Boxing suffers more blows

Recent weeks have not been kind to boxing, particularly in New York, as the death of one fighter and the controversial ending to another bout once again exposed the dark side of the sport.

And, naturally, the two incidents brought out in full force critics of the sport.

On June 26, Beethavean Scottland, who had taken a severe beating in three different rounds against George "Khalid" Jones was knocked out in the 10th round. He died six days later.

Referee Arthur Mercante Jr is bearing much of the criticism for not stopping the nationally televised bout from the U.S.S. Intrepid in New York, before the fatal 10th round.

But the ringside physician and the New York State Athletic Commission also have come under fire as a result of the tragedy.

Scottland took a great deal of punishment in the fourth, fifth and seventh rounds "and no one would have blinked an eye if the fight had been stopped after any one of those rounds," said Steve Farhood, noted boxing expert and former editor of Ring Magazine.

Mercante examined Scottland after the seventh round, but allowed the fight to continue.

"It's easy to blame Mercante if you see the end result," Farhood said on Friday, "but I don't think it's fair to do that because Scottland rallied and won the eighth and ninth rounds."

But Thomas Hauser, the author of a biography of Muhammad Ali, said in a column for Houseofboxing.com that while Mercante is a good referee, "there are times when he allows fights to go on too long."

OFFICIALS CRITICISED

Hauser also criticised officials of the State Athletic Commission for not ordering the ringside physician to examine Scottland after he had been pummelled in the three rounds.

The doctor did examine a cut to Scottland after the fourth round, but as Hauser said, "no one ever bled to death in a boxing ring."

In a far less serious controversy, a fight last week brought further criticism of boxing.

Some fans and veteran ringsiders charged Hector Camacho, Jr., with quitting against former champion Jesse James Leija in a July 7 super-lightweight bout.

They also blamed state officials for awarding Camacho the victory.

Camacho suffered a cut as the result of an unintentional head-butt early in the fifth round. Many ringsiders did not think the cut was serious, appearing to some no worse than the cut Leija suffered in the first round.

But Camacho, after a delay in beginning the sixth round because of water in one of the corners, quit, saying he had blurry vision.

JUDGES' SCORECARDS

That meant that Camacho, whose father was the WBC super featherweight and lightweight champion in the 1980s, won because he was leading on the judges' scorecards.

Several ringsiders reported hearing Camacho's corner telling him to quit. Camacho's people deny it.

Leija has filed a protest, saying he should have won because the ringside doctor had determined the cut was not severe enough to stop the fight.

Leija's people say that quitting because of blurred vision should not have forced the decision to be based on the scorecards.

The crowd of about 4,000 booed the decision and Camacho's quitting as did the media.

"Hector Camacho Jr. will accept his tainted victory ... By his twisted standard, that makes him a winner," wrote Wallace Matthews of the New York Post. "But by nobody's standard does it make him a fighter."