Boxing judge Terry O’Connor will appear before the British Boxing Board of Control over an image appearing to show him on his phone while he was scoring the Lewis Ritson-Miguel Vazquez fight Saturday.
Ritson won by a controversial split decision, with many neutral observers — and even Ritson’s promoter Eddie Hearn — believing Vazquez should have been awarded the victory.
O’Connor was one of two judges to score the fight in Ritson’s favor, but his 117-111 margin was the widest of all three judges. Hearn described the scoring as “a disgrace”.
A photo has emerged on social media that appeared to show O’Connor glancing down at his phone instead of watching the action in front of him as the fighters exchanged blows.
Hearn has suggested the judge should be removed from his position if the image proves to be an accurate representation of events.
I don’t agree with his odd and one-sided scoring of the #ritsonvasquez fight, but the fact is, Terry O’Connor was actually glancing at his scorecard and not his phone @EddieHearn @BBBofCuk pic.twitter.com/2nufB0bxCF
— Mark Neilson (@markneilsonsw) October 19, 2020
The BBBofC released a statement saying: “Mr. O’Connor will appear before the Stewards of the British Boxing Board of Control following his appointment to the boxing tournament at the East of England Showground Arena on Saturday, 17th October 2020.”
Mauricio Sulaiman, WBC president, tweeted: “This image is extremely troubling to any person involved in boxing.”
The comments come as Top Rank promoter Bob Arum expressed disgust over judge Julie Lederman’s 119-109 card for Teofimo Lopez in his unanimous-decision victory over Vasiliy Lomachenko on Saturday. Arum believes 11 rounds to one was too wide.
[lawrence-related id=14817,14761,14776]