Even in a year chock-full of garbage judging, Gabriel Maestre’s unanimous decision “victory” over Mykal Fox last Saturday stands out, and it looks like the situation’s only going to get uglier from here. Members of the boxing media soon discovered that Gloria Martinez Rizzo, who turned the most egregious scorecard (117-110 for Maestre), has a history of racism and a conflict of interest.
BloodyElbow has a rundown of the controversy, so here’s some Cliffs Notes.
BoxingScene’s Corey Erdman compiled a thread of her lowlights, which include calling former first lady Michelle Obama “monkey face” and demanding the death of Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors. Erdman also confirmed that the account, which was deleted after this content was unearthed, belonged to Martinez, as the WBA had previously tagged her when granting her “Female Judge of the Year” in 2019.
These aren’t ancient Tweets, either; these were just last year.
In addition, Dan Canobbio revealed that she’s married to WBA executive Ricardo Rizzo, and PBC’s Marcos Villegas claims that a WBA official was in Maestre’s corner. Maestre, a former Olympian, was the clear A-side, while Fox was a late-notice replacement for Cody Crowley.
WBA president Gilberto Mendoza claimed he’d “immediately” ordered a review of the fight and suggested a rematch would be ordered, but Mendoza is a lying, opportunistic piece of garbage and should never be trusted. He and his organization are shameless, pathetic grifters, and we can only hope that their brazen corruption will finally come back to bite them here.