Comments Thread For: “Fighting Words” – Four Boxing Rules That Can (And Should) Change Easily

[BattlingNelson]

yevskiy, is human error preferable? I'm not talking balls and strikes. I'm talking whether a cut is caused by a punch or a head butt. The ruling can be made between rounds. If HBO has it figured out by then, why can't the commission?

Clegg, every fight in Nevada is in a 20 by 20. It works for them...

Bat, the same point as above... limit the instant replay to a certain situation and a certain time. The commission makes a ruling on butt or punch... and if there's no certain evidence to overturn a call within a certain period of time, then the original call stands.

And, again... Nevada has a requirement of 20 by 20. That hasn't kept fights from being staged there. It's only when promoters have the leeway to throw their weight around that they attempt to do so with ring size.

I can understand your argument... I just get tired of wondering whether a fighter won more because of the size of the ring than anything else...

Juan Diaz beat Paulie Malignaggi in their first fight. Was he the better fighter? Or just the better fighter in a small ring?

What's your take on Marciano-Walcott then? What if Walcott's corner had protested? Marciano did foul. I think everybody knows that. They also know that the punch was academic.

[Mr. David]

Bat, honestly, if I saw Marciano-Walcott, it was some time ago. I've long admitted that I'm not big on boxing history. I'm not at all familiar with the situation.

Let me answer your question by asking this question: Could the decision have been similar to what the decision should have been with Humberto Soto-Francisco Lorenzo 1? Had Joe Cortez or a ringside commissioner looked at a replay, they would've seen that yes, a foul had taken place, but no, nothing much landed.

Besides, we could write the rules so that replay is only used in certain situations and at certain discretion -- the way NBA refs do, for example -- and to me, the most important thing is to double check on how a cut was caused. That's something that happens more often than any of these other what-ifs.

[BattlingNelson]

Bat, honestly, if I saw Marciano-Walcott, it was some time ago. I've long admitted that I'm not big on boxing history. I'm not at all familiar with the situation.

Let me answer your question by asking this question: Could the decision have been similar to what the decision should have been with Humberto Soto-Francisco Lorenzo 1? Had Joe Cortez or a ringside commissioner looked at a replay, they would've seen that yes, a foul had taken place, but no, nothing much landed.

Besides, we could write the rules so that replay is only used in certain situations and at certain discretion -- the way NBA refs do, for example -- and to me, the most important thing is to double check on how a cut was caused. That's something that happens more often than any of these other what-ifs.

I'm not familiar with NBA ref's.

All I'm saying is that a replay rule could cause unwanted controversies. I'm very aware that a replay in a lot of instances would be a change for the better (cause of cuts for instance). So there'd have to be some strict procedures as to who can demand a replay-review etc.