Modern boxing's been around for over 100 years, and goes back even further to the 16th century. A lot of the rules in use today have been the standard for almost as long. Which rules do you think are in need of change though?
I can think of a few:
Change the maximum number of rounds from 10 to 11 (Non title fights) , and 12 to 13 (title fights). This slightly removes the chance of a draw as professional boxing judges aren't supposed to score rounds a draw. This will guarantee one fighter winning a majority of rounds in close fights.
Making the fight official after four rounds, I would change this to 5 rounds. For the same reason as above.
Some other things I've thought about is change the number of judges from 3 to 5. Adding more judges increases the sample size of scores and gives you a clearer picture of what actually happened.
None of these things remove the real problems in boxing, but it would modernize the sport a bit
Have you ever sat on the apron? You see considerably more than you do on a monitor.
Getting sprayed with a guy's sweat tells you something you don't get from a monitor.
Reaction, punch sound, breathing plus other intangibles, are lost to the monitor observer
Yes, replaying events exposes more than what may well be missed initially, but judges wouldn't (shouldn't) be doing that during a fight.
I'm against it. No judges is better. Let's go back to NWS decisions. Makes the commissions and sanctioning bodies weaker.
You count the stoppages, all the rest end officially as ND (no decision) bouts.
Newspapers (Internet) and fans (Internet) decide what happened.
(It will also generate rematches that are often ducked via a mere SD win.)
No need to provide a decision except to satisfy the gamblers. Which can prove to be 'not a good thing.'
Let them, the bookmakers and casinos, go back to handling their own gambling problems and corruptions.
Make the sanctioning bodies and commissions weaker. Let the fan decide what he saw.
The answer to a more fair fight game is not expanded intervention or high tech innovation, but less regulation; less empowerment over deciding what is in reality merely a subjective opinion (open to corruption).
I haven’t judged a fight, so I haven’t sat from their perspective. I have been a second in one amateur fight, and I’ve been pretty close to ringside on a couple of other occasions. Without a doubt a judge will have a much greater sense of a fight — IF he/she is sitting in the right spot for a particular exchange. And that’s the trouble: judges are seated at various parts of the ring; and therefore, one or even two judges can miss an important sequence at any given moment. Sure it’s nice to have a visceral sense of the action; but in my opinion it should not affect sound scoring, based on the recognized scoring criteria. Everything the fans see on TV is generally clearer, even without the aid of slo-mo replays.
As for your other ideas, you’re suggesting a fundamental change to the very way boxing matches are decided — one that is not likely to ever happen.
Get rid of judges involved in robberies. They do great injustice to deserving winners. The damage they do changes the course of boxing history. Why they're allowed to go back and perform the same task and get paid is beyond me.
I was only joking but the way you put it maybe it’s not as bad a thought .
I do like the second idea which was also a joke , zapping them at a certain point to force a better fight .:boxing:
If I had an actual real rule change though it’s eliminating draws and introducing a sudden death round which I’ve wanted for decades , I know I’ve seen it on DAZN with some boxing brand ? But it’s not universally recognized.
Was it DAZN? I thought those sudden deaths were at probox at the beginning. I like that too, but i saw a few that were ruled as a draw seemingly just to push the sudden death round.
Same day weigh in, with an official weigh in a week before, optionally a 3rd weigh in 2 weeks before the fight. Prevents boxers that rely on weightcutting to do any actual boxing preparation, and have to cut for 3 weeks straight, which forces them to move up to avoid all that cutting.
I'd dial back some of the clinching rules to allow for more "dirty boxing" tactics. Return the sport to something that more closely resembles a "real" fight. You can see boxers even now resist the urge to pull their opponents head down while punching. It's a natural part of fighting.
Reducing the amount of rounds on the whole could be a good move as well. It would remove advantages from certain fighters, but would allow more compelling fight cards to be constructed. Though this would drive down the purses for fighters too I think.
Assuming the judges are honest and actually competent (the single most important aspect), they must be given video monitors to watch the fight. The only reason we still have judges scoring from ringside seats is because of tradition. We’re at a stage in history where that imperfect method is no longer necessary. I’ve been to enough live fights. It’s very clear that fans at home have a better view than the judges. That’s just crazy.
They need to do away with weight classes and change pro boxing with height classes instead where you have each class range from 2 two inches apart like say 6”0 to 6”2 and so on ,the second rule is an update ….if the fighter who is down on the scorecards after mid rounds doesn’t throw a certain amount of punches per round he gets a huge F”ing jolt of electricity in his corner when he sits down . :boxing:
First is actually an interesting idea. Maybe each weight class has a and b groups. A is above a certain avg height (in that weight class) B is anything average or below. It wont happen but its interesting.
Freakish height advantages beat a lot of good fighters, as much as being a bangin short dude. Plus, except for hw, a big part of huge height advantages is weight cutting, which is already an issue that distorts matchups.
1. Change the 10-9 must. If draw, score it a draw.
2. Just give the round to who hurt the other guy more.
I agree with the first completely. A lot of rounds are hard to give one way or the other. So u pick because u have to, and it undoubtedly benefits your preferred fighter.
