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Hall of Famer Christy Martin was scratching her head at the questionable eight round split draw verdict for last month’s exhibition fight between legends Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for Triller)
Tyson and Jones collided in the main event of a high profile pay-per-view event on November 28 at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
In a scrap that observers overwhelmingly scored in favor of Tyson, the outcome was shockingly revealed to be a split draw.
The WBC appointed three former champions to score the contest. Chad Dawson had it a 76–76 draw, Christy Martin had the most realistic score of 79–73 for Tyson, and Vinny Pazienza had a highly controversial score of 80-76 in favor of Jones.
Many felt the scoring was rigged in order to avoid one of the boxers being viewed as “the loser” at the end.
Even Martin was caught by surprise with the verdict and Pazienza’s scorecard.
“My initial response to the scoring was, ‘Vinny, what were you smoking, brother?’ No way it was the way he saw it with Roy winning. Chad Dawson was probably trying to be more logistical, but I just didn’t see it that way,” Martin told On The Ropes Boxing Radio.
“Even if you look back at it, I couldn’t find rounds to give Roy because he didn’t really want to fight. Roy’s a smart man, he didn’t want Tyson to hit him. I still stand by my scorecard and I’m glad that I have read many comments that most people seem to agree with my card, not that I expect my next career to be a fight judge.”
Based on his performance that night, fans are trying to push the 54-year-old Tyson to fight a current contender in a sanctioned fight.
Martin could see Tyson get himself in proper form to beat someone in the top-30, but not an upper-tier contender or world champion.
“Yeah probably, if he really got serious about it. Could he beat Tyson Fury? I’m not so sure about that one, but I think there are some guys out there at age 54 that if he got back into shape, he would definitely win,” Martin said.