It didn’t take long for fight fans to be reminded of why boxing is a dying sport. The new year was less than three days old when an apparent robbery took place in Japan, where Jose Navarro challenged Katsushige Kawashima for the World Boxing Council 115-pound title at Tokyo’s Ariake Coliseum Monday night.

I say “apparent” because I haven’t seen a tape of the fight yet. But every indication is that Navarro (a 2000 U.S. Olympian) got robbed.

To put things in context, Kawashima (now 28-3, 18 KO) has never fought outside Tokyo and Yokohama. He captured the WBC title last June, but 16 of his 28 opponents prior to that hadn’t won a single fight at the time he fought them. Navarro was unbeaten as a pro with 21 victories, nine by knockout.

Reports from ringside indicate that Navarro dominated the fight. He cut Kawashima above the right eye in Round 2 and landed consistently throughout the bout. After Round 6, the ring doctor visited the champion’s corner to determine if he was fit to continue. At fight’s end, Kawashima was drenched in his own blood.

“I knew I’d done enough to win the fight no matter how it was judged,” Navarro said afterward.

Then came the decision. Judge William Boodhoo of Canada scored the fight 120-109 in favor of Navarro. He awarded the challenger 11 rounds with one round even. But judges Gelasio Perez of Mexico and Noppharat Sricharoen of Thailand scored the bout 115-114 and 115-113 for Kawashima.

“I was in shock,” Navarro said. “In the back of my mind, I knew something like that could happen. But I had won the fight so convincingly, it didn’t seem possible. I can’t tell you how hard it was, walking out of the ring empty handed.”

That, of course, leads to the question: How can one judge give a fighter zero rounds when the other two judges claim he won the fight?

“When the two judges are corrupt,” said Navarro’s promoter, Lou DiBella.

“I haven’t even written 2005 on a piece of paper yet,” DiBella recalled hours after the fight, “and the filth of this business has already sullied the year. Jose worked tirelessly for this opportunity. He knew he was in hostile territory and he knew he needed to win convincingly. He did everything but knock Kawashima out, and he was robbed. The damage done by a decision like this to a kid like Jose is immeasurable, emotionally and financially. Decisions like this, which are condoned and sometimes encouraged by the world sanctioning organizations, are destroying the sport.”

So what’s the remedy?

DiBella plans to get a tape of the fight and run “punch-stats” on it. Next, Navarro will appeal to the WBC and request an immediate rematch. The WBC will then act in its own best interests. If there’s enough noise, the rematch will be granted.

It should be noted that DiBella claims, “The WBC knows the decision was a travesty because its own on-site supervisor congratulated Jose on winning the fight before the decision was announced.”

Either way, one or more of the judges in question is incompetent or corrupt and shouldn’t be allowed to judge again without significant retraining.

Meanwhile, athletic commissions here in the United States should end the practice of allowing the world sanctioning organizations to designate judges for championship fights. Federal prosecutors should take a long hard look at the conduct of the world sanctioning organizations in light of the Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act and criminal racketeering statutes. And Congress should pass the proposed legislation to create a federal boxing commission.