THE CONTROVERSIAL CJ ROSS DECISIONS
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Fri, 20 Sep 2013
At present she is the most dubious official in the sport. The real name of C.J. Ross is Cynthia J. Ross, an American boxing judge living in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Ross became the center of criticisms in the boxing world when she scored a draw 114-114 during the WBA and WBC junior middleweight fight between Floyd Mayweather versus Saul Canelo Alvarez. The other two judges, Dave Moretti scored it 116-112 and Craig Metcalfe 117-111 for Mayweather for a majority decision.
This is how CJ Ross scored the fight: 1st round Mayweather 9- Alvarez 10, 2nd 10-9; 3rd 9-10, 4th 10-9, 5th 10-9, 6th 10-9, 7th 10-9, 8th 9-10, 9th 9-10, 10th 10-9, 11th 9-10 and 12th 9-10. She awarded Canelo four of the last five rounds.
Ross defended her scoring in the Los Angeles Times saying, ?From where I sat, there were a lot of close rounds and a lot of exchanges ?Canelo? was able to win. ?Canelo? was able to land his punches effectively from the inside and control the rounds I gave him. I have no problems with my scoring.?
Ross had a history of scoring differently in at least ten other fights as identified by BoxRec.
Last June 9, 2012, she was widely criticized when she scored 115-113 along with Duane Ford in favor of Timothy Bradley enroute to a split decision win over Manny Pacquiao. Only Jerry Roth saw the fight for Pacquiao, 115-113. Their decision was later refuted by the WBO.
During the fight of Juan Carlos Burgos vs. Luis Cruz on November 12, 2011 for the WBC Silver and WBO Latino super featherweight titles, Ross scored it as a draw 95-95 while Ford scored it 98-92, and Richard Ocasio 97-93.
Ross was the only judge who scored a draw on August 13, 2011 during the first fight of Joseph Agbeko vs. Abner Mares for the WBC Silver and IBF bantamweight crown. Both Adalaide Byrd and Oren Shellenberger scored 115-111 for Mares.
On July 23, 2011, Ross was the only judge who scored a draw 57-57 in the bout Josiah Judah vs. Rafael Jastrzebski. Ocasio had it 59-55 and Roth saw it 58-56 for Judah.
Ross did not favor Rodel Mayol when he fought Javier Gallo as she was the only judge who scored it a draw 95-95 on May 7, 2011 while Roth had it 98-92 and Lisa Giampa 98-92 for Mayol.
During first bout on July 3, 2009, Rodrigo Romero vs. David Springer, Ross was the only judge to score the bout in favor of Springer at 39-37. the other two judges Glenn Trowbridge scored 39-37 and Richard Ocasio 39-37 for Romero.
On the fight Kendall Holt vs. Ben Tackie on February 7, 2008, Ross was the only judge who scored the bout a draw 95-95. While the other two judges Richard Houck 98-92 and Paul Smith 98-92 favored Holt.
On July 28, 2007 Don Juan Futrell won over Hector Camacho Jr. But Ross was the only judge who did not score the bout in favor of Futrell. The scores were: Robert Hoyle 76-75, Dave Moretti 76-75, C.J. Ross 75-76.
Again on June 10, 2005, Gerardo Cesar Prieto defeated Lamar Horne. But Ross was the only judge who did not score the bout in favor of Prieto. The judges scored as follows: Bill Graham 57-56, Al Lefkowitz 57-56, C.J. Ross 56-57.
Ross again had a draw 114-114 during the Kevin Kelley vs. Humberto Soto NABA super featherweight title fight on July 13, 2002. Carol Castellano had it 116-112, while Paul Smith saw it 115-113 for Kelly.
Ross, now aged 64, has been a boxing judge for 22 years. All the post-fight articles and write-ups focused on her judgement. The excellent performance of Mayweather was covered by her controversial draw score.
She decided to take a leave of absence and was not sure of coming back.
Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the one who appointed her to judge the Mayweather-Alvarez fight, praised her decision.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Maloney L. Samaco.
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