MY LAST column elicited interesting responses from our readers.
Digital Bedouin (digital_bedouin @hotmail.com.) writes:
“I read you artical and no offence but how many beers did u guzzle down before you reached this amazing conclution that de la hoya won and that in fact the compu stats were inaccurate. I had just on heinken and i clearly saw de la hoya miss and get tagged repeatedly with jabs and right hand counters all night……Look, the punch stats can have a margine of error but what you are insinuating, the ones who recorded the punch stats would have had to blind fold them selves to be able to accomplish your conspieracy. prime target areas?
buddy, connecting against the gloves and the elbows arent point facilitators and no matter how aggressive d hoya was, he was largely ineffective……all do respect but youre opinion defies just about the entire boxing world,every respectable writer and even the average fan, or actually, any one with any common sense, i actually cant believe i read that, and i dont know who pays you to write this crap. i mean, with all do respect”.
First of all, the fact that Mayweather earned only a split decision, and even the judges who gave him the fight handed out only two-point and four-point margins disproves your theory that mine was an “amazing conclution.”
I stand by my opinion on punch stats. Punches that land on shoulders and arms especially when they were thrown on purpose to tire out an opponent should be counted as hits, as opposed to punches that hit nothing but thin air or those parried by an opponent’s gloves.
To further illustrate my point, remember Eric Harding? He was hit by a Roy Jones punch in the bicep, which eventually forced him to quit on his stool. A punch in the arm is a legal punch, as opposed to punches at the back of the head or below the trunks, which are fouls. And because it was a legal punch that caused the injury, Jones was rightfully awarded a TKO victory.
If it is a punch that lands on any legal area, then it should show up on the punch stats as a hit. As experience has shown, it may even have the potential to secure a victory.
As to who pays me to write “crap”, you may be surprised to know that I do not actually do this for the money. Go easy on the “heinkens” as you put it, with all due respect. Thanks for the e-mail.
My friend Glenn Ramos ([email protected]) writes:
“I think what needs to change is the perception that judges give to fans and viewers as far as the consistency and rationale for scoring each round. (1) If judges used the same rationale in scoring the Trinidad-De la hoya fight, then De la hoya won his fight against gayweather. Ditto with the most recent deleon-gerry penalosa fight. Consistency is the problem and perhaps their age is an obvious factor too. In my opinion, one should not judge if you’re 65 yrs or older.
One more thing, WBC rulebook does say a judge can score an even 10-10 score. Unfortunately, nobody ever scores that way. …At the end of the day, boxing organizations have become puppets of money. Instead of uplifting the standard of the sport, they seek ways to make more money which is turning a lot boxing fans away”
Thanks dude for your scholarly response. Indeed, I lament the fact that nobody scores rounds even anymore. Whoever first began to label it as a sin clearly did not realize the far-reaching implications of such a misguided view.
LAST ROUND. Today’s last round is on Glenn Ruess and Roel Mayol our newest last rounders! Cheers guys!
