Judging The Judges: Santillan-DeMarco Scorecard Analysis
https://www.boxingscene.com/judging-jud ... is--149576
Those who fail to acknowledge the subjectivity of round-by-round scoring will claim that Antonio DeMarco was robbed by three masked men Tuesday evening in Las Vegas.
Cooler heads will acknowledge that the former lightweight titlist deserved the nod in his tightly contested welterweight affair with Giovani Santillan. Instead, DeMarco was forced to settle for a majority decision loss in a fight where the three ringside judges—Steve Weisfeld, Tim Cheatham and Dave Moretti—agreed on just three of the ten rounds in Tuesday’s ESPN-televised co-feature at the MGM Grand Conference Center.
Judges Tim Cheatham and Steve Weisfeld both scored the contest 96-94 in favor of Santillan, an unbeaten prospect who is now co-promoted by Top Rank, the lead promoter for Tuesday’s show and the ESPN series as a whole. A dissenting card of 95-95 was turned by judge Dave ‘Not Carl’ Moretti, one of two bouts on the evening where the veteran ringside official failed to come up with a winner.
All three were among a small handful of essential personnel permitted in the venue, all wearing protective masks in line with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) health protocol.
The entire ESPN broadcast team agreed with the general take from televised viewers, believing that at least six of the ten rounds should have been awaded to Mexico’s DeMarco (33-9-1, 24KOs).
Judge Moretti could have arrived at that point had he scored at least one of the final four rounds for DeMarco. The 75-year old ringside scorer from Las Vegas—for years regarded as one of the best in the sport—had Santillan (26-0, 15KOs) trailing 59-55 through six rounds before scoring the final four rounds in favor of the San Diego-bred welterweight prospect.
Similarly, judge Weisfeld provided Santillan with a path to victory by awarding the final three rounds in his favor. The 55-year old judge from New Jersey—also among the very best ringside officials in boxing today—had DeMarco ahead by one point (67-66) through seven rounds before providing Santillan with the clean sweep.
DeMarco never stood a chance on the card of judge Cheatham. The 34-year old boxer well behind on the scorecard of the Nevada-based judge who scored the final two rounds in his favor—both stanzas going in the opposite direction of his ringside peers.
All three judges had Santillan winning rounds one and eight, while unanimously scoring round two in favor of Demarco. Judges Weisfeld and Cheatham disagreed on all but round beyond that, despite turning in the same final score. The only other round in which they saw eye-to-eye was round four, both awarding the frame to DeMarco.
Judges Moretti and Weisfeld were in sync for all but three rounds. They both scored rounds one, eight, nine and ten in favor of Santillan, while seeing DeMarco prevail in rounds two, five and six.
Common ground on the scorecards of judges Moretti and Cheatham came in just five of the ten rounds. Santillan was awarded rounds one, seven and eight in their eyes, while both had DeMarco winning rounds two and three.
Interestingly, Cheatham and Moretti found themselves far more in sync in the evening’s main event, despite not agreeing on the winner. Philippines’ Mike Plania won a 10-round majority decision over bantamweight contender Joshua Greer Jr. Most viewers took issue with the 94-94 card turned in by judge Moretti, who cast the dissenting vote in just two rounds—five and ten, both of which he scored for Greer in coming up with the draw. Judge Cheatham had it 96-92 in favor of Plania, in line with the majority of home viewers.
The fighters he's beaten aren't even household names in their own household.
"Never shall innocent blood be shed. Yet the blood of the wicked shall flow like a river. The three shall spread their blackened wings and be the vengeful striking hammer of god."
