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Posted 08/13/2008 at 11:24 PM
The scoring system for Olympic boxing is simply horrendous, and it's just a matter of time before we have another Roy Jones Jr. type of controversy. For those of you who don't remember, Jones Jr. got shafted in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games when he was awarded the silver medal.
The American boxer dropped a controversial 3-2 decision in the final to South Korea's park Si-Hun. Jones Jr. dominated his opponent for three rounds, landing 86 punches to Si-Hun's 32. The three judges voting for Si-Hun were eventually suspended, and Park himself allegedly apologized to Jones afterward. Jones was awarded a trophy for the best boxer of the 1988 games, but not the gold medal.
Let's fast forward to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and its scoring system. There are five ringside judges, and a point can only be scored if three of the judges score a landed punch within one second. Punches must land clearly with the white part of the glove, and is not counted if the punch is partially blocked.
Power shots are not scored any different than jabs, even if the shots clearly rock the other fighter. Now I'm not going to pretend I have all the answers, but I know this scoring system is going to cause some major controversies in the near future.
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