Hatton Says “Let’s Try Isolating The Judges”
A week on and plenty of people are still talking about the controversial decision Josh Taylor was awarded over his 140 pound title challenger Jack Catterall in Glasgow, Scotland. The controversy began as soon as the split decision win for unified champ Taylor was announced in the ring, and it grew and grew afterwards. Some people have called last Saturday’s decision one of the worst they have ever seen, while others have expressed the opinion that the fight was too close for the word robbery to be an accurate description.
But not too many people – fans, fighters, pundits – feel Taylor deserved the win he was awarded. And, as is the case after every bad decision in this great sport of ours, there has been a good deal of chatter along the lines of, ‘what can be done about it?’ and that ‘something must be done.’
But what?
Former world ruler and British legend Ricky Hatton has come up with an interesting idea on how to “fix” the judges. Hatton, writing in his column for Metro, said his idea is simple: the three judges should be “isolated.” They should not be sat at ringside, instead they should be placed “in a room on their own, watching the fight on a television screen without the sound of the crowd and even without the commentary.”
Hatton says judges are influenced a great deal by both the noise of the crowd and by the commentary. The former champ at 140 says fans can scream the place down when their fighter throws a punch, even if it misses, and that the atmosphere in the arena absolutely has a “big influence on the judges and the decisions they make.” Hatton points to the recent Kell Brook-Amir Khan fight, where the crowd “were roaring,” even though Khan “wasn’t landing.”
Hatton feels this happens in plenty of fights; the Taylor-Catterall fight included. As for the commentary, Hatton says fighters as well as judges “can hear the commentary.”
“I know these judges at ringside can hear the commentary,” Hatton said. “I have been in the corner with my fighters over the years and I was able to hear Ian Darke, Glen McCrory, whoever was there on the night. I can hear all of it from my corner: ‘Oh, what a great shot!’ If I can hear it, the judges must be hearing it as well.”
So would it work if the three judges were placed in a room where they could not hear anything going on in the arena, only SEE the action? It might be worth a try.
As everyone has said and is still saying, something has to be done to stop these controversial decisions; the kind that can “ruin dreams.”
Maybe Hatton has put forth the best possible solution? Hey, it’s worth a try, isn’t it?