While ESPN’s Teddy Atlas and Stephen A. Smith were fired up after the bout between Gennady Golovkin and Canelo Álvarez was deemed to be a split-decision draw, the executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission admitted that one of the three judges needs “a small break” from big fights.

Adalaide Byrd turned in a scorecard that had Álvarez winning 118-110, while Dave Moretti scored it 115-113 for Golovkin and Don Trella had it at 114-114.

“I’m not going to put her right back in,” Bob Bennett, the NAC executive director, told the Los Angeles Times. “She’ll still be in the business ... but she needs to catch her breath.”

Bennett went on to say that the judge, who has scored more than 100 title fights, had “a bad night” and that he plans to meet with her. “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.”

Both boxers’ promoters agreed, and the draw means that Golovkin retains his three middleweight belts. Naturally, the result sparks talk of — wait for it — a rematch, but few were happy with the final result.

“What was that?” Oscar De La Hoya, the promoter for Álvarez said. “People are scratching their heads. They’re confused.”

Tom Loeffler, Golovkin’s promoter, seemed to side with Atlas, saying, “Frankly, it is not good for the sport of boxing.”

This is not the first time, of course, that this has happened in the sport — even in a highly anticipated bout. Four years ago, C.J. Ross’s card gave Timothy Bradley an upset of Manny Pacquiao. She judged Álvarez’s fight against Floyd Mayweather that year and scored the bout, which the other judges gave to Mayweather by a large margin, to be a draw. Ross stepped down after that.

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• Cindy Boren, after spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead