BoxRec

Just reading a story on Lionel in the Lionel Rose thread and was shocked to learn that the Alan Rudkin decision was a split decision. I remember the fight and thought Lionel won 14 rounds quite easily and was lucky not to be KOed in the last. That was my memory. And Ron Walden gave the decision to Rudkin. OK you can have a bad night. So with nothing better to do I researched him and found one other fight, Pappy Gault V Jimmy Carruthers where he scored 150 to 82 thats @ 5 points per round for the challenger. WTF.



date fighter lbs rating opponent lbs rating location rounds
1969-03-08 Lionel Rose 118 39.00
W
Alan Rudkin 117¾ 22.99 Kooyong Tennis Stadium, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia SD 15/15
referee: Vic Patrick 70-63 | Ray Mitchell 75-60 | Ron Walden 69-70
World Boxing Council World Bantam Title
World Boxing Association World Bantam Title
Commonwealth (British Empire) Bantam Title
1953-11-13 Jimmy Carruthers 117½ 65.87
W
Pappy Gault 117¾ 5.307 Sydney Sports Ground, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia UD 15/15
referee: Harry (Toot) Mack | Jack English 150-106 | Sir Frank Packer 150-111 | Ron Walden 150-82
World Bantamweight Title
Attendance about 40, 000 (also reported at 32, 500).

Ron Walden was not the "Lone Ranger" in dubious scoring that night as Ray Mitchell was also a judge in the world WBA/WBC bantamweight championship when Lionel Rose defended his title against Alan Rudkin in Melbourne, Victoria, on March 8, 1969.

After fifteen closely contested rounds, the decision was split with referee and judge Vic Patrick scoring 70-63 for Rose. Judge Ron Walden had Rudkin winning 70-69. Mitchell had it a shutout, giving Rose every round 75-60. Mitchell later explained his scoring when he said his acute eyesight gave him the advantage of seeing every punch thrown.

Remember it well and Vic Patrick's tally was the closest to the actual events. Lionel boiled down to make the weight, and this went against him in the latter rounds as Rudkin pressed home. But in the earlier rounds Rose was totally on top and was outclassing Rudkin.

Despite his rather inexplicit boxing scoring, Ron Walden did have a distinguished career as a policeman who rose through the ranks to become Chief of the New South Wales Criminal Investigation Branch. As Superintendent Ron Walden he had a senior role in the investigation in the infamous 1960 kidnapping of Sydney schoolboy Graeme Thorne.

Ron was also a Wallaby with 4 tests and represented NSW 24 times.

Great back story Thanks. but that sill leaves the Pappy Gault score bizarre in a way

So how do we account for Ron's total shutout of Pappy on his scorecard?

From all accounts Pappy was totally outclassed by Jimmy, and a former work colleague who saw the fight mentioned that Pappy never won a round.

A clue may be in who were the promoters - see below. Ron was high up in the NSW Police Force at the time and the Police Boys Clubs came under the auspices of the NSW Police. Also fellow judge Sir Frank Packer was a very generous supporter of the Police Boys Clubs.

So was the selection of the judges a case of "jobs for the boys?" Possibly so, and maybe Ron was overcome by the police involvement on the night and over favoured the home town fighter. Who really knows as it was so long ago.

Sorry to stick my nose in here but what method of scoring did they use?
Newspaper reports say Carruthers won at least 13 of the 15 rounds but winning by nearly 70 points must mean a strange scoring method.

yeah I know right