just a question regarding judges and thier criteria. I was watching a couple of fights with UK commentators (can’t remember the fights) who said it was a close fight but 2 judges are American and they favor high volume punchers regardless of whether it is effective of not. Is this a nationalistic bias based in ignorance or is there some evidence that judges of various ethnic/national regions score fights differently than judges from other ones? Are they trained/taught differently in regards to where they learned the ins and outs of scoring boxing matches? I have never gone back and reviewed a judges history to see if preferences or biases are consistently a part of how they score? Anybody with thoughts, ideas or research? Or links?
It is a commonly held belief in the UK that US judges give more emphasis and thus more reward to the fighter who is the more aggressive.
I hear this from time to time, I am just not sure if there is evidence to confirm this or even show a trend. Or if it is just a nationalistic bias, or perception of others nationalistic biases. Maybe I need to start reviewing boxing judging history rather than doing another p4p list
I review judges history for big fights, and called BS on the selection of Judges for Golovkin vs Canelo 1. The promoter should NEVER pick the judges. Let it be a random draw of 20 names or so the day before the fight. This way things will be harder to " fix ", and promoters won't " judge shop " to pick judges who has a history of supporting his fighters style. You can a judges history at box rec. I'd also add that punch stats by itself is over better than at least one of the judges selected, sometimes all three of them on fights where there were no knockdown and no body was hurt.
I think historically the European judging generally favored the “boxer” whereas the US judges favored aggression more. A fighter coming forward perhaps getting the benefit of the doubt. What’s clear to me now in 2018 is that the judges here just favor the guy who is bigger business not necessarily a specific boxer or puncher style. I guess that’s because there are less “stars” and certain future events that will generate more money need to be preserved. I’m so jaded that these days I often predict bad judging and have found myself being right very often.
Can you pinpoint any examples? Of that bias being factual or is this just a generalized opinion or hypothesis prior to delving into it? Not trying to be argumentative but rather wanting a fuller understanding. Perhaps this is why I judge fights a certain way? Maybe I prefer aggression to a degree (I wouldn’t stereotype myself that way, but maybe?) and scored Mancini over Camacho. I also think I favor counter punching, body shots:infighting etc. in others
I’ve just read that is/was kind of s preferred style in Europe among fans and judges and being the opposite in America. In recent years there’s been an abundance of bad decisions where the guy the promoters wanted to win, won. I’ve seen Broner get a lot of favoritism, Canelo to name another. Ward-Kovalev went against the usual stereotype of Las Vegas judging for example.
Ward vs Kovalev seems a hard fight to score (I watched it but don’t think I scored it on a RBR basis)....seems to have wide and varied opinions with cards ranging from +5 for one guy to +3 for the other..... EditorialEdit Associated Press: 116–111, Kovalev[17] Las Vegas Review-Journal: 116–112, Kovalev[18] ESPN: 115–112, Kovalev[5] The Guardian: 115–112, Kovalev[19] Boxing Monthly: 114–113, Kovalev[20] Los Angeles Times: 114–113, Ward[21] New York Post: 114–113, Ward[22] The Ring: 114–113, Ward[23] USA Today: 114–113, Ward[24] Yahoo! Sports: 114–113, Ward[25] Journalists and commentatorsEdit Harold Lederman, HBO Sports: 116–111, Kovalev[19] Thomas Hauser, The Sweet Science: 115–113, Kovalev[9] Stephen A. Smith, ESPN: 114–113 Kovalev[26] Max Kellerman, HBO Sports: 114–113, Kovalev[27] Tony Bellew, Sky Sports: 114–114[28] Paulie Malignaggi, Sky Sports: 116–112, Ward[28][29] Paul Smith, Sky Sports: 116–113, Ward[28][30] Matthew Macklin, Sky Sports: 115–113, Ward[28] Branson Wright, The Plain Dealer: 114–113, Ward[31]
Just chiming in. IMO, at least in the past, there weren't a lot of 'big bangers' in Europe, at any weight; many fights were 'chess matches' so to speak, which may have made it more difficult to score. Harry Gibbs comes to mind. Often he was the sole judge in England bouts, often giving one fighter a quarter point victory which, more often than not, was not challenged.
