The fight between Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia ultimately ended when Tank scored a seventh-round stoppage victory due to a debilitating body shot.
Davis also scored a knockdown two minutes into the second round when he connected with a crushing counter left on Garcia’s head. Surprisingly, however, neither of the three judges scored it a 10-8 round for Davis.
Dave Moretti scored it 10-10 and both Tim Cheatham and Steve Weisfeld scored it 10-9 for Davis.
Highlighting that as the most recent high-profiled example of inconsistent scoring of knockdown rounds, and in an effort to properly reward fighters for scoring knockdowns, the Association of Boxing Commissions Training Committee met on August 24 to formalize guidelines so that judges have a clearer criteria to score knockdown rounds as 10-8.
The meeting was also attended by retired and active judges, referees, regulators, and top executives from the likes of Top Rank, Golden Boy Promotions, and TGB Promotions, among others. BoxingScene.com also attended the meeting.
BoxingScene.com obtained a document that the ABC shared that proposed clarification of when to score a round 10-8.
“It is mandatory to score 10-8 on a round where a fighter is knocked down, unless there is an unquestionable outstanding domination from the boxer that was knocked down. Only then may the round be scored 10-9 for the fighter who knocked down his/her opponent,” the document read.
California State Athletic Commission executive director Andy Foster led the meeting.
“One of the things that has been happening more frequently than it should is how we’re viewing the knockdown in regard to scoring,” Foster said during the meeting. “I feel like a knockdown round should be a 10-8 unless there are extraordinary circumstances, a lot of domination and damage [being returned from the fighter who was knocked down] … You’ve got to beat the guy up to get that point back. You have to really beat him up. We’ve all seen it. This is happening too much right now. I feel like we are getting odd scores back. This is not going to fix scoring in boxing, but it will help a little bit when there are knockdown rounds involved … It’s a discussion that is a little overdue from happening.”
Foster emphasized that he wants to improve objectivity and put respect back on the knockdown. He also highlighted another fairly recent high-profile bout that had inconsistent scoring for a knockdown round.
When George Kambosos Jr. knocked down Teofimo Lopez Jr. in the first round of their lightweight title fight in November 2021, judges Glenn Feldman and Don Trella scored the round 10-9, and Frank Lombardi scored it 10-8.
Kambosos ultimately scored the upset win by split decision, but if Trella had scored the first round 10-8, his final 114-113 scorecard in favor of Lopez instead would have been 113-113, thus making Kambosos a majority decision winner.
“We had to do something about this – it’s our job,” said Foster. “We want to eliminate any confusion and give clear guidelines for judges to follow.”
Foster said he gathered over 50 examples of knockdown rounds not being scored 10-8, and pointed to the following bouts as well.
- Manny Pacquiao vs. Miguel Cotto: Round 3; November 14, 2009
- Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Carlos Hernandez: Round 6; May 26, 2001
- Evander Holyfield vs. Michael Moorer: Round 2; April 22, 1994
The ABC provides the following basic scoring concepts in their general guidelines for the 10 Point Must System:
“Judges should avoid scoring a round even. Complete concentration and application of the scoring criteria will allow judges to pick the winner of each round.”
- Round ends, no clear winner 10-10 (Rare)
- Close round/Winning of the round by effective boxing – 10-9
- One knockdown and a winning of the round – 10-8
- No knockdowns, but a clear dominating winning of the round – 10-8
- Two knockdowns – 10-7
- One knockdown and one point deduction to the same boxer – 10-8 (minus 1) = 10-7
- More than two knockdowns – 10-6
- Two knockdowns and one point deduction – 10-7 (minus 1) = 10-6
By Manouk Akopyan