Perpetual Wrote:
> Not sure what fight you were watching Tipster!
> Sometimes when one is partial to a fighter you
> tend to be blinkered to the point where you can
> open yourself up to ridicule.A victory for the
> Pacman would keep alive the dream of a mega-fight
> between him and Mayweather so who the hell does a
> great champion such as Marquez think he is to put
> a spanner in the works of such a super fight.
> Come on! This was a crooked decision...Manny and
> Marquez fought to an incredible draw in the first
> fight and in their second bout, Marquez according
> to the Ring magazine won more rounds of the fight
> than Manny but was knocked down once for a 10-8
> round and Manny got a disputed 1 point victory
> from one of the judges...the other two scored it
> dead-even.
> This time though, the fight was not as close, even
> Roach cautioned Manny that he was falling behind
> after 8 rounds and nothing changed much
> thereafter!
> Hell, 115-113 and 116-112...how can this be
> justified?
> The simple truth is that it...I've not followed
> boxing closely since Brian Mitchell was so
> blatantly robbed after creaming the Tiger Lopez in
> his own backyard and having the fight declared a
> draw but I have watched Pacman and Mayweather's
> bouts.This was stark reminder of why boxing has
> lost so many fans...
I have to admit I didn't watch it 100% intently and know diddly about boxing while I was also shouting for Pacman so my opinion can indeed by taken with a dose of salt. However, what I saw it looked like one of those fights where neither dominated,so who can tell what the decision would be. I was surprised by the decision because the commentators seemed to think Marquez had won. Did their opinion not influence many TV watchers? Within my limited knowledge of boxing I surmise that if the roles were reversed and Pacman took a step back and waited for Marquez to chase him there could only be two results - no punches landed or a massacre in favour of Pacman (probably a knockout). In close fights the aggressor should surely be rewarded and from the piece I've cut and pasted below this does appear to be the norm.
Inquirer News - For a while, it almost sounded as if Bob Arum, after nearly getting mobbed by angry fans after Manny Pacquiao’s victory over Juan Manuel Marquez Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila), was turning CompuBox into straws so he would have something to clutch at desperately.
But as the numbers churned out were made available, it was understandable why the Top Rank chief referenced the technology several times during his post-game press conference.
According to the punch statistics, Pacquiao landed more punches, connecting on 176 out of 578 attempts (30 percent). Marquez had 138 out of 436 (32 percent), his accuracy waning only in the homestretch of the bout at the Garden Arena of MGM Grand.
“Whatever that means, that’s CompuBox,” Arum said.
The veteran promoter was heckled by angry Mexican fans on his way from the arena to the media room also inside the MGM Grand and was stunned at the reaction and spite thrown his way.
“I felt like I was going to get lynched,” Arum said. “It’s as if I had anything to do with the decision.”
Judge Glenn Townbridge saw it 116-112 for Pacquiao. Dave Moretti had it 115-113 for the reigning pound-for-pound king while Robert Hoyle had it 114-114.
Judges tend to favor aggressors in professional fights and tend to give close rounds to the defending champion. And there were lots of either-or rounds Saturday night.
“Not only was the win not definitive, the rounds were not definitive,” Arum said. “It was hard to tell who won.”
Somewhere in his defense of the judges and his rattling off of television journalists who had Pacquiao also winning, Arum mentioned CompuBox again. Everywhere in the punch stats, Pacquiao showed he was the busier fighter.
The Sarangani congressman threw 304 jabs against Marquez’ 182 and connected more, 59-38. In the power punch department, Pacquiao landed more stingers, 117-100. On the average, Pacquiao landed 14 out of 49 attempts. Marquez connected on 11 of 36.
But how reliable is CompuBox? According to Sports Illustrated and Wikipedia, the program was developed by sports researchers Bob Canobbio and Logan Hobson in 1985. The system, whose primary goal is to count punches, uses two keypads fed into a laptop.
Two people operate each keypad, which puts a human element into the system. They tack each fighter, pressing buttons for every jab and power punch missed and connected. While Canobbio, who clarified that CompuBox doesn’t judge fights, said that the fighter “who lands more punches usually wins,” there have been glaring instances when the opposite happens.
Sports Illustrated reported that in Oscar De La Hoya’s loss to Shane Mosley in 2003, CompuBox had the Golden Boy connecting more, 221-127, against Sugar Shane.
While CompuBox gives viewers and readers a more tangible idea of a sport that relies heavily on three ringside judges to decide on matches that go the distance, it isn’t a judging aid. The three judges do not receive a copy of CompuBox stats during the bout. /inquirer
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