Double Knockdown Boxing

[Grimarlon Varner]

Thisreporter remembered a famous story of a double knockdown in the world lightweight title bout in 1912 where defending champ Ad Wolgast and challenger Mexican Joe Rivers hit the deck almost simultaneously, but notorious referee Jack Welch pulled only Wolgast to his feet, and counted out Rivers to pointing the champ as the winner at Vernon, California.

The sport of professional boxing has always appealed based on the promise of spectacular, dramatic and brutal knockouts. When a fighter can land a finishing shot or combo on their opponent to the point that they cannot continue, the contest comes to an immediate stop, regardless of how many rounds it was supposed to last.

In most bouts, three judges are seated at ringside to watch the fight up close. Those judges are approved by the same body that licences the fights, and when possible, are usually from a neutral location compared to the contestants. For example, if an American boxer is facing a French boxer, judges from Canada, Britain and Mexico may be preferred. Similarly, if a small British promoter has two English fighters face off and one is from Hull while the other is from London, perhaps judges from Manchester, Southampton, Cardiff etc.

A three-judge system is mandatory for championship fights. However, if a newly-turned professional is making their debut in a four-round fight, such fights are often judged by one person and one person alone: that bout's appointed referee,

Yes! A judge has the right to score a round even, just as they do to score it 10-8 without a knockdown. Judges are encouraged to avoid it as much as possible, and to only use these scores if they truly feel it's the correct appraisal of that round. This urging is to ensure they are not overused. The 10-10 round in particular can become too easy a fallback option for judges.

In addition to the above, the referee can instruct all three judges to deduct a point from a fighter in any given round. They will do so if a fighter has done something to break the rules, such as an intentional foul (low blow, headbutt, or Mike Tyson's favourite, biting an opponent's ear). A referee can also decide that a fighter has committed accidental fouls far too often than is acceptable, and deduct one point for the repeated offences.

If nobody has won via knockout after the scheduled number of rounds, the judges' round-by-round scorecards throughout the fight will determine the winner. With each round being worth a maximum of 10 points, that means a fighter can score as high as 120 in a 12-round fight, 100 in a 10-round fight and so on.

Almost primal, the sport involves two opponents facing off in a ring trying to win a bout by landing punches on each other using only their fists. But it has evolved into a sophisticated sport involving complicated strategies and craft over the years.

Boxing shares a very close relationship with the Olympic Games. In the ancient Games, Olympic boxing first made an appearance in 688 BC in Greece, with Onomastos of Smyrna emerging as the first-ever Olympic boxing champion.

With the modern-day Olympics starting in 1896, boxing found its place in the programme at the St Louis 1904 Games. Eighteen local boxers participated in the event, which was competed across seven different weight classes.

Historically, USA has dominated the Olympics stage with legends like Muhammad Ali (Cassius Clay), Joe Frazier, George Foreman and Floyd Mayweather Jr all leaving their mark. Cuba and countries from the former Soviet Union have also enjoyed great success.

Five judges seated on the ringside score the boxers based on number of blows landed on the target areas, domination of the bout, technique and tactical superiority and competitiveness. Deductions can also be made based on infringement.

At the end of every round, each of the judges determine a winner for the round based on the judging criteria and award the victor 10 points for the round. The loser of the round can be awarded anywhere between seven to nine points based on the level of performance in that round.

After the bout ends, each judge adds up the round scores to determine a final winner. A boxer can win through unanimous decision if all five judges unanimously agree that the winner has taken two or more rounds.

When a boxer lands enough legal hits on their opponent to knock them down on the floor of the boxing ring and the opponent is unable to stand up to resume the match within a count of 10 by the official referee, it constitutes a KO victory for the boxer affecting the knockdown. In case of a KO, the bout ends immediately, and the winner is declared.

The winner of a boxing bout can also be determined through RSC (Referee Stop Contest) -- when the referee or ringside doctors deem one of the boxers unfit to continue a bout), walkovers, disqualifications (DSQ) or when a boxer retires voluntarily or his corner throws in the towel (ABD).

