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.

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Originally Posted by Tam Seddon

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

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I think a lot of Heavyweights today would struggle to stay awake themselves over 15 rounds :cwm33:

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?

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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?

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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 .

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Originally Posted by roberto duran legend

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

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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.

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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.

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Especially when fatigued.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

I think the reduction from 15 to 12 rounds was precipitated by the death of Du Ku Kim in 1982. I am sure that accommodating network requests for televised fights also influenced the decision makers and the proliferation of late round stoppage and injuries was another factor. History would record many older fighters winning if the championship distance had always been 12 rounds with Hearns surely beating Leonard and many others following suit. Yes there were plenty of draws and split decisions even over 15 rounds but my hypothesis is that many so called fitter or better conditioned fighters today would struggle over 15 rounds and be unable to box negatively for a draw. The extra rounds seemed to call for second, third and fourth winds, the mystic hinterland where greatness was often confirmed.Before boxings formalization people fought with no round limits with some bouts going in excess of 100 rounds. No gloves and clogs on your feet that some mental as well as physical toughness. The average marathon time is 4 hours 32 minutes so 45 minutes of boxing instead of 36 seems reasonable from an endurance point of view. The problem again i think comes down to dehydration with many fighters boiling down to weights unnaturally low for them. The extra 3 rounds then leaves brains in a dangerously unprotected position in a "dry" athlete and so 12 rounds it is.

This fight came to my mind with your post, the last 3 round's have taken there toll on many fighter some with there life as with Du Ku Kim.?
But with the best will in the world round 1 to 15 injury can happen in any of them,it's a sad fact?

Of course it has. It cannot possibly be otherwise. How many KO's used to happen between 13-15?

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Originally Posted by marbleheadmaui

Of course it has. It cannot possibly be otherwise. How many KO's used to happen between 13-15?

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Rocky, Leonard and many other greats would never have been champions.

I have watched some great fifteen round fights and watched some dull ones that made me wonder how I woke up finding myself soaked in beer and covered with chips. The good news is that there were not so many draws and back then, twelve round fights were elimination matches preparing a fighter for a beating or telling us that maybe we shouldn't buy so many sleeping pills if certain fighters got together. The other advantage is you have to train. There was no excuse for not being in shape but then again you may suffer more damage or boredom with three extra rounds as a fan. The WBC claimed after Mancini-Kim there was more damage as the fight went on after twelve and doctors were up in arms and now we have mixed martial atrs and there are no ten oiunce gloves or eight ounce gloves to contend with and you have more concussive power in your punches. Oh yes you can hit a man when he is down and they want to ban boxing? Get a friggin life assholes. I wonder just how long a prime is attained and lasts in that sport. Don't get me wrong, I watch those too occasionally but I love boxing and I can't watch enough of it. There used to be 40-50 rounds but some people had to go home to dinner.