Bradley, Chaves fight to a controversial draw

LAS VEGAS – A draw?

Timothy Bradley didn’t see it, not from a left eye that was nearly swollen shut and not from an undamaged right eye.

But the judges saw their own way, or three ways to be exact. Put their cards together and the result was a controversial draw with Diego Chaves in an HBO-televised bout at The Cosmopolitan.

“I thought I won the fight clearly,’’ said Bradley (31-2-1, 12 KOs), whose eye was left badly swollen from a couple of head butts in the second. “But the judges saw it different.’’

Only judge Burt Clements agreed with Bradley. He scored it 115-113 for the welterweight from Palm Springs, Calif. Craig Metcalfe had it 114-114. Meanwhile, Julie Lederman had it 116-112 for Chaves (23-2-1, 19 KOs).

The Lederman card angered Bradley promoter Bob Arum, who proceeded to rip the daughter of HBO’s Harold Lederman

Arum would have been okay with a two-point edge for Chaves. He would have argued with a 114-114 score. But, he said, reasonable people can disagree. Lederman’s card, he said was beyond reason.

“The disparity of some of these cards makes all of us look insane,’’ Arum said.

Arum argued that there was incompetency among the judges, because there weren’t enough good ones available because of a busy night when the Nevada Commission had to regulate two major cards, the Top Rank show at The Cosmopolitan and the rival one promoted by Golden Boy at the MGM Grand.

“It shouldn’t have been allowed,’’ said Arum, who also said the Nevada Commission does anything the MGM Grand asks it to.

Arum and the MGM Grand began feuding last April before Bradley lost to Manny Pacquiao. That was a rematch of Bradley’s hugely controversial decision over Pacquiao.

When asked to compare the scorecards from Bradley-Pacquiao I to Bradley -Chaves, Arum said:

“Just as bad.”

But, he also said, that it could be done again.

“Maybe there could be rematch,’’ he said.

But it’s safe to assume it would be without Julie Lederman at a ringside that would be just about anywhere but the MGM Grand.

Before the Bradley-Chaves controversy, Matt Korobov’s own skillset got short-circuited by a sudden surge of power from Andy Lee.

Korobov (24-1, 13 KOs) appeared to be on his way ta o solid decision and the WBO’s vacant middleweight title. Going into the sixth round, the Russian led on all three scorecards. On two, he was pitching a shutout.

What could go wrong? Plenty. Aft a bout a minute in the sixth round had passed, Lee (34-2, 24 KOs) unloaded. First, a left. Then, a right. Boom, double-boom

Korobov hit the canvas and those scorecards landed at the bottom of a nearby trashcan. Referee Kenny Bayless ended it at 1:10 of the round.

“Tough to describe,’’ said Lee, an Irishman from Limerick who once had the late Emanuel Steward as his trainer. “When i thought about this moment, i had a speech in mind. I would like to say thank you to my manager who has done so much for me over the last couple of years.

“But it’s also for the man who made me, Emanuel Steward. We spent seven, eight years together and he said I would win a world title.

“His wife Marie came here today, flew all the way from Detroit.’’

Some of her late husband’s power must have flown with her. For Lee, it landed just in time.

Jose Benavidez Jr. went a distance he had never traveled and to a place he had he had never been. It was trip he had envisioned while growing up in Phoenix. It was a kid’s dream.

But it’s not kid’s stuff anymore.

He’s grown up and the dream is reality.

Benavidez (22-0, 15 KOs) has a world title. It’s interim. But aren’t they all? More significant, the 22-year-old stamped himself as world class.

He did it in a stunner and amid controversy, upsetting Mauricio Herrera (21-5, 7 KOs) for a version of the World Boxing Association’ junior-welterweight title Saturday night in an HBO-televised fight at The Cosmopolitan.

Benavidez’ victory was something of a surprise to everyone but him. He won a unanimous decision that was booed by many in the crowd and condemned by Herrera, who believed he had outworked a young fighter that Top Rank signed when he was a 17-year-old prodigy.

Judges Max De Luca and Eric Cheek both scored it 116-112. Dave Moretti had it 117-111. All for Benavidez.

“Everything I threw – jabs, uppercuts, body shots, — was landing,’’ Benavidez said after going 12 rounds for the first time in his career. “He was aggressive, but I was catching him with everything I threw as he came in at me.’’

Herrara, a Golden Boy Promotions fighter, took the attack to Benavidez from the beginning. In the opening round, Herrera rocked Benavidez with a combination.

But Benavidez, who had never gone beyond eight rounds before Saturday night, appeared to make some subtle adjustments. He was content to sit on the ropes throughout the first three rounds. But he began to circle into the center of the ring in the middle rounds. That’s where he was the most effective, especially with his long photogenic jab.

“I outworked him,’’ said a frustrated Herrera, who had a nasty bruise beneath his left eye. “I did all of the work.’’

Herrera threw more punches, 870 to Benavidez’ 647, according to the punch stats. He landed five more punches, 255-to-250. But Benavidez was more accurate, landing 39 percent to Herrera’s 33 percent.

“I want a rematch,’’ Herrera said. “Of course, I want a rematch.’’

Controversy over the scorecards might lead to one. But that too would be a professional first for Benavidez, a prospect no more.

On the undercard

Egidijus Kavaliauskas, an accomplished amateur in Lithuania now being trained by Robert Gracia in Oxnard, Calif., pushed his pro record as a junior-welterweight to 9-0 with his eighth knockout, a second round stoppage of Jaime Herrera (12-3, 7 KOs) of Frnaklin Park, Ill.

New York light-heavyweight Sean Monaghan, a former bricklayer, continued to build his record, victory-by-victory to an unbeaten 23-0 with is 15th knockout, a second-round KO of Hungarian Daniel Regi (20-12, 9 KOs).

It was a majority draw. It was mostly dull, too. Canadian welterweight Mikael Zewski (26-0-1, 20 KOs) stayed unbeaten, but not untied against Jeremy Bryan (17-4, 7 KOs) of Patterson, NJ.

Junior-welterweight Jose Ramirez (13-0, 10 KOs), a 2012 Olympian, continued his promising apprenticeship, scoring a sixth-round TKO of Anthony Arellano (7-3-1, 3 KOs) of San Ysidro, Calif.

Russian lightweight Denis Shafikov (35-1-1, 18 KOs), now of Los Angeles, kept himself in position for a mandatory shot at the IBF tilte held by Mickey Bey with a unanimous decision over Miguel Angel Mendoza (21-5-2, 21 KOs) of Mexico.