9-9 & 10-10 rounds

I've seen many even rounds, generally when neither fighter does anything relevant to win the round.

 

...m'boys. *sniffle*

 

This happens all the time and it's frustrating. It doesn't prevent intentional robberies but it would make scores more closely resemble how the fight went and prevent someone from being in an almost unwinnable situation in round 8 of a close 12 round fight.

I like automatic 10-8 rounds though. It creates interesting drama outside of KOs. Likewise I am skeptical of 10-8 rounds with no KD (or other deduction), since it reduces the incentive to stay up.

This is marginal though, if an outcome is going to be changed by one point then just the overall subjectivity of judging is likely to outweigh how you count KDs. There are more fights with 6 even rounds than there are 6 KDs in rounds otherwise won by the guy who went down.

It's so simple but the way people describe it is head spinning.

"It's not a 9-9 round it's a (10-1)-9 round so you add 9 points to fighter A and 9 points to fighter B."

 

I'm perfectly fine with scoring occasional 10-10 rounds. British judges seem to do it relatively frequently, but I don't think judges anywhere else in the world ever do. I certainly can't remember the last time an American judge did it. My 10-10 rounds usually occur in an early round, typically the 1st or 2nd round. The usual scenario is that both fighters are cautiously feeling out each other, and there are few/no clean punches or effective aggression from either fighter.

If there is a round in which both fighters score a knockdown, then that round in theory could be scored 10-10. But usually in that scenario, there is enough differentiation in the knockdowns themselves, or in the action during the rest of the round, to score the round 10-9 for one fighter or the other.

 

The knockdowns themselves are also included in how they'd score a round with both fighters on the floor. The event of a KD is normally such a key moment in the fight, that it's hard to brush over them and go with who did the better work outside of the KDs. Most of the time, a judge will look at the knockdowns and score the round based off them alone. The one that they determined as heavier, or a better punch with bigger impact, is normally the one they'll give the round to. Some don't, but most do. It's advised, at any rate.

 

Cheers for your reply, George. I think we are more or less saying the same thing. By the way, I noticed upthread that you mentioned you had taken a "judging course". Can you tell us about that? Are you working as a boxing judge now, in either amateur or professional boxing? I am very interested in the topic.

 

I thought about applying for a judge's license in 2019, and got round to it early last year. It was something I was very interested in, and would've been a side project along side training and writing about boxing (although I've dropped the writing). I went through the standard procedure, but following COVID rules. I got to the point where I needed to do a written exam before I could actually go onto do the course's practical side. The exam was pretty easy, and most informed fans could breeze through it. The handbook of the rules was sent was excellent, though. Probably 20 pages or so, but covered most bases I can think of in a concise manner. And made clear that any niche situations which weren't covered by the handbook, are left up to the judge themself. I sent it back with my exam paper, and I'm a little gutted I didn't keep it TBH.

The part of the course which was most interesting - and why I couldn't carry on with it - is that you'd go to high level amateur fights, where they have three judges, and I'd act as a fourth. My card for ten different fights would be compared to the three officials, and I'd be graded based on that. There was also supposedly an algorithm to deal with anomalies and such, but I wasn't worried. I thought I'd smash it, but then the amateur season was cancelled and I didn't get chance to go through with it. I thought about doing it again next season, but I'll be fighting then so I just wanna keep my eyes on that. Plus, I'd have to wait until my 18th birthday before I could actually get my license.

 

Cheers again for your reply, George. That's wonderful stuff, and very informative. Best wishes to you in all your endeavours! Maybe someday you can judge yourself in a fight! ;-)

 

Thanks for the response.

I suppose no set of rules are perfect because unfortunately those judging regulations would mean that, in the scenario I outlined, the guy who was beating his opponent up with the referee about to stop the fight, would still lose the round if he was caught at the end of the round, lost his balance and his gloves briefly touched the canvas.

That doesn't sound fair to me. I think that round should be scored 10-9 to the guy that was knocked down.

 

Technically, yes, but sometimes it's too difficult to tell apart, and if judges can't pick a winner, they should declare the round a draw, because it's not fair to guess.

 

It is what it is. Sometimes that's just how boxing goes.

 

There can never, ever, ever be an even round...

Ermmmm... OK.

It can be argued that this is factually incorrect because judges are allowed to (and often do) score rounds even.

I don't see how anyone can rule out the possibility of there ever being an even round in the entire history or future of the sport but anyway...

One guy I was speaking to told me that if he was watching a title fight and thought the round was even, then he would award it to the champion.

Now that IS crazy!!

 

I think he fought back well (LOL)

He had Wilder in trouble later in the round and, in fact, I think Fury would have been extremely unlucky if the fight was stopped at that stage because it would have been a ridiculous decision to do so.

 

He fought back just fine, which is why the fight continued until the bell rang ending the round ... and was not stopped after Wilder landed a few more shots after Fury got up.

But that was the definition of a 10-8 round.

I get that people don't like Wilder, but Christ almighty.