A question about judges; what qualifies them to be one?

Question

I'm not going to mince words here. The judging and to a smaller extent the refereeing has been downright awful as of late. What qualifications does a man/woman need to judge world championship fights? Educate me on this. I know a lot about the fight game but I'm lacking on this subject.

Answer 1

With the judging from Barrera-Marquez fight in mind, I'm guessing the qualifications of some judges includes graduating from clown college.

Answer 2

Blind in the right eye and cant see out the left.
You know for everything that I LOVE about boxing, there are so many things that I hate. Judging and Promoters are destroying one of the most noble sports on this planet. Not to mention the supposed boxing commissions and the MANY MANY different boxing organizations The W.B.O the W.B.C the IBF the absdefg's its like alphabet soup with all these different factions.
I mean what is wrong with the Idea Of a Single Sanctioning committee? The super fights of yester year are gone. Hagler vs. Hearns. ALi vs. Foreman, Frazier vs foreman Sugar ray vs. ALL of them. Remember when the Best fighter in the division fought the best fighters in the division? Judging is a Joke any more. With the downright criminal decisions I have seen in the last ten years I have a hard time enjoying the fights any more. I keep thinking to myself I hope that the judges get it right. Mostly they do But quite often they do not. It is a subjective thing judging, but to be giving a guy 9 rounds in a fight that he got completely whipped in is outragous. I am tired of hearing from Judges like Melvina Lathan that the fight looks different from one side of the ring then the other. Yeah it does but an a$$ whooping is an a$$ whooping no matter where you are sitting. I believe that the boxing world suffered a great loss when Referee Mill's Lane was forced to leave the sport because of his stroke. There seems to be very few people left in the entire world of boxing that have the kind of morals and the absolute unbreakble spirit of wrong and right that Mills had. Something has got to change though. True fight fans will honestly admit if their guy was beaten. I do. I would rather see my guy get knocked clean out then have him take a decision he didn't deserve to have. Judging is objective but people know when something is crap. I believe there should be a commision to look into all questionable decisions and the judges responsible held accountable. Sometimes these fighters have lost before they ever step into the ring. It's disgusting and shameful and I hope it can be changed.

Answer 3

I happen to be a member of three states referee associations. We have to go to classes in the respective sport, Make sure we are/know the sports rules. Know where to stand, position yourself to get the best veiw. Take an exam. Also I happen to have a degree in Phys ED and recreation.
Even knowing rules, it is the way an individual see/veiws a play or event. We all see thing and veiw things differently. We are also human, and can make a mistake. Most amature
sports, refs, ump, judges dont have the luxury of instant replay. Its bam, bam and go on.
It takes years of training, and reveiwing, and learning to ever reach the pro levels and college.
In the fight game, you have people who will see/ judge a fight, and score it as they see it...They have some knowledge of the game and what scores and doesnt. I hope this helps...
For the average veiwer of an event on tv, it helps to know the rules yourself and to ask questions...Listen to the commentator. Sometimes they are right.

Answer 4

After having watched boxing for 40 years and been astounded by the scoring of many judges during that time, I would say that some qualified by having either poor eyesight or expensive tastes ( if you get the implication).