MATTER OF POINTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 57, 4 September 1937, Page 23

MATTER OF POINTS

HOW BOXING IS JUDGED

It is fairly frequently that sp*o> tators at boxing shows voice their disapproval at verdicts rendered by the referee, but that is usually because they are not conversant with the. proper method of judging points, wrote J. T. Hulls in an English publication. Bad verdicts by experienced officials are few and far between.

The following notes have b*en written with the object of showing the different points considered by a referee or judge in arriving at his decision and helping spectators* to judge for themselves.

It is laid down in the rules that marks shall be awarded for direct clean hits with the knuckle part of the glove of either hand on any part of the front or sides of the head, or body above the belt; and. for guarding, slipping, ducking, counter-hitting, *>r : getting away. On paper it looks ait easy matter to judge a bout, but the average spectator appears to find it very difficult to distinguish between hits with the open glove and hits with, the knuckle part. The modern referee naturally does, not award points for open and inside of the glove hitting, but he does not deal so severely with the offenders as the official of pre-war days. The public do not always realise that a boxer is guilty of the technical foul of faulty hitting* if the referee does not caution him. ■■;■■- ... Many spectators run away with the idea that because a man is forcing the fighting he/is doing most of the scoring; but very often the reverse is the case. ' Some boxers are exceptionally clever at leading a man on and punishing him when he advances. At in-flghting it is often very difficult t» tell which boxer is doing the better work. The boxer may be punching with both hands, but one may be stopping the blows on his gloves and forearms, thus nullifying the efforts o* his opponent. • Marks are given for defence, but it is not good defensive work if a boxer after making his opponent mitt, » not in a position ta do something on h» own account. The better man in • round is given a total of five marks, and the other a proportionate number. It is in working out this proportion that so many differences of opinion occur. The rules say that in cases when competitors are otherwise equal the majority of marks shall be given to the boxer who does most °f the. a*^" ing off, or who displays the better. style. . ;''•■:•.

Freddie Welsh was probably • th» smartest ring man of them air (say? •an American writer). When he fought Hivers and Leach Cross —ne manoeuvred and kept the sun in their eyes during the entire fights. When, he fought Charley White they took moving pictures of that fight aid Welsh saw to it that White's face never showed once in the pictureshe kept White out of the film entirely for ten rounds—quite a feat