Maccabi Lod Boxing Gym

Due to a numerous controversies in judging, Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) has modified judging rules numerously. For professional boxing, very few changes have occurred.

For professional boxing, judging is performed by 3 ringside judges and a referee. Referee stays in the ring throughout the entire bout. He enforces the rules and, if required, fines the boxers. Ringside judges calculate punches landed and report scoring at the end of each round via the following: the winner gets 10 points per round, the loser receives 9 points per round. In case of knockdown, the boxer loses point. In case boxer is fined by referee (hitting below the belt, hitting behind the back of the head), more points are deducted. For example, in case boxer loses the round and was down once, score is 10-8. In case he is down twice – 10-7. If the judge did not see a winner, round is scored 10-10.

Amateur bouts require 5 judges and a referee in the ring, whose main responsibility is to enforce the rules and issue warnings and fines, if required. For certain local tournaments, number of judges can be limited to 3. However, for national and international tournaments 5 judges are a mandatory.

In the past, amateur bouts were scored by judges filling a special scoring form. The scoring was performed via following: the round was given to a boxer, who landed more punches. The winner of the round received 20 points regardless of number of punches landed. The one who lost the round loses point for every two punches out of the difference. For example if boxer A landed 9 punches per round and Boxer B landed 5, boxer A receives 20 points whereas boxer B receives 20 – (9 – 5)/2 = 18 points

As of today, scoring is based solely on number of punches landed by each boxer. For example, if boxer A landed 14 punches and boxer B landed 12, the scoring would come up to 14-12.

Since late 80's, scoring has been performed electronically. The system requires 5 judges, each having a console with 4 buttons: red and blue (based on corners' colors) and 2 buttons for registering fines. When the judges observe the boxer landing a punch, they press either red or blue button. In order for the score to be in effect, at least three judges must press the button within at most 2 seconds. Every detail of scoring such as which judge gave points to which boxer, is displayed on the central monitor, and is observed by jury.

Scoring errors and controversies has occurred in the past and nowadays as well. This has been exemplified by a latest championship taken place in Azerbaijan. The most significant controversy had occurred during Olympics at Seoul in 1988 during a bout between Roy Jones Jr and Korean boxer. Such examples signify that boxing, as any other sport, is not fully insured against errors, caused by a human factor.