BARRANQUILLA, Colombia – Colombian judges Martin and Leonel Mercado have been suspended for life as a result of their highly controversial scoring in last Saturday night’s World Boxing Organisation (WBO) title fight between home fighter Irene Pacheco and Guyana’s Leon Moore.

The third judge and most ringsiders thought Moore won, but judges Martin and Leonel Mercado, who are brothers, scored Pacheco a winner, giving the Colombian victory by a split decision at the Elias Chegwin Coliseum.

“This is fantastic news,” Moore’s manager Sam Layne told CMC Sport Thursday afternoon.

The previously unbeaten Moore received a winning verdict 115-113 on judge Manuel Arroyo’s card, but Martin Mercado (115-113) and Leonel Mercado (116-113) swung the bout in favour of the home fighter.

Moore had Pacheco on the verge of being knocked out in the 11th round and Layne believes the local authorities should be credited for taking what he considers proper action against the judges, who came up with a verdict fraught with prejudice for the home fighter.

“Obviously there has been a great outcry in Colombia among the spectators who watched the fight, along with the press who watched the fight,” Layne said.

Speaking to CMC Sport from Florida where he attended the WBO Convention this week, Layne said Moore showed a lot of quality in the fight and it was astonishing that the judges could have scored Pacheco the winner.

“The guy Irene Pacheco was a great champion and Leon comprehensively defeated him, almost knocking him out in the 11th round. The guy was (even) resorting to illegal tactics hitting low after the fourth round,” Layne said.

Layne was so outraged and stunned by the judges’ ruling, that he quickly lodged a protest to the authorities.

“After it was announced that Leon lost the fight by split decision, I immediately, within five minutes of the (end of the) fight, had my protest in to the WBO,” he said.

The suspension of judges -- Martin and Leonel Mercado -- in such a case is rare in professional boxing and Layne is pushing for more action over the controversial fight.

He would like to see the decision overturned or at least have a rematch a neutral venue.

“My primary objection was to have the fight overruled. We would like an immediate rematch to show that Leon is a true champion (but) I would like to see the loss on Leon’s record removed, so I would like to see the result overturned or (made) null and void,” Layne said.
 
The result was the first career defeat for the 27-year-old Moore, who slipped to 16-1 (15 knockouts) in his career. Pacheco improved to 33 wins (24 knockouts) against one defeat.

The 35-year-old Pacheco is a former International Boxing Federation (IBF) flyweight champion. He moved up from that 112-pound division after losing the title in December 2004 to Vic Darchinyan in Florida.

The Pacheco-Moore bout was labelled an interim world title fight by the WBO because a decision is pending on the status of its current champion Jhonny Gonzalez, of Mexico.

Gonzalez moved up to the 122-pound super-bantamweight division and lost a World Boxing Council (WBC) title fight to Israel Vazquez on September 16, and it is unclear whether he will remain as the WBO champion.

Pacheco is now considered the WBO champion-in-waiting until a decision is made Gonzalez’s status.