie Nathanielsz reports that the International Boxing Federation will review tape of the Ali Funeka-Joan Guzman draw from last Saturday in Quebec City. The decision left many stunned, as it appeared clear to all that Funeka had won the fight.
Funeka (30-2-3, 25 KO) bloodied and battered Guzman (29-0-1, 17 KO) for the majority of the bout, and nearly stopped the Dominican in the eighth round. But when the scores were read, two of them came back as 114-114 draws, something that seemed highly unlikely even if you felt it was closer than, say, Harold Lederman's 117-111 card on the HBO broadcast.
Some are counting it as one of boxing's many "black eyes," but I've seen worse decisions for sure. Hell, I've seen fights that I thought were just as one-sided (if not more so) end up with the wrong guy actually winning. And just earlier this year, Kermit Cintron was gifted a draw in Florida against Sergio Martinez, which I thought was a worse decision than this one.
But it was a crap decision. The IBF is highly unlikely to simply award Funeka the lightweight belt he earned, but rather will almost surely order a rematch that I don't think anyone really wants to see, and one I don't think Guzman would be too anxious to take. It was clear that Funeka's height gave him some real difficulty, and that while he's still a good fighter, it's a terrible matchup for Joan.
Lou DiBella -- who has zero stake in either fighter -- offered this take when speaking with BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno recently:
"There should be a full investigation and background checks on those two judges. It was clearly a one-sided ass-whipping. If this is the best judging that boxing has to offer, then were are in real trouble. HBO should not buy the rematch. I don't want to see that fight again. Guzman got his ass kicked. Bring back Funeka like he's the winner."
I'm pretty much on board with that.