Saturday night, Erislandy Lara, one of boxing’s rising stars, was dealt a decision loss against former World Champion Paul Williams at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey despite the fact that the vast majority of ringside media in attendance, fans watching the fight in person as well as those watching live on HBO, believed that Lara had won the fight in convincing fashion. When the decision was read (scores 114, 114, 115-114 and 116-114 in favor of Williams) a chorus of boos rained down on the ring and calls for a rematch were immediately heard.
“When you see a young undefeated star convincingly win almost every round against one of the best fighters in the world and then have the judges take the fight away from him, it’s very disturbing, not only as his promoter, but also as a boxing fan,” said Richard Schaefer, CEO of Golden Boy Promotions. “The CompuBox statistics alone indicate who the winner of this fight was…Lara landed 42% of his total punches to Williams 19%. Further indication come when examining the power punch statistics as landed Lara landed half of his power shots to almost one of every five that Williams landed. We hope that Williams and his promoter Dan Goossen will give Lara a much-deserved rematch to settle the controversy that has erupted since Saturday night’s decision. If Williams chooses not to fight Lara again, Erislandy is ready to fight anyone, anywhere and at any time and we will make sure they he gets the opportunities he deserves in the wake of his spectacular performance in Atlantic City.”
Lara, who suffered a small facial fracture apparently as a result of a clash of heads with Williams, will not be able to train for six to eight weeks. Lara feels he clearly won the fight and hopes Williams will give him the rematch.
“It was a good fight, but I don’t know what the judges saw,” said Lara. “I definitely want the rematch with Williams.”