Minneapolis, Minnesota (August 8, 2021)

Ron Harris – When the ring announcer, announced the first judges score of 114-113, most people said, which fight were they scoring.  Then the ring announcer announced the final judges score, 117-110, then it seemed like the fix was in.  In the old days, fights were fixed by crooked promoters and down on their luck fighters.  But in today’s sport, the money is too big to entice fighters to throw a fight.

Myke Fox from Forestville, Md., was robbed in the most obvious fashion imaginable at the Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The fight was shown on Fox TV.     He dominated Gabriel Maestre (4-0) from round 2 on, which included a knock down, until the final bell in round 12.  It was Fox’s first time going 12 rounds.  Fox, 25, took the fight on short notice and fought the best fight of his career.  He moved, slipped punches, tattooed Maestre’s face for 12 rounds and scored a picture-perfect knock down with a crunching left cross.   He was devastated when the judges announced, 114-113, 115-112 and 117-110 for Maestre, giving Maestre the Interim WBA Welterweight belt.  The 117-110 score should be embarrassing for the boxing commission in Minnesota.  As an athlete, it is hard to see Maestre accepting that belt with a straight face.  He knows, in his heart, that he lost to a better fighter.

“I was stunned by the decision,” said Fox.  “There is no way he won more rounds than me.  I knocked him down.  I hurt him.  I don’t know what else I was supposed to do.  I don’t know what the judges were looking at.  Look at his face and tell me he won that fight.”

“Fox fought very well, and he deserves a rematch,” said Maestre.  “It was a very close fight and if my team says that’s what they want, then I will fight him again”  Maestre must have been watching the same fight as the judges.

The state of Minnesota’s boxing commission needs to investigate the 3 judges at ring side.  Their bank accounts need to be checked.  There is no way a serious judge could watch that fight and give Maestre no more that 2 or 3 rounds, which would be negated with the second-round knockdown by Fox.

The entire boxing world knows that Fox won this fight.  It will go down on his record as a lost, but it will not hurt him in getting future top fights.  He proved that his game has gotten better.  Coming off a tight lost and a broken hand, he proved he was ready at a calls notice.  These days fighters are training with no opponent in mind, at times and could be called because a fighter comes down with a positive Covid test.  Fox (22-3, 5 KO’s) was called and he was ready.