Robert Smith | "I am not corrupt" "Our officials are not corrupt"

[The_budweiser]

 

 

I really enjoyed the interview. They grilled Robert Smith and he came back with some interesting answers.

 

Is 'British Boxing' corrupt?

 

 

[Cableaddict]

Well, that settles it then !

 

 

LMAO .......

[Ledhed1]

As I stated in the Taylor-Catterall fight thread, I saw a very close fight that I thought Catterall threw away by becoming passive from round nine to the finish. Taylor won at least three of the last four rounds for me, and that was enough to win it by one point. Between the two point deductions, it was actually the one from Taylor that was laughable.

 

Regarding judges, I tend to assume they're not incompetent. I give them the benefit of the doubt in that regard. They're professionals trained by their national and/or state commissions. They know what's expected of them. Therefore, when an outrageous decision goes the way of the house fighter, there's only one alternative. They were influenced. I'm a firm believer that influence trickles down from promoters through boxing commissions to judges and referees. It's simply the way the boxing industry works. It's not an outright fix. It still comes down to the fighters. But promoters have too much invested to leave to chance anything they can attempt to stack the cards - no pun intended - in their fighter's favor. It gets to the point where experienced judges and referees know who the house fighter is; nothing need be said regarding a specific fight. Bias in favor of the home or promoter's fighter is a fact of life in the boxing industry.

[selij]

Disgrace and we wonder why our sport is now so niche, its virtually 100% PPV or Subscription.

 

This fight wasnt even close but IJL has had many, many other nights like this one.

 

And we also wonder why the youth are turning to the UFC.

 

1 weight, 1 belt, 1 champion, best fights best, end ovv.

[LondonRingRules]

--- Heh, heh, Smithy making case to STUPID default.

 

Open scoring with even rounds allowed that are now discouraged. Fans always assign even round to their guy, almost always the point totals that the judges assign that the losing fans squawk about..

 

Open scoring allows fans, boxers, and officials to know the true score, but more importantly gives fighters the options of tactical changes they might not otherwise make.

[Ledhed1]

I've been conflicted on open scoring but ultimately come down against it. Open scoring absolutely leads to changes in tactics and for me that's a deal breaker. The upside to to open scoring is that it would help further engage the audience. Boxing is the only sport where you don't know who's winning during the event. That makes the sport inaccessible to a wider audience. But it's probably not possible to publish scores to the broadcast audience only and keep the scores from the fighters and their teams in an age of all manner of devices.

 

Judges' scores only become relevant if a match doesn't end via knockout. The essence of the sport would compromised - it already is where periodic, if not round-by-round, open scoring is used. Commissions would do themselves a favor by being transparent (open?) about their judging criteria and how judges and referees are trained to do their jobs.

[Cableaddict]

I've been conflicted on open scoring but ultimately come down against it. Open scoring absolutely leads to changes in tactics and for me that's a deal breaker. .

 

 

Valid point, but here's the counter argument:

 

Hidden scoring, combined with the rampant corrupt score cards we see week after week after week, ALSO changes a fighter's game plan. Specifically the B fighter:

 

If you know you can't win on points unless you overwhelmingly win every round, you will probably go for a KO with everything you've got. - But what if that's not your normal style, or if you're up against an excellent counter-puncher? Then you are being forced to fight the exact wrong game plan, and will probably lose. Or maybe you'll decide to just let your hands go, even if most punches miss, so it appears you are doing more than you actually are (A common tactic of the protected A fighter) - In which case, if you are the older fighter, or just naturally lack stamina, you will probably get KTFO in the late rounds.

 

The whole thing just stinks.

 

 

[LondonRingRules]

- - Enter lucrative trilogy scenario, eh, Cable?