THE NO-DRAW FLAW
I READ the Robert Smith interview in the February 18 issue with interest. In my view, there is one flaw, above all others, which accounts for controversial judging decisions.
The flaw I’m referring to is that if judges are encouraged, when a round is close, to score it one way or the other, rather than scoring it even, then doesn’t that create a problem?
The answer, in my humble opinion, is of course it does! The problem is that judges are ignoring the fact that the most logical thing to do, when scoring a round that’s too close to call, is to score it a draw.
On numerous occasions I’ve heard pundits and commentators say, “a lot of the rounds were close and could have gone either way.” If those aren’t the elements which constitute that more rounds need to be scored even, then I don’t know what are!
If I was an auditor, with a remit to unearth as many judges’ scorecards which depicted close fights, I’d find it very difficult to find one single scorecard, because I wouldn’t locate too many, if any at all, that’d contain the evidence which shows that a fight was close.
The only element of a judge’s card which verifies a close contest is the number of rounds that are scored even.
If a round is too close to call, then this shows that it’s a draw, and it should be scored as such. Paul Scott
ONES THAT GOT AWAY
INSPIRED by the article about Riddick Bowe in the December 24, 2020 issue, I revisited his record.
Probably like all other boxing fans I find it a shame that Bowe never faced Lennox Lewis in a world heavyweight title contest.
Another great fight I would’ve loved to have seen is Bowe against Mike Tyson. I believe that would’ve been a fantastic fight.
Lewis finally did fight Tyson in 2002, with many suggesting that Tyson was already past his best. Maybe that was true, although the most telling factor was that Tyson had long since lost his aura of invincibility.
Tyson, of course, famously lived several hard lives in a short space of time due to, among other things, a lack of discipline. Meanwhile, Bowe’s own lack of discipline meant that he never stayed at the top as long as he should’ve.
While I believe that Lewis was the best of the bunch in that era, I must also give a special mention to Evander Holyfield, who fought Tyson and Lewis twice each, as well as facing Bowe on three occasions in what remains the last great heavyweight trilogy. Chris Strange