How do you judge a fight?

[whollisboxing]

A fight is supposed to be judged round-by-round but it seems like a lot of people judge the fight as a whole instead.

For example, a fight can be extremely competitive with wide scorecards if a fighter wins most or all of the rounds by a narrow margin. If fighter A wins 12 rounds by the skin of his teeth then the final score is still 120-108. Just like in basketball, you could win by 50 points or 1 point and it still counts as 1 win.

[Marchegiano]

A fight is supposed to be judged round-by-round but it seems like a lot of people judge the fight as a whole instead.

For example, a fight can be extremely competitive with wide scorecards if a fighter wins most or all of the rounds by a narrow margin. If fighter A wins 12 rounds by the skin of his teeth then the final score is still 120-108. Just like in basketball, you could win by 50 points or 1 point and it still counts as 1 win.

I try to know what the judges' history is a bit that way I can guess what they're looking for. I don't hardly score anything myself I just wait to see which name scored what and see if I wasn't close to what I thought they'd score.



You should put a link to the podcast on your profile page.

[MUNG]

well u have to watch it without comments anyway & try not to award all the close rounds to the guy u want to win, pretty much impossible for most people and judges who usually have someone they know should win for their future benefit

[Get em up]

well u have to watch it without comments anyway & try not to award all the close rounds to the guy u want to win, pretty much impossible for most people and judges who usually have someone they know should win for their future benefit

I agree the only way to score a fight proper is to do it without commentary. I've rewatched fights and muted it and saw a very different fight before.

[touch_of_sleep]

I try to know what the judges' history is a bit that way I can guess what they're looking for. I don't hardly score anything myself I just wait to see which name scored what and see if I wasn't close to what I thought they'd score.

I track judges history now compared to my own scores. If I score a fight 116-112 and the judge had it 115-113 I consider that a one round difference.

Then I keep track to see who I most often agree with. And so far it's Steve Weisfeld, Don Trella, Julie Lederman and Glenn Feldman. I agree with them all more than 93% of the time. I agree with the average judge 88% of the time.

Some judges I disagree with 20% of the time. That's awfully wide and I probably wouldn't bet on fights when they are involved.

Here is my tracking sheet over the last year or so. https://boxeoguide.com/judges

[Marchegiano]

I track judges history now compared to my own scores. If I score a fight 116-112 and the judge had it 115-113 I consider that a one round difference.

Then I keep track to see who I most often agree with. And so far it's Steve Weisfeld, Don Trella, Julie Lederman and Glenn Feldman. I agree with them all more than 93% of the time. I agree with the average judge 88% of the time.

Some judges I disagree with 20% of the time. That's awfully wide and I probably wouldn't bet on fights when they are involved.

Here is my tracking sheet over the last year or so. https://boxeoguide.com/judges

That is interesting as ****, thanks for the post bud. I'm definitely going to pick up the habit.

[vinamars]

well u have to watch it without comments anyway & try not to award all the close rounds to the guy u want to win, pretty much impossible for most people and judges who usually have someone they know should win for their future benefit

+1

[F l i c k e r]

By not being bias.

That's the first thing about judging a fight.

if you have the slightest bias. You're going to cry robbery on Bscene.

[TheFrog]

By not being bias.

That's the first thing about judging a fight.

if you have the slightest bias. You're going to cry robbery on Bscene.

THIS! I think it's important to recognize it in yourself as well. I'll tell my friends straight up if I'm cheering for a guy. "Look guys I scored it this way but I have to admit that I'm biased in this one" Or something along those lines. It's a great way to keep yourself in check

[LoadedWraps]

A fight is supposed to be judged round-by-round but it seems like a lot of people judge the fight as a whole instead.

For example, a fight can be extremely competitive with wide scorecards if a fighter wins most or all of the rounds by a narrow margin. If fighter A wins 12 rounds by the skin of his teeth then the final score is still 120-108. Just like in basketball, you could win by 50 points or 1 point and it still counts as 1 win.

My scoring criteria and approach:

I favor ring generalship and clean punches.

Not all punches are equal to me. 10 landed jabs get trumped by 1-2 well landed, effective power shots, especially if the jabs were shoeshine, no steam shots.

I won't reward points for aggression if the aggression isn't effective.

I prefer when a fighter controls the center of the ring but if he is boxing off the back foot and controlling the fight and pace, he is still in control, his opponents aggression is not that effective, he wins the round for me even if he spent the entire round off the back foot.

I'll reward a fighter the round if the aggression was effective even if they smothered many punches in doing so. Effective doesn't just mean landing cleanly. It also means, are you forcing your fight on the other guy.

If a guy dominates a round outside of a knockdown he suffered, I'll score it 9-8.

I almost never reward 10 10 rounds, might have done it twice ever. Very exceptional circumstances.

I very rarely let fighters "steal" rounds on me. ODLH was outstanding at finishing strong, you need to really lay it on the guy in the last 30 if you want me to erase what the other guy did for 2:30. If I have the round going to you with 1 min left, it will take a hellacious rally or knockdown to change my round score if it's been a close round. The shoeshine flurry in the last 10 seconds isn't enough for me to question my round score.

Really, scoring to me, while subjective, isn't complicated at all. I don't find it challenging. I know what I'm watching, I've been both watching boxing and boxing myself for over a decade. Always confident in my scorecards and I score consistently.