Judges scoring is ruining boxing

[Exoddus]

Granted the scoring has always been terrible. After the weekend we had some of the worse judges score cards I've ever seen. Boxing needs to get it's act together and start to suspend judges who can't score a fight properly. They are either corrupt or incapable of scoring a fight.

Problem is after the terrible scoring is revealed absolutely nothing happens. Which means either the whole system is corrupt or incapable. We need a new body independent of the boxing organizations pointing the judges and investigating,prosecuting and firing judges who do not carry out their duty properly.

Gavin McDonnell vs Rey Vargas. The only British judge Ian John Lewis scored the fight a draw.

Wilder Vs Washington. Going into the 5th round two judges had it a draw and the other judge had Wilder two points up. Wilder lost the first 3 rounds clear as day. I thought Washington won the 4th but others think Wilder won it. How anyone could not have Washington up at least 2 rounds going up into the 5th is just pure filth.

Ian John Lewis, Juan Carlos Pelayo, Keith Hughes and Mike Ross should all be suspended pending an investigation and if no corruption should be found. They should be sacked for failing to carry out their duty properly.

Looking from the outside. Boxing is the only sport where corruption or complete incompetence is allowed on a weekly basis. I know other sports have the problems like cycling with drugs etc but at least it looks like they're trying to do something about.
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[roy]

I agree with you on the 2 examples you give. I still maintain, however, that the main reason we get wide discrepancies in scoring is the reluctance to give 10-10 rounds, even when the round is too close to call.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I agree.. I'm glad some fights don't go the distance. Two judges having Wilder ahead? based on what? foot movement? I had Washington ahead before the 5th round, 3 rounds to 1, with the 1st round an even 10-10..

It's just like Amir Khan said, he was glad the fight was stopped early rather than go the distance and been upset. The scorecards for the fight vs. Canelo was similar, 2 had Canelo ahead at the time of the stoppage. I understand Canelo started finding himself by the fourth round, but come on where is the fairness.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Granted the scoring has always been terrible. After the weekend we had some of the worse judges score cards I've ever seen. Boxing needs to get it's act together and start to suspend judges who can't score a fight properly. They are either corrupt or incapable of scoring a fight.

Problem is after the terrible scoring is revealed absolutely nothing happens. Which means either the whole system is corrupt or incapable. We need a new body independent of the boxing organizations pointing the judges and investigating,prosecuting and firing judges who do not carry out their duty properly.

Gavin McDonnell vs Rey Vargas. The only British judge Ian John Lewis scored the fight a draw.

Wilder Vs Washington. Going into the 5th round two judges had it a draw and the other judge had Wilder two points up. Wilder lost the first 3 rounds clear as day. I thought Washington won the 4th but others think Wilder won it. How anyone could not have Washington up at least 2 rounds going up into the 5th is just pure filth.

Ian John Lewis, Juan Carlos Pelayo, Keith Hughes and Mike Ross should all be suspended pending an investigation and if no corruption should be found. They should be sacked for failing to carry out their duty properly.

Looking from the outside. Boxing is the only sport where corruption or complete incompetence is allowed on a weekly basis. I know other sports have the problems like cycling with drugs etc but at least it looks like they're trying to do something about.
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Part of the problem is there are too few judges, it's a tiny club of people who allowed to judge world title fight, maybe 100 people worldwide, that's just ridiculous.

The other problem is the criteria for scoring are far too vague and subjective, boxing needs far more stringent criteria on precisely how rounds should be scored.

The scoring system needs changing. 10-8 for a clearly dominant round, 10-9 otherwise, 10-10 as standard if nobody really took hold of the round, less emphasis on knockdowns as in UFC.

[bripez]

You would like to think that the Board keep an eye on these things.

In football there are a team of referees who review and rate the performance of other referees, who are then given feedback etc.

[Exoddus]

I agree.. I'm glad some fights don't go the distance. Two judges having Wilder ahead? based on what? foot movement? I had Washington ahead before the 5th round, 3 rounds to 1, with the 1st round an even 10-10..

It's just like Amir Khan said, he was glad the fight was stopped early rather than go the distance and been upset. The scorecards for the fight vs. Canelo was similar, 2 had Canelo ahead at the time of the stoppage. I understand Canelo started finding himself by the fourth round, but come on where is the fairness.

The Khan vs Canelo one is another good example. It's a sorry state of affairs considering I backed Canelo on points as I knew if the fight ended on the final bell. Even if Canelo was behind he's get the fight on the score cards.

[Ruthless-RKO]

I agree.. I'm glad some fights don't go the distance. Two judges having Wilder ahead? based on what? foot movement? I had Washington ahead before the 5th round, 3 rounds to 1, with the 1st round an even 10-10..

It's just like Amir Khan said, he was glad the fight was stopped early rather than go the distance and been upset. The scorecards for the fight vs. Canelo was similar, 2 had Canelo ahead at the time of the stoppage. I understand Canelo started finding himself by the fourth round, but come on where is the fairness.

