Pros and cons of in-fight scoring

My plan to resuscitate boxing is so simple and so certain to work that nobody will believe I came up with it.

OK, so I didn’t.

A friend who loves the sweet science did. And it didn’t even originate with him, because a few people already have tried it and a few more are using it on a limited basis.

But guess what: Don King is working our corner.

“We can’t have no more of those clandestine and supercilious decisions that have been killing our sport, and I guarantee,” the electric-haired promoter screamed into his cell phone Thursday from New York, “that I’m going to use it for my next big fight. That’s a helluva idea.”

Wondering what it is?

Nothing more complicated than a round-by-round scoreboard showing how judges are scoring a fight while it’s in progress. The board would be visible in the ring, the arena and on TV so everybody involved — fighters included — would know where things stand. Talk about adding incentive and wagering possibilities.

Already put into
use at Olympics

Called open scoring, it recently was put into use at the Olympics and could add more excitement to the pro version than anything since Mike Tyson made a snack of Evander Holyfield’s ear.

To give just one example of how much interest that simple innovation would generate, think of poker. A few years ago, no network would have televised poker on a bet. Then someone put a camera under the table showing every player’s hole cards and — voila! — the audience could follow along and poker’s popularity exploded.

Plus, about the only other big-time sport that waits until the end to announce the scores is figure-skating. Considering the scandals that rocked that racket over the last few years, boxing would be smart to position itself as far from the sequined science as possible.

Besides, it’s not like the fight game has much left to lose. Its fan base has been shrinking fast and graying gradually, and mixed martial-arts fighting is siphoning off — make that draining — the vaunted 18-to-25 male demographic.

Fan base eroding
for various reasons

Hard-core boxing fans usually cite the alphabet soup of sanctioning bodies and the hairsplitting profusion of weight classes as the top two reasons for the sport’s slow demise. Trying to clean up those messes would be as daunting as putting the Balkans back together.

But incompetent, or even crooked judging usually ranks third. Put up a scoreboard, and that problem begins evaporating overnight.

“I’ve been an advocate for years” King said.

Who knew?

And in the next breath, King vowed to use open scoring for a scheduled Roy Jones-Felix Trinidad bout in January.

“I’m so juiced about this,” he added, “I’ll push harder, starting today.”

If so, expect a fight.

Last October, the World Boxing Council debated open scoring for all title bouts but could muster only enough votes to announce the judges’ scores after rounds four and eight. With few exceptions, even that modest change hasn’t made it to these shores, though the WBC does do that for nearly all title fights overseas.

Strongest opposition
is from ... judges

Last month, the U.S.-based Association of Boxing Commissions voted 32-1 against open scoring. The only “yea” came from Arkansas, which sanctioned the WBC title bout between Jermain Taylor and Kassim Ouma earlier this year.

“The strongest opposition was judges,” recalled Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Commission. “We had one judge testify she didn’t see how she could concentrate during the fight if she was worried about getting hit with a bottle.”

A piece of chain link fence over the judges’ ringside seats would take care of that. And really, is the fear of a bottle thrown in the middle of a fight any more distracting to a judge who’s worried about getting conked after a fight? Besides, boxing isn’t the only sport that requires refs to work in hostile environments.

Other objections?

To those who say scoreboards kill the suspense when one fighter opens a big lead or encourages him to become even more conservative than usual, I say that’s what knockouts are for. Although just about every other sport has a run-out-the-clock option — think prevent defenses or four-corner stalls — none offers a comeback quite as potent as a KO.

In-fight disclosure
could promote injury
To those who say knowing the score might encourage a fighter who gets cut or head-butted to quit while he’s ahead, I say bring top-notch referees and medical staff to the arena. Actually, they should be there already. That also would respond to the most valid objection to open scoring — that a boxer who’s injured and trailing, but gaining the upper hand, would have extra incentive to keep fighting.

“Our image is a problem, going all the way back to the first boxing match and every movie since,” King said. “Everything’s always negative. Promoters are crooks, the mob fixes fights, judges are on the take — on and on and on.

“If somebody’s got to clean it up,” he added, “it might as well start here.”

You heard him.

XJim Litke is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press.