Scoring Questioned

A tabulation error made in Saturday’s WBC super lightweight title fight between Julio Cesar Chavez and Miguel Angel Gonzalez was a “mental lapse” that did not affect the outcome, WBC president Jose Sulaiman said Tuesday.

The draw between the boxers is highly controversial in Mexico, where newspaper headlines have complained that Chavez, a six-time world champion, was robbed. Boxing fans also have challenged the draw in the undercard fight between Ricardo Lopez and Rosendo Alvarez.

In the Chavez-Gonzalez fight, an error made by a WBC official in transcribing one judge’s scorecard was seen on television and brought to the council’s attention more than an hour after the fight, Sulaiman said.

In the sixth round, the tally sheet showed that American judge Chuck Hassett had given 10 points to Gonzalez and nine to Chavez. Hassett was the only one of the three judges to see the 12-round fight as a draw; if his points for the sixth round were not even, the fight would have gone to Gonzalez.

But Sulaiman said that in investigating the error, the WBC found that the scorecard Hassett turned in immediately after the sixth round had 10 points for both fighters.

Roberto Duran, 46 and thought to be retired, will try for another world boxing title this year, his agent and boxing officials announced.

Duran will try for the WBA middleweight title held by William Joppy in May or June, according to Duran’s agent, Luiz Spada. Spada said he hoped it would be June to give Duran time to prepare.