Bad scoring/judging has been a major issue of the sport for as long as anyone can remember, whether it be corruption or incompetence it always seems to raise it's ugly head. In the past year or two it seems almost every Monday there's a multiple of threads moaning about officials and their scoring, even when the right guy still wins, and we've had high profile instances too with Pacquiao vs Marquez and Pacquiao vs Bradley.
My questions is, how do the fans feel about the concept of open scoring? There's obviously a good case for both arguments for and against, but where do the majority stand on the issue? Here's some pros and cons:
Pros
1. Would give the fans, and most importantly, the fighters, an idea of how the judges are scoring the fight so they can adjust their tactics accordingly.
2. Would build up great anticipation for late rounds if the fight was even or if someone knew for certain they needed a KO.
3. Would/could stop corrupt judging as the officials will be held more accountable for their scoring.
Cons
1. Could make a fight less competitive if one of the fighters is way ahead and coasted the rest of the fight in a defensive manner.
2. Could cause a hostile crowd. And in turn, influence the judges.
3. Would spoil the anticipation for the result at the end of a fight that goes the distance.
There's also arguments to go against these pros and cons, for instance, the hostile crowd influencing the judges already happens to a degree (crowd go wild when hometown guy lands a punch, silent when away guy does), also all other sports officials have to endure the crowd and get on with their job properly.
I have seen open scoring after every 4 rounds in WBC heavyweight fights with Vitali, and it kind of ended the contest between him and Sam Peter as Peter didn't come out for the 9th after hearing that all 8 rounds had gone to Vitali, so that was a bit worrying.
The idea of knowing the score every round may also make it a little boring for the fan as some enjoy the intrigue of how the judges are seeing a contest. What about only announcing the round scores of every other round (not the full score, just that round) so we get at least a glimpse of how the scoring is going but not the full picture?
There are so many questions, and I expect most will want to keep the sport as it is. I for one am sick of bad judging and hometown decisions, it doesn't happen in any other sport like this, so I wouldn't be totally against something changing.
Where does everyone stand on this?
Open Scoring System
Re: Open Scoring System
I've said it before and i will say it again, why dont just have more judges? 5 or 7 judges, surely there is less chance of 4 getting wrong than 2 meaning wrong decisions will happen less?
Re: Open Scoring System
I was for it until it got introduced, as boxers were just going into survival mode if they were up in the scoring. Plus I think judges may be swayed more to the home fighter if they're aware the scores are going to be shown mid-fight