Mauricio Herrera appears to school Jose Benavidez, but bizarre verdict costs him WBA belt
LAS VEGAS -- There have been some outrageous decisions in boxing's long and often sordid history, and Saturday's verdict in favor of Jose Benavidez Jr. over Mauricio Herrera in their bout at The Cosmopolitan for the interim WBA super lightweight title was far from the worst.
But Herrera seemed to do far more than enough to retain his title in the opinion of just about everyone watching except for the three judges whose verdict counted.
Max DeLuca and Eric Cheek had it 116-112 for Benavidez, while the third judge, the normally reliable Dave Moretti of Las Vegas had it 117-111 for Benavidez. That scored conflicted with fans in the arena, watching on television and the majority of long-time boxing writers at ringside.
Yahoo Sports scored it 117-111 for Herrera, as did Steve Carp of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Dan Rafael of ESPN.com and Steve Kim of UCN Live.com.
Benavidez went to the ropes repeatedly and covered up, as Herrera pounded at his midsection. Herrera threw more and landed more, but it didn't matter.
"This is nothing new," said Herrera, who lost a hotly disputed decision to Danny Garcia in March. "I win a fight and they take it away from me. They must not count body shots in this division."
Benavidez's father, Jose Sr., was urging him between rounds to stay off the ropes, but it didn't matter. Benavidez would land a couple of punches and then retreat to the ropes, where he covered up and took abuse.
Benavidez, though, said he fully expected to win when the fight ended.
"He was very aggressive, and I was catching him over and over as he was walking into my punches," Benavidez said. "I knew I won this fight. Everything worked for me. All my combinations. All my uppercuts. All my body shots. I landed everything."
According to CompuBox, Herrera landed 295 of 870, while Benavidez connected with 250 of 647.
No matter, though, as the victory and the title went to Benavidez.
It wasn't the worst robbery ever in Las Vegas, but it clearly seemed that Herrera won and he didn't get the decision.
It's the kind of thing that happens far, far too often.
