Having concerns regarding the final scores rendered by the judges, the NJSACB called all three judges to the Board’s offices in Trenton for a full review of each judge’s scoring of each round. Following the review, the Board determined that "there was no evidence of bias, fraud, corruption or incapacity on the part of any of the judges." However, after hearing the judges’ explanations of their scoring, the Board remained "unsatisfied" with the scoring and suspended all three judges indefinitely. Each judge will be required to undergo additional training before being allowed to judge a professional boxing match again.
The NJSACB concluded that under these circumstances, the Board does not have the legal authority to invalidate the judges’ decision nor to mandate a rematch. The Board did, however, express its opinion that a rematch "may be warranted."
The actions and opinion of the NJSACB seem to support the assertion of Erislandy Lara, Golden Boy Promotions and Lara’s management that Lara was the true winner of the fight against Williams and that a rematch is deserved.
Golden Boy Promotions salutes the NJSACB and its commissioner, Aaron Davis, for promptly reviewing the decision and taking decisive action to uphold the highest standards of integrity and competence among its officials.
For more information on Golden Boy Promotions and Erislandy Lara, visit www.goldenboypromotions.com, follow us on Twitter at @goldenboyboxing or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GoldenBoyBoxing.
