Scores To Settle: Boxing’s Constant Decision Dilemma
“I feel shame if I try to explain why I didn’t win the fight. I didn’t win and that’s it,” explained a dejected Dmitry Bivol with an emotionally cracking voice, just moments after his controversial first career defeat to Artur Beterbiev.
“I felt like everything was under control before the last round. I felt like I landed more clean punches,” he continued in the immediate aftermath of his undisputed dream being shattered in Saudi Arabia.
“But boxing is not about only clean punches. It’s about how you impress judges, and you need to count sometimes rounds, not punches.”
Classy and humble despite the contentious nature of his majority decision loss, the dethroned light-heavyweight champion refused to make excuses which he felt would subsequently diminish the sacrifices he’s made for boxing.
Though, while Bivol gracefully accepted the widely disputed circumstances of his maiden setback, boxing has once again found itself at the centre of another backlash surrounding scoring and judging decisions.
Recent Scoring Controversy
As the eyes of the boxing world were cast on another Saudi spectacle in Riyadh, both Bivol and Beterbiev finally collided in what ultimately became a captivating contest of the highest level of boxing.
But when that global gaze turned its attention from the 12 rounds of ring brilliance to the official scorecard announcement, the contrasting views were watched mainly in disbelief.
Another incredible showcase of how great the sport can be when two of its best practitioners are involved became overshadowed, yet again, by another backlash from the opinions and scores of ringside judges.
It was undoubtedly a close match-up of styles, but it appeared for the majority of those associated with boxing that Bivol had rallied to undisputed supremacy with a career-best victory.
Though that wasn’t to be, with one judge scoring it level at 114-114 and the other two favouring Beterbiev with tallies of 115-113 and 116-112.
It was that latter highly debated scorecard, which remarkably awarded Bivol only four of the 12 completed rounds to Bivol, that caused widespread chaos and even prompted promoter Eddie Hearn to exclaim “this judge should never work in the sport again.”
“I don’t want to disrespect, because they are both incredible fighters, but I find it sickening that, after a lifetime of hard work, Bivol is not undisputed champion tonight. He won that fight,” Hearn declared passionately during the tense post-fight press conference.
It’s a disputed undisputed result which has rekindled debates between everyone close to boxing, including fans, followers, pundits and fighters – dividing thoughts on exactly how there can be such a varying call on properly scoring such a prominent fight.
How To Score Boxing Fights
The elite level shootout between Beterbiev and Bivol showcased two differing styles. The controversial victor and new undisputed champion utilised his usual aggressive, come-forward pressure to gain the nod of the ringside officials.
Whereas Bivol used his trademark slick footwork and movement around the Riyadh ring in an unfortunate maiden defeat; firing with sharper flurries of attacks compared to his rival’s seemingly more thudding, economical punches.
While the term ‘it’s what you prefer’ is often tossed around during big fight nights by fans and viewers, it’s not as open-ended as that.
When it comes to scoring a professional fight, there are officially specific rules and parameters that are supposed to be followed by those chosen to oversee the action.
A three-judge system is mandatory for any major championship fights, but lesser profile or shorter round bouts are sometimes scored by a single person or the appointed referee.
Boxing’s '10-Point Must System'
Modern boxing uses the '10-Point Must System' of scoring fights, which works as follows:
- Judges will score each round individually on the ‘10-point scale’
- Most rounds are scored 10-9 to the boxer who has got the better of the three-minute period (or two-minute for women)
- The fighter who was deemed to have won the round is given 10 points and the other fighter is scored 9
- Judges score the rounds to their selected winner based on specific criteria of harder and cleaner punches landed to the head and body, effective aggression if dominating an opponent to enforce their will, ring generalship in controlling the action and the better overall defence in taking less punishment while countering
- If a fighter is knocked down or given a standing count from the referee then that boxer loses a point, meaning they would likely lose the round 10-8
- A judge is allowed to award a fighter a 10-8 round without any deductions or knockdowns if that boxer has clearly completely dominated by a huge margin (if it’s all one-sided and perhaps the losing boxer is saved by the bell)
- A 10-10 is also feasible to score if there is visibly nothing to separate the two fighters in an extremely close round but judges are encouraged to avoid this as much as possible
- Referees can deduct a point from a fighter during a round for breaking the rules, including an intentional foul such as low blow or headbutt
- A referee can also decide that a boxer has committed accidental fouls too frequently and subsequently deduct one point for repeated offences
Types of Boxing Results
If no boxer has won the fight early by knockout within the scheduled number of rounds, then the judges’ ringside scorecards determine who the winner is.
As each round is worth a maximum of 10 points, it means a fighter can score as high as 120 points in a 12-round fight via the '10-Point Must System' (i.e. winning every round without any deductions would end in a 120-108 final scorecard).
