Outraged Teddy Atlas blames boxing 'corruption' for Canelo vs. GGG draw

Boxing has long dealt with issues regarding judging controversies, and Saturday night was no exception.

But after the blockbuster bout between Canelo Alvarez and Gennedy “GGG” Golovkin was stunningly declared a draw on the judges’ scorecards, ESPN analyst and longtime boxing figure Teddy Atlas decided that he’d had enough.

“Corruption in boxing,” Atlas said bluntly when asked on-air what he thought about the decision. “Follow the money. And no one else is going to say that in boxing, and some people are going to be very upset, and I don’t care. I don’t care if they’re upset.”

The heart of the issue Saturday was the controversial 118-110 scorecard in favor of Alvarez which was submitted by judge Adelaide Byrd. That scorecard, in addition to Don Trella’s 114-114 scorecard, swung a bout that was largely controlled by Golovkin into a draw, rather than the Golovkin win many pundits believed it should’ve been.

Atlas went on to decry Byrd as well as the Nevada Athletic Commission and the sport of boxing itself, growing increasingly outraged before erupting in a memorable on-air rant that can be watched here.

“There’s money to be made in the casino business, but there is an oversight board to make sure there is no corruption. There’s no oversight board in boxing,” an enraged Atlas shouted.

“There’s no commission. There’s no national commission. No federal guidelines. Nobody looking and saying, ‘Ah, can’t do that! Oh, can’t do that! You can’t be charge! Promoter can’t be in charge of who the judges are going to be! No, of course you want these judges. You can’t be in charge; we’re in charge. We’re going to oversee it, we’re going to police it, we’re going to make sure that there’s no corruption.’ There’s nothing.”