BAD CALLS: DISHONORABLE DECISIONS

1. Jack Sharkey wins a tainted victory, June 21, 1932

       Bad call, great quote.

       The first fight between Jack Sharkey and Max Schmeling had offered enough controversy as Sharkey was winning when he was disqualified in the fourth round for low blows, making Schmeling the first man to win the heavyweight crown while lying on the ground writhing in pain. (Some claimed he faked his way to victory.)

       The rematch on June 21, 1932 went the distance and Schmeling, wrote Ring Magaine editor Nat Fleischer “inflicted most of the punishment,” particularly in the last five rounds. Yet much to the amazement of Sharkey, Schmeling and everyone in attendance, the split decision went to Sharkey. (The ref was allegedly a friend of Sharkey’s.)

At that point, Schmeling’s manager Joe Jacobs made history by climbing into the ring, grabbing the microphone and uttering his famous line of protest, “We wuz robbed!”

2. One judge sees a different fight, August 29, 1951, Madison Square Garden

What fight was Arthur Schwartz watching? When Kid Gavilan and Billy Graham slugged it out for the welterweight title at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 29, 1951, referee Mark Conn scored it 7-7-1, giving the decision to Gavilan, the titleholder, on points while judge Frank Forbes also went 7-7-1 but gave Graham the nod on points. Hard to dispute what seems like an honest difference of opinion. But the third judge, Schwartz, shocked everyone by scoring it for Gavilan by 9-6 in rounds, making this one of the most controversial split decisions of all time.

        Many reporters disagreed with the verdict as did the crowd, which hurled garbage into the ring in protest—Conn needed police protection to escape. James Dawson in the New York Times scored it the same as Schwartz but the immortal Red Smith scored it 11-4 Graham and wrote that the record books should carry a note declaring, “Decision smelled.”

Thirty years later in “Only the Ring Was Square,” Garden boxing matchmaker Teddy Brenner wrote that Schwartz claimed on his deathbed he’d been threatened by the mob. (The Mafia were accused of having a say in just about every boxing match from the 1930s through the 1960s.) But a subsequent state investigation found Schwartz died of cardiac arrest in Grand Central Terminal, not at a hospital. Since there was no other proof of a fix so far down the road, Gavilan’s title stood.

3. Lennox Lewis wins but loses to Evander Holyfield, March 13, 1999, Madison Square Garden

       Many split decisions seem controversial only to those on the losing end. But when the judging inspires investigations by the Manhattan District Attorney, the New York State Attorney General and the state athletic commission, something must have gone seriously awry.

On March 13, 1999 Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield hoped to unify the assorted heavyweight title belts with one clear winner. Instead they left the division more divided than ever before. To most observers Lewis was clearly more effective and aggressive, controlling the pace and landing 348 punches while the plodding Holyfield attempted only 385.

Lewis nearly KO’d Holyfield in the fifth round but Holyfield eked out enough rounds to keep it close. One judge favored Lewis and one scored it a draw but when the inexperienced Eugenia Williams gave the decision to Holyfield 115-113 she drew howls of outrage.

The draw left Holyfield as WBA and IBF champ and Lewis atop the WBC.

The investigations found no wrongdoing, although that didn’t absolve Williams of incompetence. “She had an obstructed view at crucial moments and even gave the fifth round to Holyfield,” says boxing historian Herb Goldman who was ringside. “That was the worst judging I ever saw.”

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