World Boxing Association President Gilberto Mendoza finally responded to racist tweets by one of his judges four days after World Boxing News sent him the evidence.
Initially, Mendoza didn’t mention a selection of vile posts by WBA Female Judge of the Year for 2019, Gloria Martinez Rizzo.
Instead, the WBA President commented solely on Rizzo’s disgraceful decision, and two other judges gave Gabriel Maeste over Mykal Fox last weekend.
Rizzo’s card of 117-110 goes down in the CJ Ross Hall of Fame for bad decisions. It sparked a further look into Rizzo’s history.
What was found was shocking. Rizzo, the wife of a highly-ranked WBA Executive, aired strong views against black people, including Michelle Obama, LeBron James, and the co-founder of Black Lives Matter.
Despite having all the evidence sent to him via email, Mendoza did not refer to Martinez Rizzo’s abhorrent behavior.
Almost a week later and with mounting pressure from fans and media, Mendoza spoke to ESPN on the matter.
“We saw her score was wrong despite the unanimous decision,” Mendoza told ESPN. “Those comments she made in the past, she might be expelled by the WBA.
“I don’t support any kind of racism. I believe in equality. Sports are the only thing that brings equality into the world sometimes.”
WORLD BOXING ASSOCIATION RESPONSE
What he said [might be expelled] does little to deter Martinez Rizzo in the future. Many believe she should be relieved of her duties permanently and banned from social media for life.
She has already deleted her Twitter profile but is known, as a staunch Donald Trump supporter and backer of election fraud, to have joined Parler.
Whether Martinez Rizzo has done similar on Parler remains to be discovered. For now, she’ll be back working again by February 2022 despite one of the worst scorecards in boxing history.
This is unacceptable. The WBA should know this, act upon it and begin to clean up their house immediately.
First to go should be Gloria Martinez Rizzo. Any others who hold similar views should be kicked out too.
The views expressed in this article are opinions of Phil Jay.
