This has been my one area of confusion and I always go with how more orthodox old school judges score the fight. 10-8 always. Let's say Ward got knocked down the first 5 seconds of the round, and came back to outbox Kovalev the rest of the round, WITHOUT a knockdown, it will still be 10-8. I have never seen a 9-8 scorecard unless both guys were knocked down in the round. I have never seen a point given for fighting your way back after a knockdown or the guy who had the knockdown not win the round on the sorecards, How does a 9-9 round occur?
Okay, this is a mess. You can't have 9-9 even if both get knocked down. The ONLY way to reach a 9-9 scoring is the winner of the round is deducted a point by the ref. Period. Scoring operates under a TEN POINT MUST system (not counting points docked over fouls). So unless there's a deduction, the deemed winner of the round MUST get TEN POINTS. No exceptions. There have been plenty of instances where a boxer is dropped but dominates the rest of the round to stave off the usual 2-point hole. In those instances the dropped boxer merely regains that point. The one that scored the KD still wins the round by default having gotten the KD, but he only gets it 10-9 instead of 10-8. If both get knocked down you score it 10-9 or 10-8 to whomever the more dominant party in the round was, depending on how much more dominant they were. Understand?
Kovalev staggered Ward with a left jab in round one and clearly knocked Ward down in the 2nd, won the entire fight, thus, 10-8 round....................one sided round. Kovalev won the fight, but the criminal Vegas judges gave it to Ward...................
I believe Golota won a 9-8 round against Bowe in the rematch! And there wasn't even a knockdown in that round as I recall.
