There was one clear-cut loser Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena, where Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin fought to a split-decision draw in front of a jacked-up crowd: judge Adalaide Byrd.
Byrd has drawn substantial criticism for scoring the tightly contested fight 118-110 in favor of Canelo. The immediate backlash was so intense, in fact, that Bob Bennett, the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), even went to ringside shortly after the fight to address the controversial scorecard.
“Adalaide, in my estimation, is an outstanding judge,” Bennett said, per ESPN.com. “She’s done over 115 title fights and/or elimination bouts. She does a great deal of our training. Takes a lot of our judges under her wing. I think being a judge is a very challenging position.
“Unfortunately, Adalaide was a little wide. I’m not making any excuses. I think she’s an outstanding judge, and in any business, sometimes you have a bad day. She saw the fight differently. It happens.”
The other two judges scored the fight 115-113 in favor of GGG and 114-114, resulting in the draw.
This also isn’t the first time Byrd has come under scrutiny.
Which begs the question: Why was she a judge for one of the biggest fights in years?
Who really won Canelo vs. GGG? >>
Thumbnail photo via Joe Camporeale/USA TODAY Sports Images
