Boxers get in the ring with the goal of winning the fight, and the best way to do this is to deliver hard punches and avoid the ones your opponent throws. When you land an overwhelming number of punches, you have an excellent chance of winning your fight as a result of a knockout; however, if neither fighter goes to the ground and the fight goes the distance, the outcome of the fight will be decided by a vote of boxing judges.
Decision Process
Boxing judges are assigned to score professional and amateur fights. At the professional level, the referee and two or three judges vote on the outcome of the bout. Each judge writes down his scoring at the end of every round. At the end of the fight, the boxer who has accumulated the most rounds wins the decision.
Scoring Systems
Boxing is overseen by athletic commissions in all 50 states. Each state has its own regulations and rules for scoring a fight. The most widely used system is the 10-point must system. Under this system, the winner of a particular round gets 10 points on the scorecard. The other fighter will get 9 points or less. In a relatively close round in which an opponent did not get knocked down or suffer any major damage, the losing fighter usually will get 9 points. If the fighter gets knocked down, he will get 7 or 8 points. At the conclusion of the fight, each fighter's point totals are added and the fighter with the most points wins the fight.
Unanimous Decision
A fight in which all voters' scorecards have the same winner is called a unanimous decision, which indicates that all the fight judges and the referee saw the fight the same way. It does not indicate whether the fight was one-sided or close. A lopsided unanimous decision indicates a fight was one-sided. If a fighter wins eight of 10 rounds on one judge's scorecard, nine of 10 on the other judge's scorecard and seven of 10 rounds on the referee's scorecard, that would be a one-sided decision.
Split Decision
Fights can come to a controversial conclusion when the decision is not unanimous. If one judge scores the fight for boxer A, while the other judge and the referee score the fight for boxer B, boxer B wins the decision. If one of the voters calls the fight even while the other two voters have differing opinions, the decision is ruled a draw. If two of the voters call the fight a draw and the other judge goes for one fighter or the other, the decision is ruled a draw.
Posted in: Boxing