In November, as part of the World Boxing Super Series, former WBC cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis faced Noel Mikaelian a/k/a Noel Gevor in Chicago.  Briedis was awarded a unanimous decision that left most onlookers feeling unsatisfied with the scoring.  The three official judges scored it for Briedis as follows: Hubert Minn 114-112; Steve Morrow 115-111; and Benjamin Rendon 116-110. Boxingtalk's Doveed Linder reviewed the fight to reconsider whether the scoring was fair to Mikaelian.  Here is Doveed's report:

 

The Briedis-Mikaelian fight was a classic case of the puncher (Briedis) vs. the boxer (Mikaelian).  In the first two rounds, Briedis pressed the action with a strong jab, while Mikaelian fought with his back close to the ropes, doing very little punching.  Once the third round began, Mikaelian began to dominate – fighting in the center of the ring, leading with an eye-catching left jab, and fighting Briedis off any time he got close.  Briedis mostly fought a very disinterested fight, and did not take his game to another level once Mikaelian found his groove.  

 

What failed Mikaelian down the stretch was his mental stamina.  He still had snap on his punches and bounce in his step, but he wasn’t quite as focused as he had been earlier in the fight.  In the eighth round, the action became a bit sloppy, though I still felt that Mikaelian was winning the rounds.  But in rounds eleven and twelve, Mikaelian was so unfocused that Briedis was able to hustle the action. 

 

While some of the action was a bit subjective, despite Mikaelian's unfocused second half, it still should have been a clear-cut victory for Mikaelian.  

 

Sometimes when one fighter is dominating and the tide shifts just a little, judges will give rounds to the fighter who had been losing. But that is a mistake, because a professional boxing judge is supposed to disregard the flow of the fight and judge each round as a separate and individual event.  In this case, Mikaelian was still winning rounds as the fight progressed, even though he wasn’t dominating as clearly as he had been earlier.  

 

With both fighters being deducted a point throughout the bout, I scored it 115-111 in favor of Mikaelian.  

 

Below is a round-by-round breakdown of my scorecard...

 

ROUND 1:“ Briedis 10-9

 

ROUND 2 : Briedis 10-9

 

ROUND 3: Mikaelian 10-9

 

ROUND 4: 9-9. Note: Mikaelian won the round, but was unjustly deducted a point for hitting behind the head.

 

ROUND 5: Mikaelian 10-9

 

ROUND 6: Mikaelian 10-9

 

ROUND 7: Mikaelian 10-9

 

ROUND 8: Mikaelian 10-9

 

ROUND 9: Mikaelian 10-9

 

ROUND 10: Mikaelian 10-8. Note: Briedis lost a point for reasons not quite clear, in a round that Mikaelian also won on the merits.  The commentators speculated that it was for hitting while Mikaelian's head was down.

 

ROUND 11: Briedis 10-9

 

ROUND 12: Briedis 10-9

 

TOTAL ON MY SCORECARD: 115-111 for Mikaelian

 

Doveed Linder is the author of RINGSIDE: INTERVIEWS WITH 24 FIGHTERS AND BOXING INSIDERS, a trilogy of books, each consisting of 24 in depth interviews with various fighters, trainers, corner men, promoters, commentators, and officials, including Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones, Jr., Evander Holyfield, Kathy Duva, Angelo Dundee, Bob Arum, Emanuel Steward, Larry Merchant, Ann Wolfe, Joe Souza, J Russell Peltz, Gerry Cooney, Leon Spinks, Al Bernstein, Naazim Richardson, George Chuvalo, Steve Smoger, Winky Wright, Ronnie Shields, Dwight Muhammad Qawi, Duane Ford, and Jackie Kallen.  The foreword for the first RINGSIDE book was written by Boxingtalk publisher Greg Leon, and is available on Amazon.com.