Expert: Lian Shoemake - 7/20/2006

Question
I have a few questions about scoring. When scoring is done round by round this is called the 10 point must(right?). The winner of the round recieves 10 and the other a 9. This is judged on effective agression and defense, or basically who is imposing thier will (right?) In some cases of domination or if thier is a knockdown a round may be 10-8 (right?). What is the difference between a 10-8 round and a 10-7 round, (or 10-9/10-8). Also how can a round be scored 10-10, doesnt someone need to win it or shouldnt it at least be 9-9.What if each fighter goes down in a round can one still have a 10 point round?

Also if a fight is stopped on cuts it may be declared a win or a nd. A headbutt will cause a nd and a cut from a punch is a win. In a fight the other day i saw a fighter(gatti fighting in montreal) recieve a cut from a punch in rd2. It was close to stopping the fight but it continued, had the fight been stopped it would be a win. In rd3 gatti recieved a cut from a headbutt that also almost stopped the fight. AS the fight progressed both cuts got worse making the possibility of a stoppage even more likely. If the fight had been stopped due to cuts what would have been the decision. would it matter what cut stopped the fight, becuase both were pretty bad. I am confused and looking forward to your answer

Answer
Hi Drew,


Thanks for the question. Your inquiries are very complex, so I'll try to be as clear and brief as possible.

The 10-point must system awards 10 points to the winner of a round and 9 or less to the loser. An even round would be scored 10-10 because theoretically someone "must" get 10 points. Generally speaking, a knockdown would earn the winner of a round and extra point (as in a 10-8 round). A 10-7 round could be the result of 2 knockdowns in a round.

A 9-9 round would only occur when the boxer who would have won the round was penalized a point by the referee.

Different jurisdictions have different rules on the stoppage of a bout due to a cut caused by an unintentional foul. Generally, if a bout is stopped due to a foul-caused cut before the fourth round, the bout would be ruled a no contest. If the same type of injury ended the bout after the fourth round, then the bout would go to the scorecards, and a technical decision would be rendered.

There's no way of guessing how the referee would have ruled in the old Gatti bout you saw, but in all likelihood, if the cut caused by the foul had any role in the stoppage of the bout, I would think that there would be a technical decision based on the scoring of the bout up to that point.

I hope this helps, Drew.

Thanks again for writing.

Regards,
Lian