How do you judge a fight?

[whollisboxing]

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

That is especially hard when you have a rooting interest. One thing I like to do is make note of swing rounds (especially if there is more than one) and see what my score looks like if I split those evenly among the fighters. It is definitely challenging though but I love it.

[whollisboxing]

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.

Thanks and I will do that right now

[whollisboxing]

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

Wow that's awesome, thanks for sharing

[whollisboxing]

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.

It sounds like you know what you're looking for and you apply that same criteria across the board. That's awesome and thanks for sharing.

[LoadedWraps]

It sounds like you know what you're looking for and you apply that same criteria across the board. That's awesome and thanks for sharing.

Absolutely, consistency and objectivity is key.

And welcome to BoxingScene.

[TonyGe]

I break each round into segments and try to determine who won each segment. I count punches as accurately as I can. I count jabs as punches. I don't favor power punches as having more weight as a jab unless they show an effect on the opponent. Eg. Forcing him back or hurting him. If a fighter is knocked down and comes back strong I score it as an even round. I try not to count illegal blows as punches. I look for clean punches. I don't count coasting for most of the round and then winning the last minute as necessarily winning a round.

[champion4ever]

10 point must system, clean punching and effective aggressiveness. I'm afraid to say it but ring generalship has become a lost art form in boxing. Most judges nowadays favor aggressors rather than generals.

[Pantera_]

Whoever wins more rounds wins. Or if you ko the other guy.

[KingHippo]

You judge fights by the rounds because that's the way it is. If I want to let you punch yourself out like an idiot for 5 rounds then edge out the rest so be it.

[Smash]

i dont judge a fight by the colour of their skin but by content of their skills