GUSTAVO PADILLA, of Panama, and Hubert Earle, of Canada, have both been suspended for six months by the WBA for their part in Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam’s controversial points win over Ryota Murata at the weekend.
Padilla (116-111) and Earlier (115-112) both scored the fight in favour of N’Jikam, despite Murata clearly bossing the action. The third judge, Raul Caiz Snr, scored it 117-110 in favour of Murata.
WBA president Gilberto Mendoza watched the fight back after the disputed decision and scored the fight 117-110 for Murata. Yesterday he confirmed that Padilla and Earle have been punished.
“My scoring, as well as the scoring of 5 judges and the supervisor of the fight were different from that of Mr. Padilla and Earle,” he said.
“I had to address this case personally, and so I did it on Saturday night. However, we had to announce our decision on the judges after a closer evaluation.”
#Boxing#MurataNDam After judging the bout my scorecard is 117-110 for Murata. 2/5 pic.twitter.com/TsnalDaLnM
— Gilberto J Mendoza (@GilberticoWBA) May 20, 2017
Once their suspension is up, Padilla and Earle will need to pass numerous tests before being allowed to jude WBA sanctioned fights again.
However, the WBA does not have the right to choose and appoint officials for fights in the US. N’Jikam fought Murata in Japan.
The WBA have also announced that they will implement a fourth judge for their regional title fights, and the supervisor present will also be required to score the fight. This card can be requested by either fighter in the result of a controversial decision or if the fight is scored a draw.
The fourth card will only be taken into account for decisions deemed controversial and should it prove useful, the initiative will be extended to WBA world title fights.
