By Gerardo Granados: A lot of times we disagree with the decision of the fight judges, some times we get to see some absurd scoring. There have been times that the judges were looking at different fights at the same time, one can score 120-108 and the other judge score the same fight a draw, most of the times the scores are closer but one judge will see a fighter win and the other judge will see the other fighter win. Maybe there are a couple of boxing fans who always score a fight because it is quite fun to do and to compare the result to the official score cards but the majority of fans don’t do so.
A part of boxing is to know how to properly score a fight; most of the casual boxing fans don’t know how a boxing fight must be scored so let’s give them a hint. First you have to be aware of the technical and tactical aspects of a boxing match to score a fight properly but if you don’t know that much then score it under the ten must system that has four main aspects to qualify a fight. To make it simpler this are the rules for the ones that aren’t interested to search the rules in the web:
When fighter “x” outboxes his rival he gets 10 points and fighter “z” 9 points.
When both fighters are consider to have drawn that round you will score the round 10 points for each fighter.
If “x” fighter gets floored he will be scored 8, if he gets floored twice in the same round then 7 and so on (the Pacquiao vs. Marquez fight may be a good example), if he gets an standing eight count he gets 8 and fighter “z” who score the knockdown gets 10 points in that round.
When a fighter doesn’t obey the rules (low blows for example) he will get penalized by the referee deducting him 1 point at a time. You will find no problems on this one because you will be aware when the referee instruct the judges to deduct a point.
The fighter can win by Unanimous Decision – three judges see “x” win, Split Decision – two judges score “x” as the winner and one judge score “z” as the winner, Majority Decision – two judges score “x” as the winner and one judge scores it a draw, Unanimous Draw – when the three judges scores it a draw, Majority Draw – when two judges scores it a draw and one judge scores as a winner any of the opponents, Technical Decision – when due an accidental head butt for example the fight is stopped before the final round then the winner is the one who is ahead in the score card.
I know that for some hard core boxing fans this is obvious but let’s remember that not all fans know this.
How often do you score a fight? The vast majority of us don’t get the chance to attend to the big fights and less to be at the ring side to appreciate the beauty of the sport. Most of us will catch the fight on television but that is enough to appreciate who won the fight. When we score the fight we all are giving an appreciation and it might differ from the one who is sit aside. Some will give more valors to the defensive skills and others will consider that the power punches are more valuable but the truth is that we should base our decision in four aspects: first effective aggression, second ring generalship, third defense (I guess this is not highly valuated by most) and fourth clean and hard punching.
In a close combat some will appreciate more the defensive skills others the amount of punches connected and the rest the power punches, but in the end we all might have a different opinion. For some Pernell Whitaker was robbed when he fought Julio Cesar Chavez (draw) and others might believe it was a good call. Marvin Haggler was convinced that he was robbed by Sugar Ray Leonard but the judges did not have time to review the tape to see who really won. For some Marcos Maidana was wrongfully awarded a victory against Erik Morales but the judges saw “Chino” won. In a close fight it is hard to score properly.
Let’s choose a fight next weekend and then compare it with the official score card or even share the scores with fellow bloggers to see if we all can agree on the winner; maybe scoring a fight is not that simple after all.
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