The British Boxing Board of Control punished Jack Catterall judge Ian John-Lewis as his shocking scorecard stopped destiny.
John-Lewis, a predominant referee who also scores bouts, somehow carded for Josh Taylor in a recent undisputed title bout.
Despite Taylor getting out-scored for eleven of twelve rounds, landing only half the punches and touching the canvas, Catterall failed to get the decision.
In favor of Taylor, an unfathomable card of 114-111 meant the BBBofC hauled John-Lewis in for questioning.
After meeting with the Jack Catterall judge, the Board was not satisfied with the outcome.
“Following an internal review of the scoring of the Josh Taylor v Jack Catterall contest by all three appointed judges, the Stewards of the Board decided to call Mr. Ian John-Lewis to appear before them to explain his returned card.
“Having considered Mr. Ian John-Lewis’ explanation, the Stewards of the Board decided to downgrade Mr. John-Lewis from an A-Star Class to an A-Class Official.
“The Board was satisfied that Mr. John-Lewis’ scorecard did not affect the overall result of the contest. But the Stewards of the Board did have a margin issue.
Furthermore, John-Lewis lost his star status with the BBBofC.
“As the regulatory body for the sport in Great Britain, the British Boxing Board of Control continues to improve and maintain the high quality and consistency in scoring by our licensed officials.
“As such, the Stewards further decided that in addition to each A Star Class Official evaluation after each bout, as per current procedure, they will now also be subject to a separate individual annual review.”
In addition, the BBBofC wrote to all the sanctioning bodies to ask them to consider Catterall as mandatory for all the titles. WBN had stated another undisputed shot is only fitting for Catterall given the circumstances.
MANDATORY
WBN wants Catterall to get the shot even if Taylor moves up and vacates the belts. All four bodies should keep the titles as one simply for justice.
“The British Boxing Board of Control has contacted the WBO, WBC, IBF, and WBA. They support Jack Catterall as the mandatory challenger for each or all Championship Sanctioning Bodies,” they said.
That move comes a day late, as the WBA already made Alberto Puello mandatory after previously failing to acknowledge any wrongdoing.
UK Police are also considering a complaint against the scoring.
The views expressed in this article are opinions of Phil Jay.
Phil has over ten years of boxing news experience. Founding editor of World Boxing News since 2010, WBN has over one billion views on all platforms.
Attending over 200 events and scoring over 400 fights, Phil has overseen WBN to a quarter of a million followers on social media.
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