Each of the three judges will have an overall winner or perhaps have a level scorecard upon the conclusion of the bout, which leads to one of these various boxing results:
- Unanimous decision: This means all three of the judges have the same fighter ahead on their scorecards at the final bell.
- Split decision: This means two judges have a certain boxer winning the fight, while one judge has the other ahead. This results in the fighter with two winning scorecards to win the contest.
- Majority decision: This is when two judges have one boxer ahead on their card, while the third judge scored it as a draw. The winning fighter has therefore taken the majority of the scorecards.
- Draw: This occurs when one judge has a boxer ahead, one judge has the other fighter ahead and the third has scored the contest as a draw. The overall result is then ruled a draw.
- Majority draw: This is when two of the three judges have a fight level on their scorecards but the third judge has one fighter ahead on theirs, subsequently declaring a 'majority draw'.
Issues With Current Scoring System
Despite there being a clear and intent system for scoring fights, judges are constantly coming under scrutiny, and controversy regularly arises from so many examples of poor scoring.
Whether this stems from incompetence or corruption often remains unclear, due to the sheer volume of cases throughout the different levels of boxing; from small hall shows to more prominent global events.
A key problem with the current scoring system is the subjectivity, considering ringside officials are asked to base their scorecards based on factors like ring control, defensive aptitude and effective aggression, as well as the most important aspect – clean punches landed.
When it comes down to it, all of this is based on what an individual sees in front of them and their own personal opinion of the proceedings unfolding.
This has always opened the door for simple human error from those tasked with the job, as they aim to correctly score each round at a time while trying to avoid outside interference such as crowd influence as well.
There is also an evident lack of transparency from those involved, with frequent baffling or downright outrageous scorecards simply being swept under the carpet following the official results.
This is in spite of these decisions having such a major impact and ensuing consequences on the lives and careers of the most important people involved; the actual fighters in the ring.
So, how could boxing improve its system of scoring and does it need an overhaul?
How Could Boxing Scoring Be Improved?
Some boxing fans have called for technology to be brought in to help combat the issues surrounding scoring but, proven from frustrations and difficulties in other sports such as football, that may not always be a positive strategy.
It’s not an easy problem to fix, which is perhaps why the scoring rules have remained in place (or stayed stagnant depending on how you view it) for so long.
Other suggestions spotlighted throughout the years have included moving to ‘open scoring’, adding more judges to the panel, having the referee score fights too or completely turn to technology for punch stats.
All of these proposals have been put out there as potential options in a bid to eradicate ‘robberies’ and make poor scoring a less common occurrence.
A lot of people are against the idea of ‘open scoring’, which would essentially mean that the judges’ scorecards are updated and shown to everyone, including the boxers themselves, after each round during the course of a bout.
The concept would likely destroy any sense of suspense for a decision at the end and undoubtedly sway a fighter’s gameplan, though. If they know they are well ahead on the scores, then they will inevitably coast to victory without taking any unnecessary risks.
This could therefore render the majority of a fight meaningless and, if open scores seemed off then it would cause widespread frustration among fans and media in attendance.
Adding more judges may be a case of quantity over quality. What boxing needs is better judges, not necessarily more. Using five judges instead of three may simply produce even more poor cards.
The idea behind the current three-judge system is that they all have a vantage point at ringside. So, where would additional scorers be located? More doesn’t guarantee better. More emphasis should be put into training judges to be better and more consistent rather than hiring a higher number of them.
In terms of using a referee to score fights, it takes away their primary focus of ensuring the safety of fighters and overseeing the rules are followed properly. It happens in lesser round bouts and smaller shows but, at the top level, scoring would be a massive distraction on top of their other key tasks as the third person in the ring.
Finally, switching solely to technology to rely on efficient scoring would bring its own problems. Punch stats provide a general guide of the flow of a fight unofficially but they can’t be relied on officially.
Boxing isn’t a stat-based sport and the effectiveness of the shots landed aren’t typically recorded. It tends to be connection rate rather than quality of punches that is detailed.
At its core, prize-fighting is raw, and the priority is damage inflicted. This is ‘the hurt business’, after all.
As far as scoring a round is concerned, the difference from opening to final bell domination and an agonisingly close nail-biter is currently always just a single point.
With scores to be settled following such a monumental recent battle, a Beterbiev vs Bivol rematch has been universally demanded for and looks set to welcomingly carry on boxing’s super-fight surge through to 2025. Whether the sport’s constant decision dilemma follows suit remains to be seen, though.
BIVOL X BOXRAW COLLECTION
Built alongside former light-heavyweight world champion, Dmitry Bivol. Round Two features a new limited range of training wear tried and trusted by the pound-for-pound great. Explore the full new Bivol x BOXRAW Collection now.
Header image: Mark Robinson / Matchroom Boxing