I have heard that in the old days (I'm talking late 19th century and early 20th century) you had to win by knockout or the fight was a draw. Is this correct? I've also heard of newspaper decisions...when did these come around and were they considered official? Also, were the newspaper decisions round-by-round scoring, or did they just pick an overall winner for the fight? When did they actually start round-by-round scoring by judges at ringside like they do today?
Good questions. Different arrangements were made from fight to fight, I think. The draw thing was common but some fights were won/lost on official decision too. There were also "no decision" fights, which isn't even a draw. "newspaper decisions" were completely unofficial. I don't know the round-by-round thing. I wonder about that.
How a newspaper scored depended entirely on the writer. There was no codified system in place in regards to scoring in most areas. Some reporters scored on a round by round basis, others scored the fight as aesthetic whole, meaning a guy could win 9 rounds but get his ass absolutely kicked in the 10th and be judged by a writer as the loser. Its not right or wrong its just a different way of scoring based on the era.
