Last week, the rebroadcast of the Barrera-Juarez fight was shown on CCTV5. The Mexican hero retained his title in a very controversial win. After watching this match, it got me to think how should the boxing rules be revised to avoid this kind of controversy, making it more legitimate?
In Barrera-Juarez fight, Juarez landed more powerful punches than his rival, making the aging boxing legend fight in a bedraggled condition, thrashing desperately just to keep up. But the result is completely beyond our ken, Barrera won with a minor scoring advantage over Juarez.
To avoid this kind of controversies, the rules of scoring needs to be reconsidered. I propose that the use of the scoring method be "widened" so that one can differentiate the winner of the round in a more distinct manner. For instance, a fighter could be awarded a 10-8 round in rounds where he hasn't scored a knockdown but is the clear winner in a big way, or has his opponent in a very uncomfortable position so on and so forth. Here's my "wider" scoring method for boxing:
10-10 rounds: Don't exist in current scoring system. In new system, 10-10 rounds should be encouraged in a very slow, no action rounds.
10-9 rounds: Currently credited to the winner of the round 98% of the time regardless of how overwhelmingly or not he won the round. In new system, 10-9 rounds should be given to fighters who have a clearer advantage in the round through ring generalship or effective aggressiveness but never have the opponent seriously hurt or in trouble. This would indicate an edge for the winner but not in an overwhelming way.
10-8 rounds: Now used in rounds where one knockdown occurs. In new system, 10-8 rounds should be used in a dominant round, regardless whether a knockdown is scored. This would indicate that the round was won in a dominating fashion. It could also be used in rounds where the result of the round was a closer 10-9, but a flash or off balance knockdown occurred.
10-7 rounds: Seldom used in current system except for recognizing additional knockdowns. In new system, 10-7 rounds should be awarded to the fighter who knocks his opponent down or is dominant through most or all of the round.
10-6 and below should be for the situation above with more knockdowns.
If this new scoring method is adopted, how many controversial decisions would have been avoided?
By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD Online
The article represents the writer's views only
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