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Officials under the gun
LAS VEGAS -- Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield aren't the only people being scrutinized prior to Saturday night's heavyweight championship fight.
The three ringside judges and the referee have been closely scrutinized in light of the judging controversy which tarnished the March 13 Lewis-Holyfield fight.
In fact, the Nevada State Athletic Commission went against common policy and chose to appoint its own judges rather than appoint judges recommended by boxing's organizing bodies.
"I remember walking back from (Madison Square) Garden after the first Holyfield-Lewis fight and I said if the rematch is in Nevada, we are going to have our own judges work it," said Marc Ratner, executive director of the Nevada Commission.
"I trust the judges we have chosen and I don't think anyone will have a problem with them."
Back on March 13, judge Eugenia Williams was criticized for scoring the fight 115-113 for Holyfield, even though most observers thought Lewis clearly had won. English judge Larry O'Connell scored it 115-115, while South African judge Stan Christodoulou favoured Lewis, 116-113.
A week later, Williams was called before a New York state Senate committee investigating the bout. She said photographers at ringside impeded her view and that after watching a replay, she would have scored it differently.
Williams said yesterday she won't be in front of her television for tomorrow's rematch. Williams, a New York city clerk who trains amateur boxers, will be accompanying her fighters for bouts tomorrow night in Pennsylvania, meaning she will miss Holyfield-Lewis II.
"Someone's taping it for me. I'll watch it when I come back," she added.
Veteran judges Jerry Roth, Chuck Giampa and Bill Graham will score tomorrow's fight and Mitch Halpern will referee.
Roth came under some questioning for scoring a victory for Felix Trinidad in the September fight against Oscar De La Hoya. Also under question is Halpern, considered to be a Don King referee. There are whispers the Lewis camp isn't exactly thrilled by his appointment.
"I haven't heard a complaint from anybody," said Ratner. "My real hope for this fight is that nobody wants to talk to me after it is over."
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