This is according to the WBC article on the front page. It references the split decision victory of Timothy Bradley where three foreign judges were used in England. I've seen this many times before in championship fights in the UK where there are 3 foreign judges used and am always surprised when this is not the case in the US, particularly when all the judges are from the same state. This isn't a US bashing thread, its about whether foreign judges are more impartial than domestic judges. With the Witter/Bradley fight I think virtually everyone agrees Witter lost the fight and a UD should have been the verdict instead of an SD. So one of the judges scored it for the home guy even though he clearly lost. As boxing fans we get used to rubbish scoring of fights. Im not talking about close fights that could have gone either way. Just because your guy doesn't get the nod doesn't mean its a robbery. The WBC obviously likes foreign judges because of their percieved impartiality and going on the front page article they don't like it that America doesn't do this. So, do foreign judges by default make more impartial judges or are they as likely to give extra credit to the home guy as domestic ones?
Well no matter what nationality people are, you put a dozen of them in a room and there will be differing opinions on who won a round. Even without the bias of nationalism, people are going to identify with one boxer more than the other and are going to be more inclined to apply their creativity to their view of what is actually happening in the fight. Having said that, I think depending on certain factors, most people are going to identify more with the boxer from the same nation. Especially if they're from a similar ethnic background, because they're going to be seeing themselves or their brother or uncle in the ring. ALSO, I think it's important to remember, if you're suggesting that a judge might be payed off, a foreign judge can be payed off just as easily as a domestic judge, by a domestic promoter. In answer to your question: Domestic judges are more likely to score for domestic fighters.
I agree that neutral judges give the appearance of impartiality, but in effect this may not always be the case! Anyone will be swayed by a home crowd, but that is one of the advantages of being able to call the shots. For example, most champions will have to travel some where to win a title, they can then demand to stay at home to defend it - I have no problem with that as it is a perk of winning your title in the first place. I also think for the most part that judges are impartial and, like all of us prone to errors of judgement but, are usually fair. However, taking foreign judges to other countries to score a domestic fighter against another fighter. Cans of worms can be opened, particularly if you take a judge from a country which isnt economically strong to somewhere like UK, USA or Germany. There is a lot of money to be made from fighters and people can be willing to put their neck on the line and such offers can be lucrative to judges who would see that kind of money in a year! I'm not suggesting anyone fight or fighter in particular but this can lead to curruption despite neutral referees. As said though, for the most part, I think it works well and think it should be encouraged in the States as well. I suppose with USA being as big as it is though, you can muster judges from one coast to the next who probably have an entire different view on the same fight!
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The crowd thing makes sense. But why didn't judges subjected to Ricky Hatton's crowd at the Mayweather fight score more rounds for Hatton?