by Ronnie Nathanielsz
The pioneering open scoring system launched by the World Boxing Council has clearly made a positive impact after it was successfully used during two world title fights in Japan where Naoya Inoue and Akira Yaegashi scored significant knockout victories.
Yaegashi defended his WBC flyweight title against Mexican Odilon Zaleta while Naoya Inoue become light flyweight champion by stopping Adrian Hernandez.
The WBC in its website said it is “grateful to the Japan Boxing Commission for supporting this innovative system that represents a significant advancement in the sport. It provides extra motivation allowing the fighter to know scores of judges at the end of rounds 4 and 8.”
The WBC reported that the open scoring rule has been used in thousands of fights and has proven to be a rule that makes boxing more fair and straightforward.
In fact the prestigious Japan Boxing Commission which is regarded as one of the best in the world has also adopted open scoring in national title bouts, giving scores at the end of round five.
