After turning in a bizarre scorecard for this past Saturday’s bout between Mykal Fox and Gabriel Maestre, judge Gloria Martinez Rizzo remained in the spotlight as past racist tweets came to light. Now, the WBA has said they are suspending Rizzo for six months over the situation, according to association president Gilberto Mendoza.
Despite near-unanimous opinion that Fox deserved the win in the interim WBA welterweight championship fight, Maestre was awarded a unanimous decision victory. Most egregious among the three official scorecards was that of Rizzo, who turned in a baffling 117-110 card in favor of Maestre. Rizzo was also awarded the WBA’s 2019 “Female Judge of the Year.”
The tweet from the WBA naming Rizzo as the award recipient tagged her Twitter account, leading fans to dig up tweets from recent years in the wake of the decision. Those tweets included multiple racist rants directed at Black celebrities, including Michelle Obama and LeBron James.
“We saw her score was wrong despite the unanimous decision,” Mendoza told ESPN. “Those comments she made in the past — she might be expelled by the WBA.”
The judging was just one part of the issues involving the WBA for the fight. Rizzo is married to Ricardo Rizzo, a promoter and matchmaker with ties to the WBA. Maestre, a WBA-favored fighter, also had a WBA official working his corner.
In addition, Fox’s corner noticed that Maestre’s gloves had been illegally taped. When pointed out before the fight, the referee forced the Maestre corner to fix the tape while also asking how the gloves had been approved in such a state.
The WBA has also been in the news recently after Mendoza announced that they would reduce their number of title belts. The WBA’s sanctioning fee-chasing behavior was on display for Fox vs. Maestre, with an interim title on the line despite also having Yordenis Ugas as their super champion and Jamal James as “regular” champion.
There are currently 44 men holding either a super, regular or interim WBA championship across boxing’s 17 weight classes.
