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Yet another decision went the way of the favored prospect, as Jose Benavidez Jr. ("22"-"1", 15 KO) was gifted a decision over the very crafty Mauricio Herrera, who surely did more than enough to win. Herrera struggled somewhat with Benavidez's power in the middle rounds and the final frame of the fight, but his activity and ability to adapt kept him ahead of Benavidez throughout most of the fight.
Herrera landed a tremendous number of body shots, and kept Benavidez pinned against the ropes for much of the fight. Despite landing counters in spots, Benavidez effectively gave away at least 8 rounds through sheer inactivity. According to Compubox, Herrera outlanded Benavidez in ever category. Punch statistics can't tell the story of a fight, but in this case they align with what should have been the result. Scoring more than 5 rounds for Benavidez is nothing short of corruption, or else unbelievable incompetence.
This isn't the first questionable decision the wrong side of which Herrera has found himself. In March of this year he went twelve rounds with light welterweight champ Danny Garcia, in a fight that many observers had Herrera winning. Like tonight's result, the judges had Garcia ahead by a more than comfortable margin.
It's a bad look for boxing, folks. Mauricio Herrera was robbed.
Bad Left Hook scored it 118-110 for Mauricio Herrera.
Final result:
Jose Luis Benavidez defeats Mauricio Herrera by Unanimous Decision (116-112 x 2, 117-111)