Kovalev vs Ward

There are fights where a fighter's whole defense is holding and backpedaling.

I admit, I have no idea what "ring generalship" is supposed to be.

 

Well, it shows how subjective scoring is.
The other factor is the perceived weight of the blows landed. Frazier was landing harder blows, so perhaps the judge counted the weight of the blows as aggression too.
When you think about it, there's possibly little difference between "clean punches" and "effective aggression".
"Defense" is subjective. A fighter's offense might be his defense, his defense might even be pure intimidation.

 

Definitely. But that doesn't favor them in the scoring (and it shouldn't) in my experience.

Defending with slips and rolls and sidesteps and making the other guy miss should count given the criteria, but it rarely seems to do.

 

There is such a criteria: Defense. And you haven't boxed much if you think avoiding punches in a proper manner is easy.

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The part which you partly quoted was a judge who said he would award a round to the aggressor even if he took twice as many punches as he landed during the round. And winning rounds by taking punishment is definitely a dangerous incentive.

 

Yes, it is subjective.

Ona way to make it less subjective is to score after which fighter did the most damage (i e landed clean punches) and not give extra points for walking forward into punches.

 

It makes sense to score close rounds 10-10, and a fighter should have to clearly outbox the other to go 10-9.
As it is, people give 10-9 for razor close rounds and for ones that are very clear.
Giving 10-9 rounds for razor close rounds just invites us to form biases towards/against certain styles.

 

Get rid of the corrupt judges and go old school, carry on fighting till there's a knockout, stoppage or until somebody gives best.

 

why would it count? you don't get points if you don't hit the guy which is the objective in a boxing match...hence the point system the other post you wrote ,I have no idea what that's about? you win rounds by outpointing someone ,unless you are knocked down or out.

 

Little question, if the fight had old school rules who would you have fancied????

 

I scored it round by round and came out with the exact same score the judges had, but I had round three 10-10. It was that close to a draw~

Here's the thing, to come out with Ward by a point, you really have to know what you are doing, and have the right vantage point. So on TV, it's easier. Live at the fight, I'm more than sure I would have given it to Kovalev who landed more, landed harder, and threw more. The judges were not in a position to see all those body shots. And I want to see full scorecards to see who gave Ward the 10th round, and that was Kovalev's round my a bigger margin than some of the rounds Ward won.

From a purist's standpoint, this was a good fight. I mean how many times does a boxer floored down on points come back to outpoint a much bigger puncher by using body shots up close? Almost never!

Ward's body shots slowed Kovalev down, but Kovalev, when he went to the body, hurt Ward more. Kovalev's mistake not doing it sooner, and he clearly marked Ward up when he landed. In a re-match, Kovalev can adjust, go to the body sooner, and cut off the ring instead of chase. Not sure what Ward can do to adjust.

Neither fighter lowered their stock.

 

For those who say, Ward is not a light heavyweight here's an FYI. He won Olympic gold at 178.57 pounds. ( 81k ). So yes he is, he just dropped a few to get to 168 and re-hydrated.

While his defense, preparation, and ring generalship are excellent, he's not very durable. Kovalev didn't come close to landing his best. Kovalev easily marked Ward up, hurt him to the body, the ear area, etc...

 

Those are the official scoring criteria. Nothing I've decided, so I can't help you with why.

 

Watched it again, and again scored for Kovalev. It actually seemed not as close as the first time. I think people are mistaking Ward's turning the tsunami into a high tide as somehow winning all those rounds.

I am in complete agreement with Doug Fischer, who addresses the fight in this morning's Mail Bag over on Ring.

 

I was quite impressed by Ward's grit too.
But I don't think Kovalev lost that fight.

 

It was a hometown decision plain and simple. Kovalev was dominating early and after 6 rounds he was on the precipitous of victory. Therefore the judges then shut him out the second half of the fight as soon as Ward became more competitive and conveniently the one judge that had a round to spare gave Kovalev the 12th.
Of all the combinations you can come up with round by round scoring with 3 judges all 3 basically pitched a shut out for Ward in the second half to prevent a loss. After Kovalev's kd made that a must.
It

From what I saw just one