In the first part of his new series for BoxingScene, New York boxing referee Tom Schreck explains how he officially scores fights, including what he looks for in a round.
I bet the average reader of BoxingScene doesn’t need to know what the four scoring criteria of professional boxing are: clean punching, effective offense, ring generalship, and defense. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that almost everyone who read them could hear the beloved Harold Lederman reciting them in their head.
These four criteria should serve as a guide for scoring a round. The problem is defining each item into something that is objective, consistent, and easy for the raters to understand.
Saying you’ll know it when you see it, like Judge Porter Stewart’s statement about obscenity, isn’t really scientific. It also doesn’t really help make the rating concrete and measurable.
The essence of professional boxing is to cause damage. In today’s world, that statement wouldn’t go over well with the politically correct, and to be honest, in a world where CTE robs so many combat sports athletes of their quality of life as they age, the term is a little off-putting.
Still, professional boxing is all about assessing damage. Let’s incorporate this concept into our existing criteria, starting at the bottom and working our way up to the top.
Of course, defense is at the heart of competitive boxing. If you get hit more often and harder than your opponent, you probably won’t win the round. Legend has it that Willie Pep once told a boxing writer that he would win a round without throwing a punch, and then did it on two of three scorecards.
This may or may not be true, but I believe it’s very difficult to win a round solely on better defense.
Broken down, this criterion is probably most accurately described as “defense that results in a clean punch that causes injury.”
The goal of professional boxing is to hit your opponent, and good defense will allow you to do that. Think Pernell Whittaker or a young Hector Camacho. Both fighters have great defense, but if the defense doesn’t lead to offense, they can’t win the fight. You can’t win a boxing match without a solid defense, but you can’t win a boxing match with a solid defense.
Ring General is probably the hardest standard to define. It is meant to control loops and actions, and can take many forms.
It could be who moves forward more often, but not necessarily.
This could mean who effectively severed the ring, but not necessarily.
That could mean who gets to score.
However – and here’s the big question – if this kind of command doesn’t lead to scoring hits, what does it actually mean? If your ring general isn’t dealing devastating scoring blows, is it worth paying attention to?
A valid attack is a criterion with modifiers. “Effective” is the key term here. Aggression in the sense of scoring means being punched, driving the exchange, engaging in the fight, and physically showing a willingness to punch.
What is a null attack? You’ve seen it and recognized it, even if you don’t describe it by its official name at the moment.
Think of those boxers who chase their opponents around the ring, miss their haymakers, and get tagged by retreating counterattackers. Think of the panting, snarling boxer who is tied up, spun and counterattacked by his opponent. Think of boxers who throw with devastating intent, only to have their shots blocked and counterattacked.
The attack must be effective.
It’s effective when it results in a scoring strike, right? Any other type of attack would be hard to describe as effective, wouldn’t it?
This leads to the first criterion: clean punches.
A clean punch is one that hits the knuckle portion of the boxing glove with proper form and body mechanics. Some purists and martial artists might even argue that it should be the first two knuckles of the fist, as that means the fist, back of the hand, and arm will all be aligned. This may just be a detail, but it helps conceptualize the proper form of the punch.
There is a reason why the number of punches in this sport is limited. There are jabs, cross punches, uppercuts, uppercuts and some derivative punches, such as overhand punches, bolo punches, etc. Since the days of John L. Sullivan, boxers have learned that creating new punches often leads to disastrous results.
Strength and defense come from body mechanics and proper form, deviating from it will reduce the effectiveness of your attacks.
No doubt there are notable exceptions. Muhammad Ali kept his hands low and often punched without the weight of his body. Roy Jones Jr. does a lot of things in the ring that are fundamentally unhealthy, but he makes up for it with tremendous physical ability and strength.
Exceptions aside, a good clean punch looks like a good clean punch because it has proper form and weight behind it.
A boxer’s weight should be moved behind the punch for maximum effect, so when you see a boxer throwing but keeping their weight on their back leg, they are punching in a way that does not have maximum efficiency and power.
It’s easier and faster to punch without the weight of your body. You can also get out of danger faster when your feet aren’t firmly planted. Old-timers will tell you that punching starts at the head and builds with the legs.
No one would argue that Rocky Marciano is the cutest guy in the sweet science, but watch him throw those uppercuts and see the power of his legs.
It’s the clean, well-placed punches that do the damage.
Some boxers bring more power through their body mechanics, which can be seen in the impact the punch has on their opponent. Taking the boxer out of position, turning the head to the side and back, and bending the knees are all observable and should be part of the score.
So, when you think about it, all the criteria—effective offense, ringside, and defense—should lead to clean punches. Clean stamping can cause damage. The fighter that deals the most damage wins the round.
Just a word or two about my contributions to BoxingScene: I am an active referee, so I am not suited to cover current fighters, fights, officials, committees or sanctioning bodies. Most of my article will focus on principles of judgment in the hope that they will help readers better understand what they are watching.
If you’ve disagreed with my scorecard in the past, that’s totally fine. You have to develop a thick skin in this industry and I know criticizing officials is part of sport. Honestly, when I was watching the game from the last row in the end zone at Notre Dame Stadium, I had no hesitation in yelling at the referees 95 yards out for missing the opportunity they were waiting for.
Future articles will provide an in-depth look at controversial decisions, the toughest rounds to score, how TV games differ from live games, analysts and their jobs, and judging different styles. If there’s something you’d like me to cover in particular, drop me a line.
Tom Schreck has been a professional boxing referee for 26 years and has served as a referee for Manny Pacquiao, Miguel Cotto, Bernard Hopkins, James Toney, Demi Refereeing Hall of Famers like Terry Bivol, Gennady Golovkin and Vasily Lomachenko. He has written The Duffy Dombrowski Series (mysterious novels featuring professional boxers) and is the founder of The Undisputed Champions, an all-around boxing program people.
