Judge Ian John-Lewis, who scored last week’s Josh Taylor vs. Jack Catterall fight 114-111 in favor of Taylor, has received a slight demotion for his widely criticized scoring on that fight. Catterall’s response on social media was “Not good enough.”
Here is the British Boxing Board of Control Statement:
MR IAN JOHN-LEWIS
APPEARANCE BEFORE THE
BRITISH BOXING BOARD OF CONTROLFollowing an internal review of the scoring of the Josh Taylor v Jack Catterall contest by all three appointed judges, the Stewards of the Board decided to call Mr. Ian John-Lewis to appear before them to explain his returned card.
Having considered Mr. Ian John-Lewis’ explanation, the Stewards of the Board decided to downgrade Mr. John-Lewis from an A Star Class to an A Class Official.
Whilst the Board were satisfied that Mr. John-Lewis’ scorecard did not affect the overall result of the contest, the Stewards of the Board did have issue with his margin.
As the regulatory body for the Sport in Great Britain the British Boxing Board of Control continue to improve and maintain the high quality and consistency in scoring by our licensed officials. As such, the Stewards of the Board have further decided that in addition to each A Star Class Official being evaluated after each bout, as per current procedure, they will now also be subject to a separate individual annual review.
Finally, the British Boxing Board of Control have contacted the WBC, WBC, IBF and WBA supporting Jack Catterall to be made mandatory challenger for each or all Championship Sanctioning Bodies.
What a load of bullshit. The scoring in the Daniels-Ryder fight was much worse, but now one of their own got the L and the english goes bananas. Over the last few years I`ve seen way worse scorecards.
Really dont it is like that at all. If anything Josh Taylor was the star over here. He was the British undisputed who had a shot at further greatness. I don’t think Catterall has same potential. Maybe the fact it was an all British fight meant it was taken more seriously, but ultimately I think it was just the final straw.
Dont know which fight you were watching, the Ryder fight was much closer with maybe 2 rounds difference. Jacob’s looked sloppy, but could of got the nod.
Catteral won this fight by 8 rounds , 1 draw, 3 to Taylor.
Big Difference!
We need more of this
Funny this, if the Board had ever watched Lewis officiating (as a ref. or judge), it was always obvious that he was dodgy. He 100% always favored the house fighter, which led me to believe long ago that he is getting a little extra under the table.
Probably happens a lot since the promoters own the judges.
100%Catterall won this fight. Jacobs vs Ryder was also not a good decision, but know where near GGG Canelo one or Fenech Nelson one ✌
Catterall did not fight to beat the champion he backpeddled the entire fight the champion pressed the fight i think it was close only because Catterall was catching him clean at times but that does not prove ring generalship or that desire to win either way both of these guys lose by KO to any top 5 147lber and both will also lose by KO to Teaflimo Lopez when he moves up
Close fight that could’ve gone either way but this was not robbery. You have to TAKE THE TITLE from the champion.. if don’t knock him you have to be more convincing. Taylor looked bad and Catterall looked better than many thought he would which can influence the audience. Catterall deserves a shot at the title and if he really feels he had Taylor’s number (and he might) then he can take it up to 47 for a rematch.
“Stewards of The Board have decided to downgrade Mr. John-Lewis from an A Star Class to an A Class Official.”
– What does this actually mean?
It’s an ongoing issue and has been for decades. Promoters own the judges, which is why you see the same faces judging multiple fights for house fighters.
I am however, surprised that an action has taken place after questionable judging. To my knowledge, it’s been many years since this happened. Besides Byrd “taking time off” after fulfilling her part of the deal in the GGG/Canela fight, the last official action was after the Emanuel Agustus and Courtney Burton fight where Atlas lost his lunch from the scoring.
There’s so much ruckus in the aftermath, that they should throw down again. Drama sells tickets.