Thread: Have 12 round fights resulted in more close decisions than those fought over15 ?

After the WBC leading the way in reducing the championship distance from 15 to 12 rounds do you think decisions have been closer. For example had the recent Cleverly - Bellew fight gone 15 rounds instead of 12 would the winning margin be greater? How many more knockouts would have occurred and would fitness/endurance levels been more of a deciding factor in close and drawn contests?

Imagine a 15 round heavyweight fight these days... I think I would actually fall asleep.

Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

Imagine a 15 round heavyweight fight these days... I think I would actually fall asleep.

I think a lot of Heavyweights today would struggle to stay awake themselves over 15 rounds

I could not think of anything worse to watch! Even 12 rounds is a struggle for a lot of these so called world champions in recent years.

Thinking about it now, it seems odd the championship distance was reduced to an even number. Youd think to avoid getting so many draws that they would have gone to 13?

Maybe they thought it was fairer to give an even fight a better chance of being a draw?

Originally Posted by ross

Thinking about it now, it seems odd the championship distance was reduced to an even number. Youd think to avoid getting so many draws that they would have gone to 13?

Maybe they thought it was fairer to give an even fight a better chance of being a draw?

Good point imagine if the Holmes -Norton fight had been over 14 rounds not only would it have been a draw we would have missed one of the great heavyweight rounds

http://youtu.be/IupyEYB-27c

Still think championship fights should be 15 rounds , brings out the best of best .

Originally Posted by roberto duran legend

Still think championship fights should be 15 rounds , brings out the best of best .

I agree that championship fights should be 15 rounds.

I don't think reducing the rounds has caused more close decisions, but there are many fights that would have turned out differently had they gone longer.

if 15 rounds were still being fought, there would surely be less close decisions and more knockouts. But keep in mind the health of fighters. Accumulation of punches is what leads to injury- often serious injury.

Originally Posted by gest12645

if 15 rounds were still being fought, there would surely be less close decisions and more knockouts. But keep in mind the health of fighters. Accumulation of punches is what leads to injury- often serious injury.

Especially when fatigued.

Originally Posted by gest12645

if 15 rounds were still being fought, there would surely be less close decisions and more knockouts. But keep in mind the health of fighters. Accumulation of punches is what leads to injury- often serious injury.

Are you forgetting all the draws, SD & MD there were when 15 rounds still existed?

It's kind of a no brainer to me, more rounds give a greater chance for one fighter to persevere and come on strong late. It's fairly rare that two men are both raring to go after 9 or 10 rounds let alone 12, there's generally a guy in better condition who is able to to more in the championship rounds. Make a fight 20 rounds and you'd hardly get any decisions whatsoever lol. In contrast, if you watch 4 round fights on ESPN etc it's often just a coin toss as to who wins it and the decision means nothing.

I think simply by it being an odd number of rounds you may see less chance of draws though you also had more rounds for a judge or ref to grey over. I think no matter it 12 or 15 a fighter conditions one self accordingly, or should, to step up or step off tempo in any case depending on opponent etc. save for the number of champions who woke up one morning in the 80's and were told 'hey your next defense will be less 3 rounds'. Today it would be good to see even no titles set for 12 rather than 10. Your still a champion its just the trinket taking the night off.

I think another reason why they went down to 12 rounds was for commercial reason so that they could show a world title fight in under an hour.

Originally Posted by Spicoli

I think simply by it being an odd number of rounds you may see less chance of draws though you also had more rounds for a judge or ref to grey over. I think no matter it 12 or 15 a fighter conditions one self accordingly, or should, to step up or step off tempo in any case depending on opponent etc. save for the number of champions who woke up one morning in the 80's and were told 'hey your next defense will be less 3 rounds'. Today it would be good to see even no titles set for 12 rather than 10. Your still a champion its just the trinket taking the night off.

This is true and I thought about that, but at the same time most fighters dont go into a fight expecting to get beat up every round, and it's just natural that one man usually ends up with more in the tank by the end. The reason they stopped having 15 rounders is because taking punishment under that level of fatigue exponentially increases the risk of serious head injury so it's on a whole different level as far as pacing oneself.