Highway Robbery

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Mike Jenkins

A unified heavyweight title match between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield is scheduled for next month. Great fights are happening everywhere. So you can understand my excitement about this past weekend's clash between WBC lightweight champion of the world, "The Golden Boy" Oscar De La Hoya and Ike "The Bazooka" Quartey.

De La Hoya had yet to fight a top quality opponent (for all of you who consider Julio Cesar Chavez a quality opponent, it was like his 110th fight) faced his toughest challenge in the relatively unknown Quartey, a native of Ghana, with a crushing right hand and an undefeated record.

This was a great fight. After the first few rounds, the two started exchanging heavy blows. Quartey seemed to be getting the best of it with his lightning quick jab piercing through De La Hoya's defense. Both men knocked each other down in the sixth round, proving to the world they were for real and this would be a war to the very end. Listening to the ringside commentators and the unofficial judge at ringside, though, it seemed Quartey had a commanding lead going into the final round. I thought the fight was close but I also thought Quartey was leading behind his punishing jab. Then came the thunder.

At the beginning of the 12th round, De La Hoya came out swinging like a desperate man. He floored Quartey no more than 30 seconds into the round. Quartey got up and the best flurry of punches I have ever seen commenced. De La Hoya launched an onslaught of punches trying to finish off Quartey, but Quartey swinging back the whole time, caught De La Hoya, too. De La Hoya seemed to get the best of it, but could not put Quartey away when he had him hurt. This flurry lasted about a minute and for the final minute, Quartey pawed at De La Hoya with his jab, and De La Hoya could not throw a punch due to exhaustion. Then the bout went to the scorecards.

You put your heart, mind, body and soul on the line and it goes to the cards. Your fate is put in the hands of three men who might be biased, bribed or just plain blind. In this case it was probably blind. In a split decision, De La Hoya won. The deciding judge had the fight scored 116-112. My friend Sean is the one of the biggest De La Hoya fans and he couldn't even believe that score. I had to have it repeated to me several times. Are you kidding me? That's saying that De La Hoya dominated the fight. Every so-called boxing expert had Quartey ahead. All three men at ringside said Quartey should have won the fight. I am wondering what fight the judges were watching. At the least, Quartey should have obtained a draw.

This brings me to my main point. Something has to be done to avoid such travesties. Do you stand in the center of the ring at the end of the 12th round and exchange blows until someone falls? Do you go bare knuckles in the final round? It sounds inhumane, but these boxers rest their fate in the hands of judges who in some cases like this one, are irrational and incompetent. A rematch should be ordered right away, and if not, boxing will do itself a great injustice.