You have to "take" a champion's title

[IronDanHamza]

The number one thing under the rules of boxing first is effective aggression...unless you believe Kovalev wasn't using effective aggression than Ward wins which I didn't see that.

No it's not.

It's one of the four scoring criteria though.

Kovalev was doing great in this criteria early. Not as good late though which made it close.

[Real King Kong]

LMAO Thats ******ed. Score the fight as a whole? You mean take into a count what happened throughout the entirety of the match?? They do that already, its called round by round scoring. So many people who legitimately won would lose because people don't have the attention span to remember what happened throughout the course of a match if it isn't about making sure you pay attention in intervals and write down what went down.

I'm not advocating a change in the scoring...it's simple tho. Just watch the fight, and at the end say who you feel won...like most people already do when they watch fights.

[Eff Pandas]

It's true when it comes to the punch ouput.
I never denied defense and other points.

You said "pro boxing is only about damage". I said pro boxing isn't all about damage. You certainly seemed to imply that only damage matters to me with your usage of "only".

My point is Ward landed less in quantity and quality (he landed mostly jabs, and not solid ones), the only damages Dre did were to the body.

I rewatched the fight, and Kovalev won 1-5 and the 12th, to me, they aren't swing rounds. Kova got robbed.

I don't wanna get into talking particular rounds cuz those debates are as boring as resume debates & can be super subjective & guys often have huge blind spots for guys they like or hate that make those debates huge wastes of times. I've also become bored with judging fights by round, like I used to love doing, & just like enjoying the actual fight without considering who's winning or losing a particular round.

One thing I'll say is that over the couple decades I've been watching boxing I've noticed that power punches landed usually tell the story of the judges in fights, rightly or wrongly. And Kovalev only landed 17 more power punches over 12 rounds + in the way boxing is judged, by rounds, in 10 of the 12 rounds the difference between power punches landed was 3 or less. This was a f#cking close fight, not a robbery, like Kovalev fanboys or Ward haters are saying.

And like I said Kovalev & his team can be upset & non-understanding about all this logic **** cuz they had skin in the game & there is a solid debate to be had that he deserved the decision. I don't believe fans who are saying Kovalev got robbed got much of a leg to stand on cuz the fight was close despite what rounds you feel are concrete for Kovalev, there is plenty of close rounds that could have led to either guy winning.

[juggernaut666]

No it's not.

It's one of the four scoring criteria though.

Kovalev was doing great in this criteria early. Not as good late though which made it close.

Yes it is, its the first criteria of the rules,this is put in place to make sure you get the guy trying to fight more credit.the rest is debatable of who did what after round 6.

[Tom Cruise]

Yes it is, its the first criteria of the rules,this is put in place to make sure you get the guy trying to fight more credit.the rest is debatable of who did what after round 6.

Clean effective punching is almost universally considered to be the most important scoring criteria. Actually i would argue the other 3 are largely redudant. Defence is basically the inverse of clean punching and you cant really be effectively aggressive or dominate ring generalship without clean punching

Clean effective punching is the top dog. The rest just confuse matters

[KillaCamNZ]

Because he's the champion, dummy. He currently holds the most prized possession in the sport (at least one of the half dozen of them anyway.) He's the one with the thing the challenger wants, so if a fight is close, I can understand why the judges favor the champion a little.

I dunno, maybe it doesn't make sense. But I feel there should be more prestige to being the champion. I wouldn't even be against a rule that says you have to KO/TKO the champ (or alternatively, win every round) in order to win the title.

As for your second point, the answer is No because football teams don't have to defend championships.

I don't even want to go down the route of considering having to KO the champ to win the belt, or win every round. Shutting out a title holder would be all but impossible. You'd have guys sitting on straps and boxing negatively, it would be awful to watch.

Everything you said at the start was wonderful, feel good, hyperbole kinda stuff - but it doesn't add any weight to the argument. The title is up for grabs in a title fight - believing that the Champ should always get the rub of the green, is just a continuation of some old school philosophy that doesn't actually make any sense.

I also, can understand why, in a close fight, judges can lean towards the current Champion. That doesn't make it right, however. That's just an indication of how things can be done currently.

A fight is a fight, and when you start bending rules and scoring systems to assist one fighter over the other, it defeats the whole purpose of a contest. Is boxing not about finding the best fighter on the day? One fighter shouldn't have to beat another fighter, plus the judges.

[KillaCamNZ]

Hardcore style.

Oh ****, is that Molly dropping the Hurricane? Nostalgia trip...

[hugh grant]

No not in my opinion.

According to the rules and scoring criteria.

No mention of "taking it to the champion" in either.

Stop being bias and have a problem with people feeling ward didn't do enough, didn't take it to the champ.
When you fight in other peoples country you have to take it to the hometown boiy. Kov knows he's got too ko ward to get win next time.
So you support people always having home advantage pot shifting too victory? Ward could do that so he knew he didn't need to do anything other than pot shot
Your a Floyd fsan so iknew you'd support ward. Floyd is another hometown fighter not wanting to travel. Because travelling beating people in their backyard is a big deal. You knoiknoiw yoiu vpcsan get roibbed so you go for it. Take it to the hometown boiy. But you support pot shifters fighting in own backyard.
I can see why yoiu are here arguing now

[IronDanHamza]

Yes it is, its the first criteria of the rules,this is put in place to make sure you get the guy trying to fight more credit.the rest is debatable of who did what after round 6.

That's completely false.

It could be the "first criteria" but that doesn't make it the most important criteria like you're saying. No criteria is more important than the other they all come together.

You don't get credit for "making the fight" like you're saying either you get credit for "effective aggression" along with clean punching, defense and ring generalship.

[IronDanHamza]

Stop being bias and have a problem with people feeling ward didn't do enough, didn't take it to the champ.
When you fight in other peoples country you have to take it to the hometown boiy. Kov knows he's got too ko ward to get win next time.
So you support people always having home advantage pot shifting too victory? Ward could do that so he knew he didn't need to do anything other than pot shot
Your a Floyd fsan so iknew you'd support ward. Floyd is another hometown fighter not wanting to travel. Because travelling beating people in their backyard is a big deal. You knoiknoiw yoiu vpcsan get roibbed so you go for it. Take it to the hometown boiy. But you support pot shifters fighting in own backyard.
I can see why yoiu are here arguing now

Can you read? I said I was supporting and rooting for Kovalev which I was. I'm not a Ward fan however I am a Kovalev fan. I just call it how I see it.

I obviously have no problem with people saying Ward didn't do enough. I have no problem at all with someone scoring it for Kovalev obviously I can fully understand why more people felt Kovalev won than Ward especially after his dominant start.

What I have a problem with is people refusing to adknowledge that it was close and you could argue Ward won the fight. I also have a problem with people claiming it was a robbery when it clearly wasn't.