Bernard Hopkins, Manny Pacquiao: Boxing's 10 Most Controversial Fights

Boxing controversy has always existed. Actually, boxing might just be the sport with the most controversy. In the past few weeks, we've heard many well-know names associated with controversial fight results: Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Bernard Hopkins.

A few weeks ago, Floyd Mayweather Jr. knocked out Victor Ortiz in a controversial way. Then, on October 15th, Dawson won a controversial WBC title after wrestling with Bernard Hopkins. 

Manny Pacquiao will be fighting Juan Manuel Marquez in November for the third chapter of their rivalry. The first two fights between the warrior duo ended in controversy.

Where do these controversies rank on the all-time list of boxing's controversial fights? 

Here’s the Top 10.

Honorable Mention to Leonard Dorin, Juan Manuel Marquez and Felix Sturm

Before moving on with our top-ten of the most controversial fights, here are three boxing matches who just missed the cut.

Leonard Dorin vs. Paul Spadafora (2003)

The fight resulted in a draw but Leonard Dorin completely dominated the hometown hero, Paul Spadafora.

Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez (2004)

Manny Pacquiao won the fighteven though Juan Manuel Marquez landed more punches and power punches than him.

Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Sturm (2004)

CompuBox numbers designated Felix Sturm as the winner, but the judges awarded the unanimous decision to Oscar De La Hoya.

No. 10: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Shane Mosley (2003)

Shane Mosley offered Oscar De La Hoya a rematch, after the first fight ended in a split decision in favor of Mosley back in 2000.

Shane Mosley won by unanimous decision, and the judges had the same scorecard of 115-113.

However, De La Hoya seemed like the best man in the ring. He was more active and physical—everyone at the MGM could see this. Even Mosley was shocked when the judges announced that he had won this fight by unanimous decision.

Stats don’t lie, right?

The CompuBox recorded 221 landed punches by De La Hoya. In revenge, Mosley only landed 127 of them.

Former boxing champion George Foreman later said that the decision by the judges was terrible, and he thought De La Hoya was the clear winner of that fight.

No. 9: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Victor Ortiz (2011)

Floyd Mayweather won in a controversial way in the fourth round. Victor Ortiz, who had won 12 of his previous 13 fights by knockout, was playing dirty early on in this fight.

Ortiz was losing this fight and went with a straight headbutt to Mayweather. Once the two men were back in the middle of the ring, Ortiz began to apologize to Mayweather. Did he want to hug him or what?

Ortiz then learned a basic rule in boxing: Protect yourself at all times.

Mayweather made sure that he will remember the lesson by knocking him out with hard shots while he was trying to apologize. Mayweather won by KO in the fourth round.

After the fight, Larry Merchant interviewed Mayweather. The champion didn’t like Merchant's insistence that Mayweather’s shot might have been a cheap one.

The undefeated boxer had heard enough. He told Merchant that HBO should fire him and left the interview.

No. 8: Eric Lucas vs. Markus Beyer (2003)

Eric Lucas was defending his WBC title in Germany against Markus Beyer. Lucas had been the aggressor in every round and clearly won this fight to anyone who saw it.

At the end of the fight, Beyer had the look of a boxer who lost.

However, his manager jumped in the ring and asked him to raise his hands in the air as a winner would do. His coach then took him on his shoulders. It was really suspicious.

The judges then announced that Beyer had won by split decision. The WBC ordered a rematch, but it never happened.

No. 7: Marvin Hagler vs. Sugar Ray Leonard (1997)

Marvin Hagler had not lost a single bout in 11 years. However, in 1987, he convinced Sugar Ray Leonard to come out of retirement for a duel.

Marvin Hagler was the aggressor for the entire fight, while Leonard was not doing much more than throwing a few counter punches.

Hagler couldn’t believe the final result.

One judge had him as a 115-113 winner, while the other had the opposite. However, the most surprising card was the one of judge Jose Juan Guerra. He had a 118-110 scorecard in favor of Sugar Ray Leonard.

How did he come up with that kind of card when Haggler had been the aggressor for 12 rounds?

I have no idea, but Hagler was so disgusted that he said he would never fight again. Indeed, he never got back in the ring.

No. 6: Bernard Hopkins vs. Chad Dawson (2011)

Bernard Hopkins, the oldest champion ever, tried to write history again by facing Chad Dawson. 

