Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to be able to cover the sport of boxing, and one of the perks that have come along with this privilege is to be able to sit ringside, and view the sport from a different perspective. That being said, I have always believed that the premise of corruption in boxing, specifically judging, is for the most part unfair, and inaccurate. In the general case of a 'bad decision' in boxing, what is being labeled as corrupt may simply be the subjective opinion of three stationary individuals who are only exposed to a singular perspective.
If you have never gone to a fight, and actually sat and watched the action from a live, ringside vantage point, it is nearly impossible to get the appreciation for this different perspective. When being there live, and watching the fight from a ringside (or relatively close) seat, you notice many differences, some subtle, some not; that vary greatly from the watching the fight in the comfort of your own home.
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For instance, being ringside at a fight means you do not have the luxury of having your eyes pan to the angle that provides the best viewable action. You are relegated to the front and peripheral views that your seating plan allows. Watching from home, you usually get all the best viewable angles because you have more than one set of eyes providing the best angles for you. The cameramen make sure of this.
If you are sitting in a chair on one side of the ring, you obviously won't have the opportunity to see much of the action that transpires on the opposing sides of the ring, and certainly not in the far corners, let alone the near ones. On TV, you usually always get that luxury. Being ringside, you do not. This is one of the factors to consider before you cry out bloody murder when you feel like a judge has robbed a fighter, especially after watching it on TV. Judges, judge bouts on what they see from their best viewable angle, which ultimately is isn’t as large in scale as that which is compared to the plethora of angles provided by TV.
Also, being at ringside forces you to not only contend with the constant displacement of the action in the ring, but with viewable obstructions as well. Not only does the referee sometime obstruct your view, but being as close as a judge is means you have to peer through three sets of ring ropes as well. If your eyes are caught behind either of these obstructions, you might miss some meaningful action. Which again is something judges have to contend with and which can ultimately affect the scoring of bouts.
A second factor to consider, and perhaps the most influencing, is the propagation of swayable commentary and statistics that television provides.
Consider, when you are sitting at ringside, usually the only commentary you receive comes from friends sitting beside, and others who sit around you. Neither of the commentary is sustained, and for the most part, not very influential, primarily because it is not sustained.
Sitting a home, and listening to a broadcast while trying to watch and score a fight will sway your opinion of the action transpiring the ring. While the commentary can be professional and at times enlightened, it inevitability affects your subjectivity. In fact, the effect of sustained commentary can convince you that what you are hearing is what is actually taking place. Sometimes it is, sometimes it is not.
Of course, you do have the ability to turn the volume off, and watch the fight, which should increase your ability to be neutral in your subjective-ness.
Judges who sit ringside do not necessarily have to contend with the broadcasts that are afforded by television, and therefore are less likely to be prone to an afflicted opinion. Judges typically are seated on three separate sides of the ring, and are generally removed from media and other personnel. Essentially, the theory behind the seating logic is to safeguard their opinion from outside influences (while judging the fight, of course), while allowing them to gather some objectivity upon which to base their scores.
What this means is that if you are encouraged by what you hear from a televised broadcast crew, your scorecard can read entirely different than what a judges might read, possibly fostering the negative connotation of boxing judging and decisions.
A third factor to consider when comparing your scores to that of a judge's are the influence of televised statistics. Punch Stats, essentially.
Recently, punch stat numbers have been used to try to validate 'bad decisions' in boxing. From a television viewers standpoint, punch stats number definitely have the ability to sway your opinion, especially if at the end of close rounds you are not sure who to score the rounds for. If you favor busier fighters, the punch stats numbers that are displayed after the round, will definitely help you.
Keep in mind that being ringside, and especially being a judge, you do not have the luxury of these statistics. Most judges are required to submit their scored rounds immediately after the round has completed. A judge doesn’t keep punch stats number in their heads, and by scoring the rounds immediately after their completion with the round, isn’t able to refer to Punch Stat numbers. At the end of the day, these statistics are derived by just two guys sitting around the ring scoring punches they think are being thrown, and being scored. Punch Stat numbers are ultimately subjective themselves.
What fans need to remember is that the 'bad decision' you see on TV may not be so much because of the ineptness of a judge, but may be because of the culmination of numerous amenities provided by television that effectively, and inevitability, affect what you think you see.
When scoring the bout at home, to be as independent as possible, turn the volume down, stay sober, forget punch stat numbers, and score the rounds immediately after they are completed. Also, try to score the rounds based on the following three criteria:
- Clean punching
- Effective aggressiveness
- Ring Generalship and defense
This should give you an adequate indication of what a judge’s scorecard might look like and why it may differ so much from your own.
Then again, following these guidelines takes away from the fun of being a fan. Just don’t go getting upset and going on a rant with a beer in your hand, with the HBO (or Showtime, or Fox Sports Net, or NBC) broadcast teams as your witness, to another 'bad decision' in boxing.
Judging isn’t a science, and shouldn’t be regarded as such. It is ultimately the subjective opinion of 3 individuals, who are sometimes right, and sometimes wrong. It’s a shame though that when they’re wrong, they’re the ones that count. Oh well, such is boxing… who’s getting the next round of beers?
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By Peter Chhim (June 16, 2004) 
