How can boxing decisions be improved?

Discussion in 'British Boxing Forum' started by Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011.


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  1. Vano-Irons

    Vano-Irons Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    Ok so we were all pissed off with the Lara - Williams decision the weekend. How any judge could have scored it a draw is beyond me, let alone have it in Paul's favour. It's not as if it's the first time. Just a few weeks ago we have Devon Alexander gifted a decision against Mattysse. Then we have high profile bull**** decisions like Lewis - Holyfield 1. The list is endless.

    So, what can be done to improve this faulty system? Would it be a better idea to have 5 judges instead of 3. That way, if 1 judge is grossly out of line with the scores (Sturm winning by 4 rounds against Macklin for instance), they would be overruled by the others?

    Or would it be better for the judges to be scrapped altogether in favour of a CompuBox-type system, with the fighter who lands most punches in the round be awarded the round? But this would be a problem as 'classier' work would not be awarded. Say for instance Fighter X outlands Fighter Y by 5 punches, but Fighter Y landed high quality punches rather than a plodding jab. Quality punches wouldn't therefore be awarded.

    Would an Olympic style system be better, with whoever lands the most punches in the entire fight wins the bout outright, regardless of rounds.

    Should judges be scrapped in favour of Sport Journalist opinion at ringside as these would be less open to corruption?

    Of these four ideas, I'd favour the 5 judge system, but it's still a system which could be open to 'misinterpretation' (ie we could still see bull**** decisions awarded). But more judges would mean an individual scorecard would be 'less powerful', and the scorecards that are way off the mark will be overruled by the others. I also think judges should be made to justify EVERY fight they score, not just controversial ones.

    Any other thoughts?
     
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
    #1
  2. icemax

    icemax Indian Red Full Member

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    15 or 20 round championship fights were the challenger has to stop the champ to take his title....old school
     
    icemax, Jul 11, 2011
    icemax, Jul 11, 2011
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  3. Claypole

    Claypole Boxing Addict banned

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    Any sport where the winner can be decided by people making subjective decisions is always going have controversial outcomes. It's fair enough that some judges have different opinions to others, but I think in boxing a lot of the obviously bad verdicts are the result of blatant corruption.

    I don't think any kind of punch counting system would help matters, boxers would simply box to satisfy the system, rather than actually fight (like they do in the amatures). Also, I don't think judges are particularly good at determining when a punch lands or not, let alone whether it was hard enough to count. Plus, it's still open to abuse.

    Open scoring, where the scores are shown after every 4 rounds could be one way to go, but I fear it would change the way fighters box too much. Also, still open to abuse.

    Unfortunately, as long as people can be corrupted, (or at least make mistakes) we are stuck with bad decisions in boxing. Even if somebody came up with a fair and virtually infallable system of scoring fights, you can bet that a brown envelope full of money will ensure it never happens.
     
    Claypole, Jul 11, 2011
    Claypole, Jul 11, 2011
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  4. Gullet

    Gullet Active Member Full Member

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    How about havinh 10 judges say its 6 judges score it 10-9 and the other 4 9-10 it would be a 10-9 round to the first fighter?
     
    Gullet, Jul 11, 2011
    Gullet, Jul 11, 2011
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  5. BoxingAnalyst

    BoxingAnalyst Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    Start by getting rid of Ian-John Lewis. He is the worst of the worst.
     
    BoxingAnalyst, Jul 11, 2011
    BoxingAnalyst, Jul 11, 2011
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  6. BrummyLad

    BrummyLad Sergio Kun Aguero Full Member

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    For me there should be 5 judges all sat seperatly around the ring, they each must all send there scores for each round individually by computer with a brief reason why they scored it to the given fighter. That would be a more concise and accurate way of judging imho.
     
    BrummyLad, Jul 11, 2011
    BrummyLad, Jul 11, 2011
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  7. Claypole

    Claypole Boxing Addict banned

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    Having more judges seem like a good idea, how about an interactive thing on tv, like "Push the red button to vote now".

    More judges would simply mean more people to "look after". It would be too expensive...
     
    Claypole, Jul 11, 2011
    Claypole, Jul 11, 2011
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  8. SteelTownCobra

    SteelTownCobra Guest

    47 judges.
     
    SteelTownCobra, Jul 11, 2011
    SteelTownCobra, Jul 11, 2011
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  9. jpab19

    jpab19 Exploding Muffin Dad Full Member

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    My suggestion would be that commissions fine/take disciplinary action against grossly incompetent judges. They do it for fighters, they should do it for the people scoring the bout too. Of course, the main problem is that the commissions are as corrupt as the officials judging the fight, so it'd never work.
     
    jpab19, Jul 11, 2011
    jpab19, Jul 11, 2011
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  10. Vano-Irons

    Vano-Irons Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    That's a good idea. Have a point system for judges, and the ones who are the worst get relegated from the bigger fights. The ones who consistently perform the best get to officiate the big title fights. But I suppose this only pushes the problem further down the line
     
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
    #10
  11. Vano-Irons

    Vano-Irons Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    Very good idea having the judges sit away from each other. Why this ist being done I don't no. They def should have to justify each round the scored, but I'd say do that at the end of the fight rather than during it.
     
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
    #11
  12. SteelTownCobra

    SteelTownCobra Guest

    :huh
     
    SteelTownCobra, Jul 11, 2011
    SteelTownCobra, Jul 11, 2011
    #12
  13. Vano-Irons

    Vano-Irons Obsessed with Boxing banned

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    They would be less inclined to be influenced by the other two around them.

    Or was that :huh emotion because they already sit away from each other?
     
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
    Vano-Irons, Jul 11, 2011
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  14. SteelTownCobra

    SteelTownCobra Guest

    They do don't they?
     
    SteelTownCobra, Jul 11, 2011
    SteelTownCobra, Jul 11, 2011
    #14
  15. GazOC

    GazOC Guest Star for Team Taff Full Member

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    They do, they're on 3 sides of the ring.
     
    GazOC, Jul 11, 2011
    GazOC, Jul 11, 2011
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