If the total scores awarded by each judge, including any deduction, are equal at the end of the bout, the judge(s) with equal scores are requested to nominate which boxer is the winner of the bout in their opinion in the following cases:

If a boxer receives a referee's warning, an official will record the warning in the scoring system and each warning will reduce the total score of the offending boxer by one point per judge. The third warning in a bout will automatically disqualify the boxer.

The unheralded Catterall floored Taylor and out-boxed him for most of the fight, yet two of the three judges scored the fight for WBC, IBF, WBA and WBO champion Taylor in front of his home fans at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.

Not much was known about Catterall internationally before the biggest fight of his career, but he produced a technically smart performance worthy of the top level in front of a sell-out crowd of 12,101. Catterall's fluent boxing made him look like the undisputed champion, rather than Taylor, who was caught too easily and found landing clean shots too hard.

But Taylor, who has talked about stepping up a weight division for bigger fights against the likes of Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr., insisted he did enough to win the fight in the later rounds.

"It wasn't my best performance and I've put a lot of pressure on myself being heavy favorite and boxing back at home ... but once I started catching him, I believe I got the win 100 percent. I know I won the fight, overall I scored the bigger shots and the more meaningful shots. He put up a good fight, but he never won the fight. Second half of the fight I took control."

Catterall (26-1, 13 KOs), 28, from Chorley near Manchester, England, had waited three years for his first world title shot since being made WBO mandatory challenger and he did not waste any more time in a bright opening. Catterall showed good technique and was able to land more punches against his fellow southpaw.

Taylor (19-0, 13 KOs), 31, from Edinburgh, Scotland, entered this fight in fine form after flooring American Jose Ramirez twice on his way to a career-best win in May 2021. But he was slow to get started against Catterall, who was sharper for most of the second round.

Catterall switched to boxing at range, on the counter, as Taylor stepped it up, and the champ struggled to land clean shots. Catterall's confidence grew in the fourth round. He landed a flurry of punches toward the end of that round as Taylor looked increasingly frustrated.

Catterall targeted the body with success and sunk a left into Taylor's side in the fourth. After Taylor could not disrupt Catterall in the fifth, his corner must have been alarmed by the situation near the midway point with the challenger on the ascent.

Things got worse for Taylor in the eighth when he sunk to a knee for a count after Catterall burst through with a cuffing left hand to the top of the head. Taylor showed plenty of guts to fight back and subdue Catterall in the ninth. The champ was further boosted in the 10th round when Catterall was docked a point for holding.

On the undercard, Florida-based Cuban featherweight Robeisy Ramirez (9-1, 5 KOs) looked sensational in a three-round stoppage of Eric Donovan (14-2, 8 KOs). The double Olympic gold medalist stopped his Irish opponent in the third round with a left hook, after also forcing a first-round knockdown.

Ramirez, 28, showed his quality with an array of shots and pinpoint accuracy, as well as power that turned Donovan's legs to jelly in the third. Carl Moretti of promoter Top Rank said the plan is to move Ramirez toward a world title fight within a year.

The Gamecocks defeated the Seminoles in the Elite Eight in 2015 and 2017 in nip-and-tuck games to reach the Final Four, with South Carolina eventually winning the national championship the second time.

On Sunday, the two teams face off again at Halton Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, in the second round with the winner moving on to the Sweet 16. And while the names and faces may have changed over the last couple of seasons, South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said she foresees a similar style in this game.

"Our games were knockdown, drag outs," Staley said. "They were the type of games where a possession here or there and the results could have been different. I don't think it will be any different on Sunday."

The rosters will be. The Seminoles started five seniors in 2017 before losing to the Gamecocks 71-64 in Stockton, California. This time, No. 5 seed Florida State (24-8) has nine freshmen and sophomores and no seniors on the roster.

Fourth-seeded South Carolina (22-9) has a much different look as well, still adjusting to playing without one of the nation's most dominant players in A'ja Wilson, who scored a school-record 2,389 career points and won the WNBA Rookie of the Year award in 2018 with the Las Vegas Aces.

Staley did not play senior Bianca Cuevas-Moore against Belmont in the first round while junior Mikiah Herbert Harrigan only played in the second half for unspecified reasons. However, Staley said both players will be available against Florida State.

3a8082e126