Detail in George Kambosos’ judges scorecard is ‘offensive’

The boxing world is up in arms about a blatant snub on the judges’ scorecards for George Kambosos’ world championship victory.

The official scorecard for the Kambosos-Lopez fight. Photo: Twitter, Dan Rafael.

There has been uproar from around the world over a staggering detail in the judges’ scorecards that nearly robbed George Kambosos of his world title victory.

The Aussie came out victorious in one of the fights of the year, winning a 115-111, 115-112 and 113-114 split decision against Teofimo Lopez in one of the greatest victories in the history of Australian boxing.

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Lopez appeared genuinely stunned when the result went against him, despite Kambosos dominating the fight. CompuBox fight stats showed Kambosos landed 155 punches to Lopez’s 115.

Despite that, the boxing world was jittery as the contest went to the judges’ scorecards with fears Kambosos was about to be robbed.

The panel ultimately returned the correct result, but there was one detail on the cards that left boxing commentators stunned.

The official scorecard for the Kambosos-Lopez fight. Photo: Twitter, Dan Rafael.

The 28-year-old Aussie stunned Lopez right from the outset, earning a knockdown in the opening round.

However, two of the three judges snubbed him of the 10-8 dominant round score his knockdown demanded, scoring the opening round 10-9 instead.

ESNPN’s senior boxing reporter Mike Coppinger described the judges’ scores for the opening round as “offensive”.

“George Kambosos won that fight. I don’t find anything remotely controversial about the scoring,” he posted on Twitter.

“What I do find offensive are the two 10-9 rounds for Kambosos in Round 1, the same frame he scored a knockdown.”

Ring Magazine reporter Ryan Songalia questioned the call, writing: “Two of the judges scored the first round 10-9 for Kambosos, despite him scoring a knockdown”.

Kambosos is the champ. Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images/AFP

BlackSportsOnline CEO Robert Littal also swiped the judges.

“You know Kambosos was fighting an uphill battle when he scored a CLEAN knockdown in 1st rd and two of the judges refused to give him a 10-8 round. Teo needed a KO in 12th to win,” he tweeted.

Someone also asked Littal how the judges justified the decision, and he replied: “You can’t. There is no justification for that being a 10-9 round. It was a clean clear knockdown. Kambosos was never hurt in 1st round and landed some nice punches. They didn’t do the same when Lopez knocked Kambosos down and Kambosos came back in the round”.

Only one judge scored round one 10-8 for Kambosos.

Can you imagine if.... #LopezKambososJrpic.twitter.com/40JKzSKDsb

— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) November 28, 2021

I see at least two judges in New York wore blindfolds for the first round. Regardless of how the rest of the scoring went, they should be run out of town for that round alone. How you gonna say Kambosos didn’t knock him down with a straight face? pic.twitter.com/wNlHT4LZRd

— cody kaye (@Cody_KayeFOX) November 28, 2021

Boxing guru Dan Rafael also scored the round 10-8, but said it was reasonable for the judges not to award Kambosos the dominant round score as a result of Lopez’s explosive flurry of shots at the start of the round.

“I had it 10-8. But the judges were fine going 10-9. It was borderline,” Rafael posted on Twitter.

“Two did. One didn’t. Lopez dominated before the knockdown. Not a mistake whatsoever scoring that a 10-9 round. They felt Kambosos won the round due to the knockdown but not enough to make it 10-8 so they made it 10-9 which is totally legit.”

But despite the criticism, much of the world was happy with the judging, believing Kambosos Jr. deserved the victory.

It came as a shock to many as he went in a rank underdog for the fight, rated a 13-1 chance to knock off Lopez, who was heralded as the fifth best pound-for-pound boxer in the world.

There was simply no denying the Sydney-product.

Originally published as Detail in George Kambosos’ judges scorecard is ‘offensive’