New boxing judging system causing problems

London: The trouble with boxing is that they changed the old system of judging and went in for a new and more complicated model. As a result, there has been a hue and cry all over the arena thanks to some ludicrous and often controversial decisions. Former boxers have come out to have their say against the judges, with even former Olympic and world champion Lennox Lewis pitching in.

In the old system, the judges registered each punch with an electronic scoring button. As long as three of the five judges agreed that a punch had been landed within a second of each other, the boxer was given a point.

The new format counts up all the registered punches and gives the boxers a score out of 10 after a round, with the score based on an average of three of the five judges’ scores, and with no time limit on the registered hit.

The whole concept was to ensure an amount of fairness. Boxing will be making a U-turn for the Rio Olympics in 2016 as it prepares to admit professionals into the field of competition. The idea hasn’t worked with the fans, however, as they now cannot see the scores ticking over during the bouts. As a result, there have been some pretty controversial decisions. This is not to say that the old system was perfect, but at least it was fairer and gave the fans a visual of how a bout was panning out in live-time.

Experts believe that the current system of judging would be debated on and thrown out before 2016.