Light heavyweight contender Joe Smith, Jr. spoke about the scoring in his split decision win over Jesse Hart on Saturday night in Atlantic City.
“I was a little bit nervous when that one judge had it for Hart, but I really believe I won that fight. Jesse said he was going to fight me, but when I went to fight in the center of the ring, he retreated and I said ‘I thought you were going to fight me.’
“I want any one of the champions. I have never turned down a fight. (Promoter) Joe DeGuardia said he thought that was preposterous how one judge scored it.
“There’s a big fight next week (Eleider Alvarez vs. Michael Seals). Let’s see what happens.”
Some of these Judges make me sick, so did the black crowd that started the brawl at the fight buy throwing water bottles at the white people and calling them kkk.
A brawl started? I missed that.
ESPN showed footage of the brawl.
I could see that the brawl was racial, but I thought that maybe it was just Hart’s fans and Smith fans. there was not mention about how it started.
Imagine if Smith lost and his fans started champing out like that it would be considered a hate crime for heavens sake.
And it would be headline “hate crime” news. Of course the media won’t even mention it now.
I don;’t know about hate crime, but I think that it would be in the media.
If it were the other way around, it would be a huge story. Boycotts and activists would be taking place. This has been going on for all 60 years of my life. And these liberal media out of touch white peoples of privilege still think only whites are racists
Don’t know bout other white folks but you might be racist.
Exactly, absolute lowlife, ghetto trash. Innocent people in danger and women being knocked to the ground. Destroying a place of business. I mean, it’s what they do best. All because Hart got beat by a white guy. Pathetic.
I’m not surprised. I was at a fight card at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia recently, and they all remained seated playing on their phones during the National Anthem. Zero respect.
Its what they do best??? You bring race in when a white guy finally wins a fight? You ignorant racist sit on your thumbs waiting to peek your ugly heads out at the first chance of a disturbance. Boxing has the worst racial fans in sports. Sound like a bunch of jealous brats. Gotta wonder what other major sports could you like if your local team is full of black superstar athletes. Guess you didnt see all the brawls and riots that happens after football games, in the so called “nice” neighborhoods.
Deflecting is what you do best
NOBODY started a brawl! I worked the fight and there was no brawl. There was yelling and booing obviously, but no brawl. Why make up a lie like that?
The brawl was televised on ESPN. It was a brawl.
The brawl was seen on national tv. Where were you working to not see this?
charlie rock Lies you Tell Bruh!!!!!
Charlie Rock Lies YOU TELL BRUH!!!!
Hahaha. I thought I was the only one who saw the extra main event. Too many spectators and not enough security.
No exaggeration, that may be the worst card I have ever seen. It was inexcusable. He gave Hart 6 out of 10 rounds with an extra point to Smith for the knockdown. The judge should be suspended and investigated at the very least. It was actually astonishing.
agree, at best you could have given Hart 4 rounds, and that would be rather generous. I give Hart the 1st and 3rd, and out of kindness gave him the 10th. That was because of the stoppage of the round on the cut I gave Smith 10-8, and then found out it might have been a clash of heads. One could have also given Hart the 6th. But then even the 1st could have gone to Smith.
When is boxing going to do something about this? Poor judging has consistently been a stain on the sport yet I cannot think of a single significant measure that boxing has taken to address it. Plus judges are protected and seem unaccountable for their scorecards. It would at least be useful if we could understand ‘why’ the judge called it for Hart and then we can have an informed debate. There must be a better way.
Judges are seated at ringside and have a unique vantage point not available to fans watching on a two-dimensional TV screen. Perhaps some of them see things the rest of us can’t. As for the idea that judges should be punished for not scoring a fight a certain way, that would undermine the entire concept of an impartial and independently rendered verdict. You might as well abolish judges altogether if you feel there is rampant corruption afoot.
Judge obviously corrupt and told to score for the house fighter. Too stupid to realize that even if paid off couldn’t turn in a card like that for such a one sided fight. Andre Ward had it correct giving Hart only the third round.
Nothing worse than all that was already stated except for Hart smiling when he heard “split decision” and then acting like he was robbed when Joe Smith was announced the winner. Just sick.. From the judges, to the out of control “fans” to Hart himself.. Unacceptable.
I read on another boxing site that Hart claimed he had injured his hand in his last training session but did not think serious enough so he went along with the fight. But he gave Smith his due and did say Smith won. He was just hoping for the best. When he heard the deciding card, 98-91, He knew very well that it was not for him.
Hopefully Smith will get a big fight for some good money
That judge should never even be allowed within 100 miles of a boxing ring again period!!!
Who was the ( judge ) that gave it hart
James Kinney is the judges name.
A bad judge in a fight like that when a fighters career is on the line should be fired .
Devin, I second that.
How on earth. How is it possible ??? That a judge could see a Hart win in this one… running, not trowing , just tryid to hang in , which he barely did…. come on commision look at that judge, he ruins boxing….
Once again, the New Jersey Athletic Commission, under Larry Hazzard disgraced itself. Truly pathetic.
I overheard Stitch Duran talking to Smiths corner after the fight, and he said Hart got 2 rounds at the most. I will agree with Stitch. As for the decenting judge, bring him/her into the commissions office Monday and replay the fight and have that judge give their reasoning for the scoring of the rounds. Then suspend and retrain them and allow them to only work prelim fights for a year. Congrats to Smith.
I had it 100-89….. even the ref seemed biased in the start of fight, constantly getting in Smith’s face when it was Hart doing all the holding and running…. all 3 judges need to visit the Eye Doc and the one that saw Hart winning needs to have his financials investigated.
Yes he should be spoken to about this. But I remember when those judges got suspended after the lara-williams fight. Watching that fight at the time though, I did not think Lara had won, but the fight should have been a draw. And two of those judges who had Willaims winning had one round even and two rounds even respectively. Had they given those rounds to Lara, the fight would have been a unanimous draw. There was only a 23 to 30 punch land difference in that match, with Lara in the lead on that account. I just felt that Lara sometimes did not do anything, and Williams won landing little pitter pat punches. But the were landing.
I knew all along Joe Smith was gonna win. Hart is good but Hart doesn’t have enough Heart.
It would have been generous to give Hart two rounds. Clearly the judge that scored the fight for Hart was biased or incompetent; both amount to being in the wrong business. Boxing has to eliminate officials that can’t score objectivly or have the appearance of being corruptible.
Hart fought scared the entire fight. He was moving around the ring so much, it was getting embarrassing. Smith just bulldozed him and should have won a wide decision. I’d be kind if I gave Hart 2 rounds in the fight.
Smith looked like the much stronger man and showed it in the ring. Hart needs to go back to the 168 lb division. He has no future at light heavyweight.
APDuenas, he sure did. He looked uncomfortable the entire fight.
The judge who gave the win to Jesse Hart should be banned from judging from life
Jesse Hart needs to give up boxing and just continue to talk ish,he’s a joke
Split decision. The fight was totally one-sided, and a judge saw the fight for Hart. That’s embarrassing. How do some of these judges get allowed to work after scoring like that? Even Arum, Hart’s promoter, agreed it was an embarrassing card.
Smith is tough, but he’s not going to be a champ. He’s too slow and a head hunter, as much as Hart was running he should of went to the body more. Smith wouldn’t make it 4 rounds against someone like Andre Ward.
Did you see the fight he crushed Harts with body punches
I had Joe Smith winning 98 to 89.. I don’t know what fight that judge who scored it for hart was watching..
The Judge that had it for Hart got a visit from the shoe sales man before the fight. No checks of credit cards, please.