The Judges Were on Point for Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III

The Judges Were on Point for Manny Pacquiao vs. Juan Manuel Marquez III

By Danny Serratelli (Nov 14, 2010) Doghouse Boxing (Photo © German Villasenor, Doghouse Boxing)
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Despite what many boxing fans think it is extremely difficult to accurately determine who won a 12 round fight under the 10-point must scoring system if you do not score the fight round by round as the official judges do. As most boxing fans know each round is usually scored 10-9, unless there is a knockdown, point deduction, truly even round, or in other limited instances such as when a fighter is thoroughly dominated and is able to remain on his feet the entire round.

People are constantly accusing boxing judges of being corrupt. While there are always exceptions the fact is that most of the individuals making these accusations should educate themselves on the subject. Many do not understand how the fights are scored; they often think their experience as a trainer, fighter or working in boxing makes them an expert on who won the fight. This is regardless of the fact that most of these people do not take the time to keep score.

The guilty parties are not scoring round by round; they are just watching the fight as whole. This will often give you a very different perception of who won the fight. On top of that, the majority of the “experts” are watching pay per view in loud bars and homes, drinking, eating and listing more to the guy next to them or the commentary. To truly score a fight properly, you need to get in a zone like many of the professional judges do. Lock in on the fight with no distractions and score the fight round by round without taking into account the crowd or the commentary.

A closer analysis of the Pacquiao vs. Moralez fight illustrates why many fans are calling it a robbery, while knowledgeable boxing people either agree the judges were on point or that they are at least honestly in the ballpark. Punchstat numbers while sometimes useless, appeared to be useful in this instance. Pacquaio landed around 40 more punches and threw around 140 more punches. In this fight almost every round was close and many could have been scored either way. The rounds won by the widest margin were won by Juan Manuel Marquez. The cleanest and sharpest punches of the evening also were landed by Marquez. However, it appeared Pacquiao won more of the close rounds. He was busier and appeared to have the edge in ring generalship and effective aggressiveness in the rounds that were up for grabs.

Something else to be considered is that Pacquiao was around a 9-1 favorite and the public perception among most fans was that Pacquiao would walk through him. It is also important to remember that styles make fights and this match up will always create a competitive fights. People were starting to forget that Pacquiao is human and there is no handicap in boxing. The rounds must be judged without any bias stemming from expectations. The fact that Marquez performed better than expected and is perceived by the casual fan as winning doesn’t go for the knowledgeable boxing judge who is scoring each round individually and separately.

I scored the fight 115-113 for Pacquiao live, I then re-scored it in a more quiet setting and came back with the same result, but became more aware of how many rounds could have reasonably went the other way. 115-113 either way to me would not be controversial at all. Again, with all the close rounds 116-112 is not a travesty either and I think judges Dave Moretti 115-113, Robert Hoyle 114-114 and Glenn Trowbridge 116-112 all did a respectable job. I do not understand how anyone can say that any scores in this range is corrupt considering how close and difficult it was to score many rounds in the fight.

What is a travesty is to listen to a bunch of so called boxing experts, fans and people who barely watch the fight (and definitively do not score it). They jump on a popular bandwagon and give boxing more bad PR because they love to talk about corruption and fixes, drugs and negativity instead of about how Pacquiao and Marquez just put on another great fight.

Hopefully this off night by Pacquiao that he managed to overcome is just what the other pound for pound king, Floyd Mayweather has been waiting for and that superfight will finally be made. The sport of boxing, the fighters and the fans deserve that fight…… Boxing needs that fight. .
For much more from Danny, you should also visit:
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