2014 Robbery of the Year

Nominated:
Mickey Bey W12 Miguel Vazquez
Oscar Escandon W12 Tyson Cave
Danny Garcia W12 Mauricio Herrera
Vyacheslav Glazkov W10 Derric Rossy
Jose Benavidez W12 Mauricio Herrera

Winner:
Danny Garcia W12 Mauricio Herrera

Without a doubt, this is the most aggravating of our seven award categories. Firstly, the fact such a category needs to exist is a source of consternation, the kind expressed routinely by the Howard Beale of boxing, Teddy Atlas. That aside, the question as to how to assess various unjust verdicts and decide that one is more egregious than another becomes an exercise in frustration. How is one injustice more unjust than another?

That said, we feel strongly that this award does need to be front-and-center, if for no other reason but to remind everyone of a serious problem which, for the sake of the sport’s tenuous future, must be addressed. Let us take a moment now and once again call for some kind of remediation for what has sadly become a routine aspect of boxing. There can and should be some form of meaningful recourse for blatantly bad decisions.

Which of these five decisions was the worst? Again, it’s difficult to judge. Possibly the most egregious of the five is Tyson Cave’s loss to Oscar Escandon which inspired another tirade from Teddy Atlas. Most had difficulty finding even two rounds to award Escandon yet somehow the judges did not.

But in the end we decided the “worst” decision was the one which likely had the largest number of viewers, and thus arguably the greatest negative impact. We also felt compelled to select one of the two robberies suffered by Mauricio Herrera. How many boxers have had to endure not one, but two clearly unjust verdicts in high profile matches in the same year?

The ramifications of Danny Garcia’s Puerto Rico gift are perhaps the most profound as well. No doubt Garcia will be seeking a big money showdown of some kind in the near future. He has discussed moving up to welterweight where several fellow Showtime boxers reside. Presumably, matches with Keith Thurman, Amir Khan or even Floyd Mayweather are possibilities. Now consider the magnitude of that injustice, should Garcia sign for a huge, multi-million payday while Herrera does not even possess headliner status.

At the very least, we take this opportunity to draw attention to the fact that if Danny Garcia and his blowhard trainer/father had any integrity and any balls, they would give Herrera a rematch. The fact that they have refused to do so and that Garcia’s last outing was a total mismatch derided by all, speaks volumes.

Danny Garcia does not deserve to wear his championship belts; in truth, they belong to Mauricio Herrera. The fact that they will likely enable Garcia to pocket millions of dollars in the near future makes Garcia W12 Herrera our Robbery of the Year.

— Michael Carbert