Erislandy Lara – Paul Williams – Roy Jones JR. – Max Kellerman: EVERYTHING THAT IS WRONG WITH BOXING

By “Bad” Brad Berkwitt

This morning in Atlantic City, New Jersey, a heist was pulled off that would make George Clooney’s crew in the Ocean movie series look like rank amateurs in their ability to steal. Three judges and it’s not even worth repeating their names, saw a fight that Erislandy Lara, 15-1-1 10 KO’s clearly won behind a left hand all night that left Paul Williams, 40-2, 27 KO’s confused, battered and bleeding.

George Peterson and Paul Williams even in the corner acknowledged around the tenth round he needed a knockout to win. Of course after the fight, they both said it was just a motivational speech. The judges scored the fight 116-114, 115 -114 and 114-114 giving Williams a majority decision. The scores were not even close. Bob Pappa, Max Kellerman and Roy Jones, JR. all expressed their disgust with Williams being declared the winner when Lara really won the fight. Even HBO judge Harold Lederman had Lara clearly winning.

Paul Williams:

This warrior is a class act with a heart of gold, but he is shot as a fighter. This happens to most fighters after a devasting knockout which he had against Sergio Martinez last November. Some fighters recovery, but the odds are they never do. Williams odds ran out because he clearly was caught with the same left that Martinez knocked him out with. This needs to be the last time Paul Williams ever laces up the gloves again. Sadly, by giving him a decision that he knows in his heart and slurred speech at the end of the fight from the beating he took, that he lost, he will most likely fight again.

Max Kellerman:

I have to admit when Max was on ESPN2 at times, he came off very arrogant and his constant yelling in the studio was a big turn off. However, maybe with someone telling him or him coming into his own, he is one of the better announcers in boxing today. He speaks his mind in a respectful way, such as tonight, when he clearly said Lara was the winner and this decision was an outrage. Kudos Max..

Roy Jones, JR.:

First, Roy was 100% right when he uttered this is like Seoul over again (RJJ was robbed in the 1988 Seoul Olympics when they gave the Korean Park Si – Hun the decision in a fight he clearly won) when the decision was announced for Paul Williams. Where Roy needs to heed his own advice is where he seemed really scared for Paul Williams who was in fact, taking a beating and calling for him to no longer fight again. This sounded very strange coming from Roy who should have retired many years ago too. During those years, he has taken horrible beatings in the ring being knocked out by Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson, Danny Green and most recently, Dennis Lebedev, which was a very scary KNOCKOUT to say the least. Heed your own advice Roy to Paul! RETIRE NOW!

This decision shows everything that is wrong with BOXING today! Congratulations Erislandy Lara on a win that you got royally FU#$@% on the cards by THREE INCOMPETENT JUDGES’!