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WBA punishes judge who scored for Estrada 117-111 Over Chocolatito

Fighters Network
15
Mar

Judge Carlos Sucre has been suspended by the World Boxing Association (WBA), the sanctioning body announced Sunday. 

The announcement comes after Sucre submitted a 117-111 scorecard for Juan Francisco Estrada Saturday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. Estrada (42-3, 28 knockouts) would win by split-decision, acquiring the WBA junior bantamweight title from Roman ‘Chocolatito’ Gonzalez. David Sutherland had it 115-113, also for Estrada, while Jesse Reyes preferred the work of Chocolatito, 115-113. 

Gilberto Mendoza, Jr., who is the president of the WBA, made the request to the Officials Committee. Sucre would remain suspended while the WBA would evaluate Sucre’s performance.

According to the sanctioning body, the WBA will conduct a thorough evaluation “and Sucre will be given the opportunity to explain the situation in order to make a definitive decision on this case.”



“I asked the Officials Committee to evaluate the fight although I think it is not necessary,” said Mendoza in a statement. “It was a great fight, very close. We have to respect “Gallo” Estrada, who made a great effort. In this case, the judges favored him. However I sent a temporary suspension while Sucre is heard, because big shows and fights like this one do not deserve the kind of score he gave. His decision was misguided yesterday.”

Judge Sucre’s sour card for Chocolatito has WBA announcing they’ll look hard at the score and ask the official to explain it.

Sucre’s scorecard brought outrage on social media after the fight from media, fans, fighters and even celebrities. Sucre scored the first three rounds of the fight for Estrada, but also scored the last five rounds for the fighter from Hermosillo, Mexico. Judges Reyes (115-113 Gonzalez) and Donald Sutherland (115-113 Estrada) agreed with Sucre only on rounds 9 and 10 during that time frame. 

All three judges did agree unanimously on rounds 1 (Estrada), 6 (Estrada), and 7 (Gonzalez). 

Sucre is originally from Venezuela, where the WBA is based out of, but now resides in South Florida. He has also been utilized by the WBA as a supervisor for regional title fights in the United States. 

Besides Saturday’s card in Dallas, Sucre has been utilized as a judge by the WBA in high-profile fights, including Murodjon Akhmadaliev’s split-decision victory over Daniel Roman on January 30 of last year. Sucre scored the bout 115-113 for Akhmadaliev, and the decision, SD for Akhmadliev in that one spurred some debate.

Sucre received criticism in August 2015 on a 115-109 scorecard he submitted for Rau’shee Warren in a WBA Super world bantamweight title fight against Juan Carlos Payano. Judges Alex Levin and Thomas Nardone both scored the bout 113-111 for Payano. 

The WBA also indicated a decision will be announced after the investigation is complete. 

Francisco A. Salazar has written for The Ring since October of 2013 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing

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