Chad Dawson had a slight advantage in the first round. However, things were pretty quiet. It started to get more physical in the second round.

Bernard Hopkins has always been known for using every possible ugly trick to have the edge in a fight. He likes to use the headbutt, wrestle and lean his body weight on his opponents.

However, Dawson caught him at his own game.

In the second round, Hopkins was climbing on Dawson’s back, and Dawson decided it was enough. He threw him away from him like in a wrestling match. Hopkins dislocated his shoulder and decided to do some acting while he was down in the ring.

The referee saw enough to decide that it was not a foul, and that Hopkins couldn’t continue. After all, Hopkins tried to persuade all of us so hard that it hurt so badly.

Dawson was awarded the win by TKO.

No. 5: Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Jose Luis Castillo (2002)

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was outboxed, according to the CompuBox.

Indeed, Castillo landed over 200 punches, while Mayweather didn’t reach the 150 mark. Castillo even dominated the power punches with a difference of more than 100 in power punches landed.

Floyd Mayweather received two cards of 115-111 and one of 116-111 for the unanimous decision. When the results were announced, the fans booed and were shocked.

A few months later, Mayweather won the rematch. The scorecards were closer (115-113 twice and 116-113 once), but the fight was not controversial.

No. 4: Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez (2008)

Manny Pacquiao sent Juan Manuel Marquez down once, but the rest of the fight was dictated by Marquez.

Juan Manuel Marquez won in every category, including power punches. He was more active and landed more punches, landing two times more punches than Pacquiao in the second round.

In the eighth round, Marquez was even more dominating and landed four times more punches than Pacquiao. The final round was easily won by Marquez, but judge Duane Ford gave the decisive round to Pacquiao.

HBO's scorecard gave seven rounds to Marquez. Still, judges awarded a split decision in favor of Manny Pacquiao.

No. 3: Lucian Bute vs. Librado Andrade (2008)

Lucian Bute dominated this whole fight. However, in the last round, Andrade was able to hit Bute right on and knocked him down. What happened in the following seconds was a disgrace to boxing.

What you will see in this video is probably the longest countdown ever. The referee kept finding excuses not to start the count. He asked Andrade several times to stay in his corner—maybe Andrade should have sat down in the stands for the referee to start counting.

The 10-second count ended up as a 21-second count.

Even with the unbelievably long count, Bute should have been declared unable to continue this fight. When the bell rang, he didn’t even know where to go to get in his corner. The referee had to show him the way.

This fight should have never reached the scorecards.

Lucian Bute won this fight by unanimous decision. Andrade was awarded a rematch in 2009, and Bute easily defeated him.

No. 2: Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad (1999)

Felix Trinidad faced Oscar De La Hoya for what many called “The Fight of the Millennium." Both fighters were unbeaten at that time.

Oscar De La Hoya landed 263 punches, while Trinidad barely reached 100 (116 to be exact). It was a true boxing lesson, and De La Hoya was the star in the ring.

However, the Golden Boy lost the fight. Two cards had Trinidad as the winner (115-113, 115-114), and another had a draw.

Trinidad didn’t land a punch (or barely) from rounds nine to 12. De La Hoya couldn’t believe the decision. He later declared that he knew he had won this fight and had given a boxing lesson to his opponent.

No. 1: Roy Jones Jr. vs. Park Si Hun (1988)

Roy Jones Jr. was a great professional boxer, but he was as good as an amateur. In the Olympics final in Seoul, Jones easily defeated hometown favorite Park Si Hun. They were fighting for the gold medal in the light middleweight division.

Roy Jones Jr. landed 86 punches versus only 32 for Si Hun. However, the South Korean received the gold medal by a score of 3-2.

How did this happen?

A Moroccan judge finally came out of the closet and said what he did. He admitted to the media that Jones was the winner, but he gave the win to Park Si Hun because he thought everyone else would give the win to Jones. He didn’t want the hometown hero to lose 5-0 in front of his peers.

It is such a great act of generosity, or maybe even of compassion.

It seems like two other judges had pity for Park Si Hun. Si Hun was man enough to apologize to Jones for the decision. However, it wasn’t his fault.

Blame Hiduad Larbi, Bob Kasule and Alberto Duran for being too charitable.