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Judge criticized over his scoring for Charlo-Castano fight

Sarah Stier-USA TODAY Sports

Judge Nelson Vazquez criticized over his scoring for Jermell Charlo-Brian Castano fight

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 7/18/21

Boxing judge Nelson Vazquez faced criticism on Saturday night over his scoring for the Jermell Charlo-Brian Castaño fight at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas.

The fight was ruled a split draw. Judge Tim Cheatham scored the fight a draw 114-114 (six rounds to six). Judge Steven Weisfeld scored it 114-113 in favor of Castaño (seven rounds to five but one 10-8 round for Charlo). And then there was an outlier on the scorecard, and it came from Vazquez. Vazquez scored the fight 117-111, giving Charlo nine rounds and Castano only three.

Here's the full scorecard for #CharloCastano, per @ShowtimeBoxing. pic.twitter.com/HkFWaeIsLf

— Greg Rosenstein (@grosenstein) July 18, 2021

Vazquez’s card did not come close to matching what the other two judges saw, much less what most fans and analysts watching the fight saw. Hardly anyone else had Charlo winning convincingly the way Vazquez did.

Vazquez received criticism on Twitter over his card.

Judge Nelson Vazquez needs to be sat down. That’s wasn’t a mistake, that’s incompetence !

— Andre S.O.G. Ward (@andreward) July 18, 2021

I would say that Nelson Vazquez would be held accountable for his absurd scorecard of 117-111 for Charlo, but this is boxing. Of course he won’t be held accountable. He’ll likely judge another fight just as Adalaide Byrd has after her putrid scorecards .. #boxing #CharloCastaño

— Francisco A. Salazar (@FSalazarBoxing) July 18, 2021

I didn't like Nelson Vazquez's 96-93 scorecard for Efefobor Apochi in his loss to Brandon Glanton in their war three weeks ago. This was far, far worse. There's just no path to giving Charlo nine rounds. This isn't what we should talking about after a fight like this.

— Jake Donovan (@JakeNDaBox) July 18, 2021

We bellyache about judges, and then we move on. But any boxing commission that employs Nelson Vazquez again needs him to explain how he gave just one of the first six rounds to Brian Castano. Context: Weisfeld gave BC four, Cheatham three. Farhood, for SHO, similar. Unforgivable.

— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) July 18, 2021

Don’t expect many consequences for Vazquez over his judging.

ESPN asked Jim Erickson, the combative assistant sports manager for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation what actions he would take regarding Nelson Vazquez's 117-111 scorecard in favor of Jermell Charlo. Erickson declined to comment. https://t.co/akRI3n73zg

— Mike Coppinger (@MikeCoppinger) July 18, 2021

The punch stats from the fight were fairly even. According to CompuBox, Charlo landed 151 of 533 (28.3%) punches in the fight to Castaño’s 173 of 586 (29.5%). In power punches, Castaño landed 164 of 400 (41%) compared to Charlo’s 98 of 246 (39.8%). Charlo out-jabbed Castaño, landing 53 of 287 (18.5%) to nine of 186 (4.8%).

Not much seemed to warrant a scorecard giving Charlo nine rounds to three.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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