The Khan vs Canelo one is another good example. It's a sorry state of affairs considering I backed Canelo on points as I knew if the fight ended on the final bell. Even if Canelo was behind he's get the fight on the score cards.

It's as though the judges have picked a winner before the fight, any close rounds, or not so close rounds, give to the favored boxer.

The same thing will possibly happen when Canelo fights JCC Jr... If Jr. wins, they rematch in September, and no GGG fight, but then again, more money for a rematch potentially.

[handsofstone]

I actually had Wilder/Washington even after 4 myself, I gave Wilder the opener on account of 2 jabs which was all I saw either guy land in that round

[Tangerine]

Agree with one if the posts above,the criteria for scoring a round can differ depending on who is judging it.Its quite unique in sport really.There needs to be a massive overhaul with scoring and training the judges to score to a criteria.This needs to be reviewed just like football with officials not just from the organisation's but from the BBBofC sitting in the stands reviewing the judges and referees performance.

For what its worth I dont think IJL was being corrupt on Saturday I genuinely believe he saw that fight a draw.Ive seen him score worse than that plenty of times.

I scored well for Mcdonnells pressure late on so I can certainly see how he came to end up with 114 114.

[KiwiRider]

I agree.. I'm glad some fights don't go the distance. Two judges having Wilder ahead? based on what? foot movement? I had Washington ahead before the 5th round, 3 rounds to 1, with the 1st round an even 10-10..

Exactly, except I gave the first round to Washington based on aggression and landing the jab, Wilder landed one jab in that round.
The fact it was a championship (and I use that term loosely) bout, judges in close rounds have to err on the side of the Champion from what I have read.
It's taken 5 years to acclimatise my wife, a newish inductee to the sweet science, to the fact that sometimes score cards seem like they were at a different fight.

[Crease]

I still maintain, however, that the main reason we get wide discrepancies in scoring is the reluctance to give 10-10 rounds, even when the round is too close to call.

It's because judges' are afraid of appearing indecisive and they view that as a weakness.

The boxing bodies' do encourage judges to "be brave" with their scoring in order to prevent 10 each rounds. But that can lead to discrepancies with the overall scoring.

[PredatorHayds]

Personally I feel we have the worst level of judges in the world.

Being a good referee shouldn't automatically mean you can score a fight.

It's time now that we have judges and referees seperate. It's a completely different job.

I wouldn't expect Mark Clattenburg to provide expert punditry on MOTD.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

The best thing they can do is try to at least give the judges the best chance to succeed. There has always been incompetence & corruption and there always will be. The first thing is they need to be watching the fights on TV. Anybody who has sat ringside knows the atmosphere is awesome and the view sucks compared to your sofa. So the men deciding things are watching an inferior view from 3 different angles while soaking in the atmosphere as another influence. Lock them in a room backstage with a big screen TV on mute and spotters to make sure they're not coercing and are paying attention.

[handsofstone]

The best thing they can do is try to at least give the judges the best chance to succeed. There has always been incompetence & corruption and there always will be. The first thing is they need to be watching the fights on TV. Anybody who has sat ringside knows the atmosphere is awesome and the view sucks compared to your sofa. So the men deciding things are watching an inferior view from 3 different angles while soaking in the atmosphere as another influence. Lock them in a room backstage with a big screen TV on mute and spotters to make sure they're not coercing and are paying attention.

Good idea in theory but probably not always practical especially for the small hall shows but I like the sentiment as ive always felt judges views are obscured

Nothing wrong with a pair of tennis umpire stepladders and ear defenders though

[SaadOffTheDeck]

The best thing they can do is try to at least give the judges the best chance to succeed. There has always been incompetence & corruption and there always will be. The first thing is they need to be watching the fights on TV. Anybody who has sat ringside knows the atmosphere is awesome and the view sucks compared to your sofa. So the men deciding things are watching an inferior view from 3 different angles while soaking in the atmosphere as another influence. Lock them in a room backstage with a big screen TV on mute and spotters to make sure they're not coercing and are paying attention.

Good idea in theory but probably not always practical especially for the small hall shows but I like the sentiment as ive always felt judges views are obscured

Nothing wrong with a pair of tennis umpire stepladders and ear defenders though

Much more practical than hoisting them high in the air and obstructing paying customers view. There is always a backstage area. I'd rather they score off site than what they do now.

[Freedom2013]

I agree 100%.

Ian John-Lewis should be banned from working fights. He's either incompetent or corrupt.

[crusader]

The best thing they can do is try to at least give the judges the best chance to succeed. There has always been incompetence & corruption and there always will be. The first thing is they need to be watching the fights on TV. Anybody who has sat ringside knows the atmosphere is awesome and the view sucks compared to your sofa. So the men deciding things are watching an inferior view from 3 different angles while soaking in the atmosphere as another influence. Lock them in a room backstage with a big screen TV on mute and spotters to make sure they're not coercing and are paying attention.

Nice post....I agree