What I have learned from scoring 528 fights as a boxing judge
02 January 2019 02:42
Before I took up judging I thought I could score fights from TV footage or from anywhere in the arena. I was wrongBy Karla Caputo for The Queensberry RulesI started boxing seven years ago after a serendipitous chain of events. A personal training session started out as expected, with weights and plyometrics, but ended with boxing. It was love at first punch. Over the next four years I boxed a few times a week and absorbed everything I could about the sport. Weekends were spent sitting at home, scoring televised fights in a notebook. Word got out and I was approached to judge amateur boxing. My initial reaction was “hell no” but deep down I knew the reputations judges have and I wanted to make a difference. My fate was sealed.Nearly three years and 528 fights later I have no regrets but the road has not been easy. Initially, those in the boxing community could not figure out what I was doing at the judges’ table. With no relatives who have boxed in the past and no children who were boxing in the present, my presence often caused confusion and questions. Slowly but surely, they began to accept me and realise that I was not going anywhere. A boxer’s recordTheir previous performancesIf they are a belt holderIf they have a new coach or trainerTheir nationalityTheir behaviour out of the ring or police recordIf they made weight or had a drastic weight change overnightIf they have ever failed a drug testTheir social media postsTheir physical appearanceIf they have received a “gift” decision or been “robbed” in the pastIf it is their first or final professional fightYou are playing on your phone at all (most people sitting ringside)You are eating, drinking or sleeping at any pointYou are writing during the rounds (write your notes between rounds)You are talking (shut up and watch the fight)You are moving around the room (screaming at the TV or shadowboxing).You have consumed alcohol or drugs (which eliminates most of boxing Twitter).You blinked – just kidding (but not really)You have never thrown a punch, hit a mitt, or spent time in a ringYou are not sitting in a judge’s chair (yes, I’m saying it again)You would not be willing to score rounds against your own loved ones (the word you are looking for is biased) Related: $9m for 139 seconds: Floyd Mayweather cashes in against Tenshin Nasukawa Continue readingread full article
