INCOMPETENT JUDGING - THE BIGGEST PANDEMIC IN BOXING

It’s something we’ve written about time and time again — three times, to be specific, in less than a year — but things just aren’t getting any better; in fact, they’re probably getting worse.

Incompetent judging of fights.

After a relatively quiet period of fights, big-time boxing was back over the weekend as Dave Allen returned to action in front of a packed Sheffield Arena.

All the limelight should have been on him; however, it was taken off him before he’d even stepped foot in the ring.

In what, on paper, was a good match-up for Josh Padley against the experienced Reece Bellotti, it turned out to be just that — but probably a lot closer than expected.

Padley got the nod by unanimous decision, but the biggest talking point — shock horror — was the cards.

Was it a close fight? Yes. Could it have gone either way? Yes. There was a round or two in it max for either fighter, but the judges’ scorecards certainly didn’t reflect that.

Two judges scored it 97–93 in favour of Padley, which was harsh on Bellotti, but, as he has done on many occasions, Steve Gray’s card was the one that rattled the British boxing world — scoring it 99–92 to Padley: eight rounds to one, with one 10–10 round.

Absolutely insane.

We understand the judges watch the fight from different angles, but no matter what angle you watch that fight from, Reece Bellotti won more than one round clearly. The 10–10 round from Gray almost feels like even more of an insult to the former British super-featherweight champ.

Let’s just make this clear here too. This isn’t for one second a dig at Josh Padley. He didn’t write the cards out. His story from small-hall shows to fighting Shakur Stevenson on a few days notice is a story in which boxing should be championing.

The worst thing about this is the fact it isn’t the first time Gray has brought the sport into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

He has form.

He had Leigh Wood beating Anto Cacace before he got stopped in the ninth round back in May. Poor.

He had Callum Smith 119–111 against Joshua Buatsi. Even though Mundo was the deserved winner, it was a heck of a lot closer than 11–1.

He had Teofimo Lopez 115–113 against Josh Taylor — probably should have been a fair bit wider to Teo.

That’s just to name a few.

This is a man who has judged 552 bouts to date and refereed — and scored, in some cases — 1,385 professional contests.

An insane amount of experience to still be getting it so wrong.

Does he just have a different way of scoring a fight compared to every other judge? Maybe. However, it should be addressed.

The bad thing is, there’s no specific criteria or standard way a judge has to score a fight, which leaves it wide open for questionable scorecards — along with the fact that judges and referees aren’t obliged to explain their cards.

It isn’t just Steve Gray, though. We’re using him as an example because his card is one of the biggest talking points of the weekend, and he’s consistently producing questionable cards.

Ian John-Lewis’s horror card for the first fight between Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall resulted in him leaving the BBBofC.

The bigger cards are obviously the ones where the poor scoring gets highlighted more, but it also happens on the small-hall circuit.

So, the question we continue to ask — how does it stop?

Make referees accountable for their scorecards. Make them available to do interviews with broadcasters or YouTube channels after the fights to explain their scoring. And create a scoring criteria which every judge on the planet must abide by. That’s just two simple ways that would at least limit the number of poor scorecards in the sport.

It’s really starting to turn people away and put them off.

We’ve got an incredible product here — an incredible sport. It’s a sport that’s hundreds of years old, and if it’s going to continue to be a success, things need to be done right. When there’s a clear way to do so, as there is in this case, there’s no reason why the changes can’t be made.

TKO Promotions and Zuffa will launch their first show in 2026. This could be the perfect way to earn some brownie points with boxing fans across the world and enhance their reputation with relatively minimal fuss — if they were to create a scoring criteria and make officials available for interviews after the fights.

Hopefully, something will be done by some of the big players in the sport — because boxing fans have had enough.