FanPost

Rances Barthelemy lost that fight.

I'm pretty surprised that there isn't an article up on the main page about the Barthelemy-Relikh fight, and sort of disappointed that there aren't more people talking about it today.

Full-disclosure, I picked Kid Blast to win that fight by stoppage, and I was pretty confident in that pick. But Relikh absolutely brought it yesterday, and took the fight to Barthelemy in a way that I did not think he was capable of.

I scored the fight 114-112 for Relikh, and there was at least one or two rounds that I thought were in the air and wound up giving Barthelemy the benefit of the doubt in. When the fight reached the final bell, I had a pretty bad feeling that Relikh would get his victory stolen from him by some sort of razor-thin Split Decision or Draw. When they announced a Unanimous Decision, and read the judges scores, I actually thought they were getting it right for a split second.

But that simply was not the case. How any judge could have watched that fight and honestly thought Barthelemy won 10, 9, or 8 rounds is absolutely astonishing to me. I know everyone gets queasy about the use of the word 'robbery', and normally I would never refer a fight that I scored one round apart as one, but the absolutely ridiculous one-sided cards that the judges turned in certainly bring the word to mind.

This was another classic example to me of why there needs to be some sort of accountability for judges and referees in the sport of boxing. I believe it was DrRck who just within the past couple of days proposed the idea that judges and officials should be forced to sit for a press conference after the fight and explain their calls/cards in front of the media.

Those three judges essentially stole a title shot right out from under Relikh after he put on the best performance of his career and rightfully earned it. Whats even worse is that this was his second fight in a row that 3 judges have absolutely robbed him. First they stole an actual title from him, and then they stole his opportunity at redemption.

Rances Barthelemy should not be considered an undefeated fighter. He does not deserve an immediate title shot. He did not win that fight.

End rant.

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