How do you score a boxing match?

[BostonGuy]

Great topic btw. When I score a fight, I take into account the following attributes:

Effective aggresssion
Clean/ accurate punches
Hardness of the punches landed
Ring generalship
Who landed the most punches?
Was either of the fighters hurt?

Generally you score a 10-8 if one fighter knocks the other fighter down. For every subsequent knockdown you score one more point so if fighter A knocks fighter B down twice it would be scored 10-7.....

The exception to this rule is if the fighter who got knocked down dominated the majority of the round before or after the KD. In this case you would score the round 10-9 (instead of 10-8) in favor of the fighter who knocked the fighter down....

You also have to take into account point deductions for head butts, holding, low blows, etc. Usually a ref will deduct one point for each of these infractions after a warning or two..

[Pugilistic™]

This thread below is a great thread on how you should score fights.

http://www.boxingscene.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=182456

Credit to Dirt E Gomez for the thread.

[Check]

For me and like most in this thread the first thing I look for is clean, crisp, and effective punching. Boxing is an art of fighting and who inflicts more damage is vital to victory in my eyes. Secondly, I would look at ring generalship and who is pressing the tempo and who is in control. These two things are by far the most important things I look for. Work load/punch output doesn't register much in my eyes when you aren't landing, unless the opponent isn't very active. There's a ton of ways to score a fight and isn't a dead science, just depends on the flow of the fight but I wouldn't say it is that difficult either.

[bojangles1987]

It's quite simple. You give the round to the fighter who is landing the most effective punches. Any other criteria such as who's controlling the pace of the fight, ring generalship, activity, all that stuff, that's all a distant second to the simple criteria of who is landing the largest number of effective punches.

[Check]

Great topic btw. When I score a fight, I take into account the following attributes:

Effective aggresssion
Clean/ accurate punches
Hardness of the punches landed
Ring generalship
Who landed the most punches?
Was either of the fighters hurt?

Generally you score a 10-8 if one fighter knocks the other fighter down. For every subsequent knockdown you score one more point so if fighter A knocks fighter B down twice it would be scored 10-7.....

The exception to this rule is if the fighter who got knocked down dominated the majority of the round before or after the KD. In this case you would score the round 10-9 (instead of 10-8) in favor of the fighter who knocked the fighter down....

You also have to take into account point deductions for head butts, holding, low blows, etc. Usually a ref will deduct one point for each of these infractions after a warning or two..

I have to admit that I give a lot more 10-8 rounds than anyone I see on HBO, SHO or ESPN. Without a knockdown 10-8 rounds seem rare but to me if a fighter dominates lets say 2 minutes and 15 seconds and really lays some major leather, possibly staggers his opponent, I almost always will award that round a 10-8. Hurting your opponent is HUGE on my scorecard.

[Medved]

For close fights I like to break each round into 3 parts
1st minute 2nd minute 3rd minute.

I count agression, effective punching and what affect they are having, I also ask myself who do I want to be at the end of the round?

If a guy gets dominated for the first 2 minutes and eats 20 punches but lands 10 punches in the last minute then I will score the round to the guy who controlled the first 2 minutes.

Alot of people see some clean punches at the end of the round and give it to that fighter while forgetting that a round is 3 minutes.

Im tired of dudes eating 30 punches a round and then they land a 3 punch combo at the end of the round that looks clean and affective and they win the round just because thats what the judges remember.

Judges need a button in their left and right hands for Fighter A and fighter B.

at the 1min mark they will hear a beep and they should press the button to which fighter they think is winning the round at that point, and repeat this process for the 2min and end of the round, then that gets written down.

So if you won the first minute and the third minute then you win the round, unless someone gets knocked down obviously.

[Barry Halls]

i use the judging criteria and score it round by round. How else could i do it?

If i disregard certain criterias, I'm just judging some fantasy contest.

[sunny31]

I use the usual criteria of scoring a fight, which many people have mentioned but I use it as the round is being fought, not at the end.

I use a see-saw system during the round in my head, so if fighter A lands a very good single shot but fighter B answers with a less clean 2-3 punch combination and less damage, that exchange would prob put them back close to even terms. For me this system normally separates the guys, but if i can't decide then I would probably go with who I thought landed the more penetrating punches, or if one fighter was particularly more busy during the round.

[DTanc]

I don't know exactly what they tell the pros to do, but this is how I do it:

The round starts even and I wait for someone to take control. They can take control by:
-being the only one landing punches of any kind
-landing a big punch
-establishing their jab and starting to control the ring.

--If they are both jabbing and no one is outdoing the other, the round is still even--

When one fighter takes control by accomplishing one of the things listed above, I look at the time. At that mark they are winning the round.

Now the other fighter can take control, and start winning the round, by one of the following:
-landing a big shot
-consistently landing harder/more effective punches than the other fighter, even if the other fighter has a higher output
-neutralizing the other fighters jab & stopping their ring control followed up by starting to land his own punches

If the fighter who was losing accomplishes one of those things the lead changes, he's now winning. I again note the time.

At the end of the round the fighter who was landing punches and controlling the ring for the majority of the 3 minutes wins the round 10-9.

BUT...

If one fighter lands a BOMB where the other fighter is wobbled/on ***** street or has to clinch for a considerable amount of time where it is clear the momentum has shifted then that fighter wins the round. I throw the time thing out the window. This is obviously a judgment call, but I make my best efforts to only give a round to a fighter who was outworked if he lands a very solid single shot.

Now in the case where both men are trading bombs I pray to God that one of them goes down so I don't have to make the judgment call. If no one goes down I'll give it to the person who seemed to land the harder more damaging shots.

[CubanGuyNYC]

I see a lot of posts that contain the words "to me." The judging criteria doesn't give anyone license to score certain factors more heavily than others based on personal preference.

The four judging criteria are (in order of importance):

1- Clean, hard punching. The number and effectiveness of blows landed are, by far, the most important factor in judging a match.

2- Effective aggression. Emphasis on "effective." Throwing 1000 punches that all miss, while your less aggressive opponent lands a few blows, will win him the fight.

3- Ring generalship. Dictating the pace and nature of the fight.

4- Defense. Yes, it's a part of boxing...and it counts.

Most people don't know what to look for in a boxing match, that includes some professional judges. Here's a link to a good breakdown on the subject:

http://coxscorner.tripod.com/scoring.htm