World Boxing: Focus on scoring for fair results
Scoring has been a grey area in boxing, not yet foolproof despite several tweaks by the international boxing federation. There is no major tournament without controversial scoring. The most recent controversy came at the Asian Games when two North Korean boxing coaches refused to leave as they protested their boxer losing a close bout to China.
They couldn’t lodge an official protest in the absence of any mechanism of review or protest. They were kicked out of the Games following the fracas. A Philippines woman boxer too was in tears after her Chinese rival was adjudged the winner.
Scoring will again be in the spotlight in the World Championships starting here on Thursday. Indian boxers too have been affected by controversial scoring. In the 2014 Incheon Games, Laishram Sarita Devi, part of India’s squad in this world meet, seemed to have done everything to beat home boxer Park Jina, but the 60kg semi-final bout was awarded to the Korean. A tearful Sarita refused to accept her bronze medal and instead put it around Park’s neck. She was banned for a year for that incident.
From the manual scoring till the early 1990s to introduction of electronic scoring and the current ‘10-point must’ rule, the system has evolved over the years (see box).
In the 2012 London Olympics, the AIBA brought out major changes in scoring, aligning it more with professional boxing, but there were still allegations of large-scale rigging. Eventually, after the 2016 Rio Olympics, the AIBA suspended all 36 judges and officials. Several controversies led to the International Olympic Association warning AIBA to put its house in order or face expulsion from Olympics. Since then, AIBA has announced many internal reforms.
Former member of AIBA’s refereeing and judges’ commission, PK Muralidharan Raja, said AIBA must allow protest after bouts. “I don’t know why AIBA has done away with the ‘protest’ in scoring system. Maybe they just wanted to do away with any controversy. It is there in every sport. They can have safety measures in the mechanism of protest,” he said.
NEWDELHI: THE SCORING SYSTEM
The Bouts consist of three (3) rounds of three (3) minutes each
Five (5) Judges for each bout are allocated a position around the ring in accordance with electronic draw by AIBA Scoring System. At the end of each round, each Judge must determine the winning Boxer of that round by awarding a score of ten (10) points and by awarding nine (9) or less points - down to seven (7) - to the losing Boxer, depending on the judgment as to the degree to which the opponent lost the round. Every round must have a declared winner.
Scores of all five (5) Judges shall be counted in determining the winning Boxer
At the end of the bout, the precise scores awarded and the Judge who awarded each score will be identified on a public display. This public display will also indicate the total score by each Judge for each Boxer for the entire Bout
Each Judge will independently judge the merits of the two (2) Boxers using the Scoring System based on the following criteria: Number of quality blows on target area;
Domination of the Bout by technical and tactical superiority; Competitiveness;
The Judges must apply the following criteria to score round:
10 vs. 9
Close round
At the end of a Bout, each Judge will determine a winner based on the boxer’s total scores of the bout.
The winner will be determined by either unanimous or split decision.
10 vs. 8
Clear winner
10 vs. 7
Total dominance
WP
Win on points
Split decision by points
Three judges appoint one boxer as the winner and the other two either appoint the other Boxer as a winner or a draw; or four judges appoint one boxer as the winner and the other judge either appoints the other as winner or a draw.
Win by Referee Stops Contest-Injury (RSC-I)
If a Boxer, in the opinion of the Referee, is unfit to continue, the bout will be stopped and the opponent will be declared the winner.
Win by Knockout – KO
If a Boxer is knocked down and fails to resume boxing before that Boxer is counted up to ten (10), the opponent will be declared the winner.