Sumio Yamada

Gilberto Jesus Mendoza, president of the World Boxing Association, announced during a press conference on Thursday that the WBA judges Gustavo Padilla from Panamá and Hubert Earle from Canada were suspended of six months after their scoring in the Hassan N’Dam and Ryota Murata WBA middleweight title fight last Saturday in Japan.

“My scoring, as well as the scoring of 5 judges and the supervisor of the fight were different from that of Mr. Padilla and Earle. I had to address this case personally, and so I did it on Saturday night. However, we had to announce our decision on the judges after a closer evaluation”, Mendoza said. Besides the six months’ suspension, both Padilla and Earle will have to pass some tests before being allowed to judge again fights sanctioned by the WBA and its regional bodies.

Regarding John Gradowski, Henry Grant and Don Risher, judges of the Rances Barthelemy vs Kiryl Relikh fight, Mendoza said the WBA will request Maryland State Athletic Commission not to appoint them for fights sanction by the organization he chairs.

“Unfortunately, in the US, there is a law that prohibit us to choose and appoint the officials or take any actions like we did in the case of N’Dam-Murata fight. However, we will inform the Maryland Commission of our view in the matter. Said the WBA president.

A fourth judge

The WBA will incorporate a fourth judge in its regional title fights and the supervisor will be required to score the fights. This card can be requested by either fighter in the event of a controversial decision, and the fourth judge score card can be used in case of a draw.

We will do this in our regional fights and evaluate and if it is effective we will take it to world championship fight, Mendoza said; as when we have a complaint from a Promoter, both the fourth judge and the supervisor scorings will be very useful. However, this will be taken into consideration only when necessary, such as in controversial fights.