Promoter: Boxing commission ills cost fighter $1,000
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The California State Athletic Commission lacks an executive officer and angered many promoters and veteran fight figures last month by removing veteran inspector Dean Lohuis from his position.
Now, amid rumors that the search for a new executive officer will become a renewed nationwide hunt as candidates Ron Arnold, Ron Scott Stevens and Pat Russell wait, promoter Roy Englebrecht called The Times to complain about what he assessed as a symptom of the uncoordinated leadership.
On Thursday night, San Diego’s Jolene Blackshore knocked down San Mateo’s Melissa McMorrow three times in the second round of their four-round bout at a ‘Fight Night at the Tank’ event at San Jose’s HP Pavilion.
Englebrecht was surprised to see the final scorecard show that the bout was a majority draw, with two judges ruling the bout a 36-36 tie.
Even though Englebrecht was inspired by the 38-year-old Blackshore’s performance after a nine-year layoff, he couldn’t award the $1,000 ‘fighter of the night’ bonus to a boxer involved in a draw, so he opted to give the money to Miguel Lopez.
Minutes later, word of a correction came. State athletic commission office technician and event supervisor Sarah Waklee had mistakenly changed one of the ringside scoring totals from 37-36 to 36-36, but then recalculated and found her mistake. Blackshore had, indeed, won by decision.
‘I felt very bad,’ Waklee told me Monday. ‘[Waklee] said she’d served as an event supervisor before, but was rushed to tally the Blackshore-McMorrow scores as several people around here yelled for results and about other issues.’
Englebrecht asked, ‘How does the state that has at least three times more combative sports bouts than any other state conduct things so badly? They needed a veteran inspector that night for the scorecards. No one answers the phones up in Sacramento. There’s no leader, and no answers about when we’re going to get one.’
--Lance Pugmire
