Bettors calls for refund after controversial Canelo-GGG result

The controversial split draw in Saturday’s middleweight championship bout between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin in Las Vegas — featuring an egregious 118-110 scorecard for Alvarez by judge Adelaide Byrd — left many including Glolovkin and his fans feeling robbed by the decision.

Apparently they weren’t the only ones.

Long lines formed at Las Vegas sportsbooks after the decision with bettors looking for refunds, including one as large as $500,000 for Golovkin at the MGM Grand, according to ESPN. Those who made straight (win/lose) bets on either fighter were refunded because of the draw, unlike the wagers on the method-of-victory prop bets.

Not only were fans who bet Golovkin unhappy because they felt the disputed decision robbed them of a large payday, but Caesars Palace reported taking a six-figure loss on the draw.

“There were some long lines, with some of the customers happy to get their money back and others disappointed,” Frank Kunovic, director of specialty games at Caesars Palace, told ESPN. “They weren’t yelling at us, but I think they were frustrated like we were about the decision.

“We opened the draw at around 30-1 and closed at 16-1, so we got hurt on that.”

Based upon the number of bets that came in, many sportsbooks were cheering for a Golovkin win, similar to Las Vegas badly needing Floyd Mayweather to defeat Conor McGregor just three weeks earlier based on how many bets came in for the heavy underdog from the UFC.

“We needed GGG by decision,” Jay Rood, vice president of MGM race and sports, said. “The draw was a big swing for us.”

Golovkin, 35, closed Saturday as a -200 favorite at MGM sportsbooks. Alvarez finished as a +160 underdog.
“We took a lot of late money on GGG,” South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrew said. “And those guys feel like they got robbed.”

Overall, roughly one third of the amount of bets that were placed on Mayweather-McGregor were made for Saturday’s Alvarez-Golovkin bout statewide.

“A lot of people got refunds,” Westgate SuperBook vice president Jay Kornegay said. “But thank God it wasn’t a Mayweather-McGregor draw. We’d be refunding for a week.”

In addition to Byrd’s 118-110 scorecard for Alvarez, judge Dave Moretti had it 115-113 for Golovkin and Don Trella scored it 114-114.

Nevada State Athletic Commission executive director Bob Bennett, who took plenty of heat from the media after the bout for expressing confidence in Byrd’s abilities despite a somewhat shaky past. Pressed by reporters, Bennett finally announced Byrd will be asked to take “a small break” from major fights.

“I’m not going to put her right back in,” Bennett said. “She’ll still be in the business, but she needs to catch her breath.”

Bennett also said he plans to sit down with Byrd and rewatch the fight in order to get her perspective on each round.

“Like in any profession, you have a bad night,” Bennett said. “Unfortunately, she didn’t do well. I can tell you she conducts training for us, takes judges under her wing, but her score was too wide.”

Source: Brian Campbell| CBS