are you ever surprised by how many people will watch a fight but not score it? In this months BM they interview people about the ODLH-MayweatherJR fight and get their opinions on it. I was amazed that people could say: "I didn't score it, but felt De La Hoya won" (for example). I am amazed that neither Joe Calzaghe or Clinton Woods kept a scorecard.
Can you really be saying such a thing if you didn't put pen to paper? Does it really hold any weight? Don't the facts get swayed by forgetting the early rounds (especially if you WANT one fighter to win)?
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On this subject, when I was attending boxing shows almost weekly I was amazed that I seemed to be the only one with a pen in my hand at the end of each round making a little note.... I felt like a right prick! I remember Juan Pablo Chacon defending the WBO Featherweight crown against Victor Polo - there were about a dozen blokes at the back of the hall (lead by our own "knockout") who yelled to me sitting a few rows in front every few minutes: "who you got winning Col?"
At the end they all yelled "robbery" - basing it on my card where Polo had JUST eeked a decision!
I used to score some of the big fights, but can't really be bothered most of the time these days, to be honest.
Yeah I can't imagine Joe C sitting down with a pen & paper, marking each round 10-9..
Nowadays I'll just watch the thing and come away with either a good idea who won, or if it's close I'll have my own impression who won. Like I thought Floyd nicked the ODH fight for instance - but no way would I argue till I'm blue in the face with someone who thought Oscar won it - you'll end up with an ulcer if you worry too much about all those dodgy decisions. Or who's right and who's wrong.
Thinking back to recent iffy decisions, I couldn't get my head round the scoring of the first 2 Barrera/Morales fights for instance.
It seemd they picked the wrong winner in each fight, which was a bit bizzare.
The hardest thing is when the 2 boxers win an equal amount of rounds, but one has put a lot more effort into winning his rounds than the other. On paper a draw is fair but to everyone not scoring there can only be one winner.
Unless I'm reporting, I find it easy enough to keep a running tally in my mind, but I start to write it down if it's close and two or more deductions or knockdowns occur.
I find that it mars the enjoyment of a fight scoring it, you can't really just revel in the contest when you are having to concentrate so hard on scoring.
However, 'felt he won it' is often very different to what you get if you come up with a score for each round.
A lot of people felt Oscar won that fight, but bet few of them actually scored it.
jamesmcdonnell wrote:I find that it mars the enjoyment of a fight scoring it, you can't really just revel in the contest when you are having to concentrate so hard on scoring.
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