Bad Judging In Boxing

When it comes to the ultimate contest of man versus man, it doesn’t get much better than boxing. Literally, two people relying wholly upon the combination of their strength, speed, and smarts to out pummeling each other. Boxing is about being able to take and give punishment better than your opponent, but not all bouts end with putting an opponent into an involuntary sleep.

Fights often end by judges scoring each fighter based on how many times one guy managed to hit the other above the waist. This strategy for victory definitely favors guys with faster hands. However, perfectly good fights are completely ruined by judges who don’t know how to count, screw up calling fouls, or are just all around blind.

Don’t get us wrong, we understand that sitting from a fixed position and trying to count punches can be hard, but every time the judges make bogus fight calls, boxing becomes less fun. Take for instance the 1999 fight of Evander Holyfield vs. Lennox Lewis. This clash to determine the WBC champion was clearly dominated by Lewis who landed 200 more hits throughout the match than Holyfield. Inexplicably, Holyfield won by a 2-1 judge’s decision. Lewis must have committed a lot of fouls, or the judges were just complete numbskulls. Either way, a little piece of boxing died that day, and every time poor judging ruins a decision.