Thread: Is boxing judging worthless by now?

Just finished watching the Benavidez-Santana fight prior to the Crawford-Postol main event.

Let's face it... lousy judging has always been a part of boxing. But it is just purely worthless now? I mean WHAT THE HELL... MAN. 100-90 in favor of Benavidez?? That's not just a lousy score. It's a slap in the face to a gallant effort by Santana, who clearly won several rounds. It's also a slap in the face to all boxing fans, as you could just pull a drunk patron from a nearby bar and he'd probably put in a better score. Just how long are we going to put up with this type of shit?? It ruins our wonderful sport.

They need to expose these judges and if they have performed badly be demoted.

I think there's an apathy that has set in. Everybody knows boxing judges are incompetent... sort of like death and taxes. Too bad, though. Not wanting to go out on a limb here... but I suspect judging boxing matches is somewhat less complicated than biophysics. And there's plenty of those out there (biophysicists). So I imagine it's not a stretch to expect a multi-billion dollar sport like boxing to be able to come up with some competent boxing judges, so we don't have to suffer this eternal merry-go-round every time there's a big fight. The routine of it is nauseating. Big fight occurs... judging is abysmal... we all complain and wring our hands ('cause it's the only damn thing we CAN do)... we start talking about the next big fight and forget the bad judging we just saw. Wash... rinse... repeat.

It's like most problems in boxing. What can we do other than boycott the fights? We love the sport so we don't want to stop watching. It's hard to get everybody together and not watch a fight. It has to naturally happen once we all get so sick and tired of the corruptness.

It's a problem even in the movies.

Anyone ever noticed in Rocky III at start of round 3 the announcer says "tough rounds to call right now". Given that Balboa had battered Lang all over the place in the opener but then battered Rocky in the second and even put him down twice it just goes to show its a tough job....

Originally Posted by Mark TKO

It's a problem even in the movies.

Anyone ever noticed in Rocky III at start of round 3 the announcer says "tough rounds to call right now". Given that Balboa had battered Lang all over the place in the opener but then battered Rocky in the second and even put him down twice it just goes to show its a tough job....

That's 'cause they don't know whether to reward gritty, "lack of boxing skills", body-punching mentality (Rocky)... or aggressive, one-punch power (Lang). They might also have sentimental ties to the defending champion, while being non-sympathetic to the thuggish looking Lang. Tough job.

I wonder what would happen or if it's been done...average all the cards for a lone score I mean all three score are very individual but in many cases you have one where the judge was clearly busy over at the casino bar or in need of paying some bills . Its almost an unfortunate time honored tradition to have blind judges either one at a time or as a whole. The obvious glaring problem with terrible judging is that there is almost always ZERO accountability, review or reprimand on a judge who cannot differentiate rounds. Judges are exactly like fighters in that they accumulate a record of performance and they need to be scrutinized as such before just being appointed. Know the names, make them stand ring center being introduced or even have them read it aloud at end. They stay in the shadows and that has to make it even easier to be blind or worse. We need a Teddy at every table to literally hold the score sheet in the face of a judge and commissioner and make them admit they were wrong on live tv. Again.

Accountability is it, I agree.

Then again, my buddies, cousins who love basketball to football can point out certain games where the say officials call bad fall all 4 quarters.

Last time Milwaukee Bucks had a shot at the championship... Glen Robinson, Sam Cassell and Ray Allen was our Big 3. Their last playoff game lost to coach Larry Byrd team.....he stated his team did win, but felt the refs didn't need to help us... Oh yeah that's what Byrd said.

And in NFL there are for sure WR wide receivers who push off pass five yards and no call. Michael Irvin of the Cowboys for sure. Sorry to go back so far. Haven't watched these new teams to name names

Bad judges, refs and officials in more than boxing

Originally Posted by SlimTrae

Accountability is it, I agree.

Then again, my buddies, cousins who love basketball to football can point out certain games where the say officials call bad fall all 4 quarters.

Last time Milwaukee Bucks had a shot at the championship... Glen Robinson, Sam Cassell and Ray Allen was our Big 3. Their last playoff game lost to coach Larry Byrd team.....he stated his team did win, but felt the refs didn't need to help us... Oh yeah that's what Byrd said.

And in NFL there are for sure WR wide receivers who push off pass five yards and no call. Michael Irvin of the Cowboys for sure. Sorry to go back so far. Haven't watched these new teams to name names

Bad judges, refs and officials in more than boxing

Missing a wide receiver pushing off while sprinting downfield watching half a dozen guys at once while dodging runners and thrown footballs is a little more forgivable than some bozo with nothing to do for 12 rounds but watch an entire fight with a pretty good seat... only to turn in an embarrassing scorecard.

Yes... bad judging is a part of many sports. But in boxing, the incompetence is there for all to see.
And it ruins perfectly good fights.

Originally Posted by TitoFan

Originally Posted by SlimTrae

Accountability is it, I agree.

Then again, my buddies, cousins who love basketball to football can point out certain games where the say officials call bad fall all 4 quarters.

Last time Milwaukee Bucks had a shot at the championship... Glen Robinson, Sam Cassell and Ray Allen was our Big 3. Their last playoff game lost to coach Larry Byrd team.....he stated his team did win, but felt the refs didn't need to help us... Oh yeah that's what Byrd said.

And in NFL there are for sure WR wide receivers who push off pass five yards and no call. Michael Irvin of the Cowboys for sure. Sorry to go back so far. Haven't watched these new teams to name names

Bad judges, refs and officials in more than boxing

Missing a wide receiver pushing off while sprinting downfield watching half a dozen guys at once while dodging runners and thrown footballs is a little more forgivable than some bozo with nothing to do for 12 rounds but watch an entire fight with a pretty good seat... only to turn in an embarrassing scorecard.

Yes... bad judging is a part of many sports. But in boxing, the incompetence is there for all to see.
And it ruins perfectly good fights.

I will be sure to get a hold of you next time I hear NFL fans holler fixed!

Then of course there's this......







In their defense... they WERE replacements.

Originally Posted by TitoFan

Then of course there's this......







In their defense... they WERE replacements.

Maybe boxing needs replacement judges too. They couldn't be any worse than the normal ones.

Not such a far-fetched idea. Why not?
It's obvious no extraordinary skills are needed, judging by the scores we see routinely on televised fights.
Spreads between the 3 judges are so huge it's embarrassing.
Well.... it should be embarrassing, except I think boxing is beyond embarrassment.

Well the thing is judging is fucked because they all have there things they rank on. Some go with the come forward guy others like counter shot while backing up guy. Not to mention why they do not watch the fight on a tv is beyond me because that means they can miss a lot of shit going on in the ring.

Originally Posted by Mr140

Well the thing is judging is fucked because they all have there things they rank on. Some go with the come forward guy others like counter shot while backing up guy. Not to mention why they do not watch the fight on a tv is beyond me because that means they can miss a lot of shit going on in the ring.

Good points. On the first point, don't know how you'd get around that. It's the judge's prerogative what he/she likes or doesn't like. But sometimes they're downright inept, missing lots of what goes on in the ring. Which brings up the second point which is worth considering as well. Other sports rely on things like instant replay and shit like that. So why not consider giving the judges the benefit of the camera's point of view, especially if they feel they've missed something. Hell... it's not like they don't have some time in between rounds to make up their minds on the round just ended. Anything would be better than the ridiculous crap we're subjected to now, and the fact that boxing just shrugs its collective shoulders and does nothing.