C.J. Ross, perhaps the most famous boxing judge in boxing, for all the wrong reasons, has stepped down from her position following her inexcusable scorecard during Saturday night’s Floyd Mayweather-Saul Alvarez championship fight.
Ross, a Las Vegas resident, sent Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Keith Kizer an email Tuesday stating her intentions to step away from judging boxing, which she has done for the past 20 years.
“I will be taking some time off from boxing but will keep in touch,” Ross wrote.
Controversy erupted when her scorecard read a 114–114 draw for the contest, which was the biggest event in years for the sport. It was hard to find anyone else anywhere who was willing to give Saul Alvarez more than a round or two, and it was difficult to even do that. The two other judges scored the fight 117-111 and 116-112, which were also closer than most had the fight scored, but at least correctly gave the decision to Floyd Mayweather. Not even the most loyal fans of Alvarez were making any claims that somehow their fighter deserved the decision.
“We respect her decision, and appreciate her love of the sport she has served for over 20 years,” Kizer said. “She came into the [commission] office [on Tuesday] and spoke with chairman [Bill] Brady, commissioner [Francisco] Aguilar and me.”
Although they did not watch a video of the fight together, they did go over her dubious scoring.
“She did not get too in depth, especially without a DVD of the bout,” Kizer said. “She referenced it was round-by-round scoring, and that overall she thought Mayweather outperformed Alvarez.”
This was not the only recent scorecard turned in by C.J. Ross in recent months that raised eyebrows. She was also one of the judges that allowed Timothy Bradley to escape with a split-decision win over Manny Pacquiao in a fight that most had given to Pacquiao relatively easily.
Despite that, Kizer recommended her to be one of the judges for Saturday night, and that recommendation was unanimously approved by the commission a couple weeks ago.
It is possible that we have not seen the end of Ross judging fights, however, that seems unlikely to happen. Licenses are issued annually, and hers will expire at the end of the year. If she does move to have it renewed next year, the commission does have the option to turn her down.
Bill Brady spoke on Tuesday about the negative attention Nevada has received because of the decision with Gov. Brian Sandoval, who is responsible for appointing members of the commission.
“I apologized to the governor for any embarrassment we may have caused the state,” Brady said. “He made me aware of his concerns. He wants things done right.”
That means that there may be some changes in the process of selecting officials, which is typically just going along with whatever Kizer suggests.
“There will be more questions asked, and Keith will be held accountable for his recommendations,” Brady told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We won’t be a rubber stamp anymore.”
If that is truly the case, it would be a welcome change since Kizer defended the scorecard of C.J. Ross, and rarely finds fault with any dubious goings on in his sport.
