On July 9, 2011, Al Bennett served as a judge for a non-title bout between Paul Williams and Erislandy Lara in a ballroom at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. Since then, the only scoring he has done has been while watching boxing on television.
That will change Saturday night when Bennett, 66, returns to ringside to serve as a judge for a seven-bout card at Schuetzen Park in North Bergen, N.J. It ends a lengthy indefinite suspension imposed by then-New Jersey boxing commissioner Aaron Davis after controversy erupted following the Williams-Lara bout. Davis was replaced by Larry Hazzard last month, a restructuring that likely benefited Bennett's reinstatement.
"I'm glad to be back," Bennett told The Post this week. "Larry is working me back in slow. Anything he offers me, I'm going to take it so I can get back in the groove."
A judge since 1986, Bennett had worked 25 title fights when he was assigned to Williams-Lara, the main event of an HBO After Dark telecast. Williams was awarded a majority decision that night, causing a public outcry by media and fans who thought Lara had won. Bennett scored the bout a 114-114 draw, while Donald Givens and Hilton Whitaker III had Williams winning 116-114 and 115-114.
Four days later in an unprecedented move, Davis placed all three judges on indefinite suspension, saying he was "unsatisfied with the scoring of the contest." Davis required all three judges to undergo additional training before consideration for reinstatement. Givens, age 77 at the time, retired. Whitaker was reinstated in October 2012, and has been active scoring bouts in New Jersey and North Carolina, according to boxrec.com.
Bennett, the most seasoned of the three judges, made several attempts to get reinstated after attending two seminars and passing the standardized test administered by the Association of Boxing Commissions. But he remained on indefinite suspension until two weeks ago, when he re-applied, paid his $75 fee and received his reinstatement by mail.
"I never thought I'd be out this long," Bennett said. "I was initially told I'd be off television fights for a while and then things got personal."
Bennett, of Avenel, N.J., said he believes he was being blackballed by Davis because he did an exclusive interview with The Post in May 2012, where he called the length of the suspension "unfair" and criticized Davis for crumbling under public pressure.
"I think it was personal because I was the only one really fighting back," Bennett said.
He has tried to maintain his skills by scoring fights off the television and comparing his results with the official judges at ringside. He's hoping the suspension won't keep him from getting future work.
"My only concern is that because I was suspended for three years, I still might not get picked for much," Bennett said. "I'm still kind of straddling the fence. But I'll take what I can get. I'm just glad to be back and involved in a sport that I love."
Judges have continued to face scrutiny since that night. Nevada judge C.J. Ross took a leave of absence after scoring a draw in Floyd Mayweather's victory over Canelo Alvarez in September 2013. More recently, Chris Algieri captured the WBO junior welterweight title last June at Barclays Center with a majority decision, where one judge had it one-sided for Ruslan Provodnikov, 117-109, while the other two judges saw it 114-112 for Algieri. HBO's unofficial scorer and long-time judge Steve Weisfeld had hit 117-109 for Provodnikov.
Scoring always will be subjective which is why Bennett never felt he should have been suspended, especially for three years.
"You've got three judges that are in different positions around the ring," he said. "So I might see something that you might not see, and you might see something that I don't see. But if we're within one or two points apart that's not bad."
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
After ‘personal’ attack and 3-year ban, boxing judge returns
Dengan url
http://bahayaprostat.blogspot.com/2014/10/after-apersonala-attack-and-3-year-ban.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
After ‘personal’ attack and 3-year ban, boxing judge returns
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
After ‘personal’ attack and 3-year ban, boxing judge returns
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar