By Miguel Rivera, notifight.com
International boxing adviser, Ricardo Rizzo, has expressed his anger with Saturday's controversial decision in the lightweight contest involving Brandon Rios and Richard Abril. At the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Rizzo's boxer, lost a twelve round split decision to Rios. The vast majority of the media at ringside, and those watching on pay-per-view, scored the contest in favor of Abril.
"With these [decisions] in Las Vegas, boxing loses credibility. It seems that Top Rank fighters are protected. Even the pay-per-view commentators said that Abril took Brandon Rios to school. Abril was fighting him in the old [school] style and the judges in Las Vegas are the most stupid out there. We strongly protest the decision of these judges, who are incompetent," Rizzo said.
At the end of the twelve rounds, local judges Jerry Roth and Glenn Trowbridge had it for Rios - 116-112 and 115-113. An the third judge, Adalaide Byrd scored the fight for Abril with 117-111.
Rizzo says one of the main problems in Nevada is the local commission's refusal to allow international judges to work the important fights.
"Only Adalaide Byrd, an international judge of the WBA and WBO, issued the correct score. I want to appeal to the WBA to rectify this result. Promoters and global agencies must join together to force the Nevada State Athletic Commission accept the participation of international judges, just like the rest of the world," Rizzo said.