Not so sure on this one. I've seen rounds where one guy was being picked apart but he landed a heavy combo that made a good impact. I give this one to the better boxer.
1. Boxer can call a 5 minute time out to recover/talk to his coach/tell jokes to the crowd.
2. Boxer can look at all 3 judges scorecards once during the fight, any round of their choosing. R7, R11, etc.
3. Boxer can call for a 2 minute 1-1 with referee to discuss complaints, etc, or just general chit chat.
4. Boxer can ask the commentators once during the fight, but not at end of fight, who they think is winning.
5. Boxer can make a phone call at any point in the fight to a family member or friend to get their personal scorecard and advice.
6. Boxer can kick, if he injures his hand during the fight. This prevents the fight being stopped.
7. Boxer can go to hospital to get stitches on a bad cut, but must return within 1 hour. Boxer will also be deducted 1 point for hospital visit. The oppossing Boxer can request that he brings back a snack for him.
Nash out
I would say, video replay for every single match to make sure they have the right call. Make judges with wild scorecards explain themselves immediately after the fight to the audience. If their explanation is dumb as f**k, never have them judge again. These two quickly come to mind while at work.
If you have a unified or undisputed fighter with some or all the belts they have to defend them agains the number one contenders or vacate. Guys holding on to all the belts stagnating the division while picking and choosing who they will fight next regardless of status. The individual sanctioning bodies are guilty of this since the superstars of the sport get a side of rules that the rest don't.
The main thing is they need to do something about is clinching that crap is in no way shape or form boxng but the boxers who use it to prevent from actually fighting made the false narrative of it being "boxin"
Iron Dan feels they don't clinch enough.
Thats incorrect. What he is saying is....dont let the belts get hung up with 2 fighters over 2 years. If you lose...step aside. Then the new champ can decide who is next on the roster. A side rematch clauses always get held up because the losing A side still wants A side rights in the rematch.
So just as I said, you would pretty much be ending decent voluntaries.
Champions won't voluntarily take on a big fight with no rematch. They'll keep busy until their next mandatory.
So you hand all the matchmaking responsibility to the orgs, who aren't making most of the decent fights now.
Mandatory defences don't have rematches. It's the challenger who might choose to waive that right.
No rematch clauses even if they do a deal outside of the purse bit for a mandatory fight.
Obviously if it goes to purse bid there isn't a rematch but too many times now we're seeing promoters cut a deal before purse bids just to get their fighter a rematch clause.
I don't mind them making a deal before it gets to purse bid so they can secure broadcasting and a good deal for their fighter and promotion but the no rematch clause should still stand.
That's what the mandatory system does.
What you're actually advocating for is no voluntary defences. That puts every bit of power in the hands of the organising bodies.
Thats incorrect. What he is saying is....dont let the belts get hung up with 2 fighters over 2 years. If you lose...step aside. Then the new champ can decide who is next on the roster. A side rematch clauses always get held up because the losing A side still wants A side rights in the rematch.
1. Scoring criteria in general. Squeaking 7/12 rounds while getting almost blasted out in a few of them shouldn't result in a win for the point fighter.
Technically Garcia vs Haney was close due to the round by round system, but Ryan molly whooped him.
Damage should could for a lot more than it does.
2. No fighter should ever have judges/refs from their home country. All other major international sports make sure this doesnt happen.
3. There should be more point deductions for gratuitous holding/hugging. It's a joke and ruins the spectacle of the fight.
4. A fight should be stopped after 2 knockdowns. MMA fighters take way less damage because partly because submissions are a source of a lot of stoppages but mainly because refs will jump in and stop a fight if a guy has been knocked down hard and is taking a pounding on the ground. This isn't possible in boxing but we shouldn't really allow a guy to get up from 4 KDs and keep fighting. Too much potential damaged.
5. There should be rankings that need to be followed. Ducking and swerving fights should never be allowed. No more bidniz men in this sport please.
Modern boxing's been around for over 100 years, and goes back even further to the 16th century. A lot of the rules in use today have been the standard for almost as long. Which rules do you think are in need of change though?
I can think of a few:
Change the maximum number of rounds from 10 to 11 (Non title fights) , and 12 to 13 (title fights). This slightly removes the chance of a draw as professional boxing judges aren't supposed to score rounds a draw. This will guarantee one fighter winning a majority of rounds in close fights.
Making the fight official after four rounds, I would change this to 5 rounds. For the same reason as above.
Some other things I've thought about is change the number of judges from 3 to 5. Adding more judges increases the sample size of scores and gives you a clearer picture of what actually happened.
None of these things remove the real problems in boxing, but it would modernize the sport a bit
15 round for title unification fights! A special occasion.
I am for 5 judges in fights that are important. With the punch stats shown to the judges before in-between round to help out with crooked scoring.
Change the 10-9 must. If draw, score it a draw. If dominant give the 10-8 even without a knockdown. Odd total number of rounds. Take away bullshit language - Runner wins because of “ring generalship”. Just give the round to who hurt the other guy more.