Ritson gets robbery win over Vazquez

Photo by James Chance/Getty Images

Ritson took a split decision victory, but very few agree with the call.

In what has to be one of the most unanimously criticized decisions we’ve seen in years, Lewis Ritson took a split decision victory over Miguel Vazquez today in Peterborough, England, winning on scores of 113-116, 115-113, and 117-111.

Bad Left Hook had the fight 118-110 for Vazquez, which was not in line with what the DAZN team saw, but was in line with what the Sky Sports team and, well, basically everyone on social media saw. You don’t have to take my word for this; check the replies to Matchroom’s post about the decision. When it’s that wide one way, you know you’ve seen something awful.

A select few from the Matchroom replies:

• “I never comment on dodgy decisions, but that might be the most embarrassingly wrong decision I’ve seen in my life ... at worst that was 117-111 Vazquez.”
• “What a shambles of a judging display. I wanted Ritson to win but that is disgraceful.”
• “I’ve seen some bad decisions and dodgy scoring in boxing but come on.”
• “I can’t believe that scorecard and decision. Even the sky team can’t believe how Vazquez didn’t win.”
• “Absolute shocker, more bent judges again, Vazquez could have kept dancing around him for another 12 rounds.”

Not convinced by me or other boxing fans? Then ask the fight’s — and Ritson’s — promoter:

The fight just really wasn’t even particularly close. It’s not that Vazquez (42-10, 16 KO) dominated, but he rather comfortably won the rounds, over and over again, with nothing about the fight really changing over 12 rounds. Vazquez out-boxed Ritson (21-1, 12 KO), full stop, and Ritson wasn’t able to do much of anything with him, as Vazquez picked and pecked, and while OK, that’s not the most exciting or amazing thing, what did Ritson? Very little. Ritson looked awful in this fight, in all candor. An occasional shot got through, that’s about it.

This is a disgraceful decision, and judges Terry O’Connor (117-111) and Michael Alexander (115-113) turned in scores that flat-out robbed the 33-year-old Vazquez, who absolutely deserved the win in this fight.

Undercard Results

Matchroom Boxing

• Marc Leach UD-10 Qais Ashfaq: Bit of an upset, as the 27-year-old Ashfaq loses for the first time, dropping to 8-1 (3 KO) on scores of 95-93, 96-93, and 96-92. The 26-year-old Leach (15-1-1, 3 KO) scored knockdowns in the fourth and seventh rounds, and his boxing frequently out of the southpaw stance seemed to really throw off Ashfaq, a natural southpaw. Ashfaq had a lousy start but did get back into it a bit. He was winning the seventh round, for instance, before he got dropped. Leach deserved the win here, he was just the better guy on the night. It wasn’t exactly what you’d call a fun fight to watch.
• Rylan Charlton KO-3 Joe Laws: Laws is a popular, ticket-selling fighter, a 26-year-old welterweight who is crazy fun to watch. He first really came to our attention just about a year ago to the day, when he had a swing fight win over Justice Addy on the Ritson-Davies card in Newcastle. He fought like a maniac and became a quick minor cult favorite. But he got utterly decimated here by Charlton (6-0-1, 3 KO), a short, powerfully-built 28-year-old who dropped Laws once in the first and two more times in the third. Laws (9-1, 5 KO) was never some top-flight prospect or anything, but a bad exposure like this puts into question how long you can even get by using him as an exciting undercard action attraction. He couldn’t do anything with Charlton, who himself is no blue chipper.

Matchroom Boxing

• Thomas Patrick Ward D-9 Thomas Essomba: A technical draw, with scores of 86-86, 88-85 Essomba, and 88-84 Ward. Went to the cards early due to a cut on Ward (29-0-1, 4 KO), who got the usual grief from Essomba (10-6-1, 4 KO) that fighters tend to, good or not. Ward, 26, is a former British champ at 122, impressed in a ShoBox win in early 2019, and then weirdly stepped his competition back so far for three fights that it made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Him escaping with a draw against Essomba wouldn’t normally be the most damning thing — Essomba is much better than his record — but there are a lot of worrying things about Ward, really.
• Kane Baker PTS-6 Meshech Speare: This was a very short notice addition to the card, and Baker (14-7, 0 KO) ended about a 10-day retirement from boxing when he took the fight, having last fought on Oct. 4, when he lost to Aqib Fiaz, which was debatable. Speare (5-1, 3 KO) came in from the small halls and didn’t pass the test.
• Ellie Scotney PTS-6 Bec Connolly: A successful pro debut for the 22-year-old Scotney, who drops the 36-year-old veteran Connolly to 3-8 (0 KO). Matchroom have a habit of pushing talented women’s fighters quickly and looking to get them belts, so Scotney, a featherweight who was a good amateur, could be fast-tracked.