I think that's too brutal. The idea is that it's a sport not a fight to the death. Don't want the participants to mess up their whole lives after one contest do we? Besides the way things are, crooked refs dive in more or less whenever they please to call the fight off in favor of the house fighter, as the ref did in the fat slob negro Cuban's fight just before he fought - if you can call what he did fought - Vitali, when he was so exhausted against Austin that the house ref had to dive in and save his fat ass from falling down, and then called it a KO in his favor. Of course we could do away with refs and judges too...
No question, though, the system they got now is totally corrupt.
Werewolf - It appears that You got the wrong end of the stick, mate. I wasn't saying that modern boxing should replicate 100+ round Regency or Victorian era bouts or that it should be compulsory to wear a cestus on the dominant hand or that fights should continue to the death. :icon_wink:
In an ideal world, I'd like to see a boxing setup which would eliminate the "judges' decision" and thereby force both contestants to fight more aggressively. Boxing is a combat sport and winners shouldn't be determined by "judges" - we're not talking about figure skating or synchronised swimming...
I was thinking along the lines of a series of incentives and disincentives. For example, if a bout is concluded by stoppage within the standard 12 rounds, both fighters receive their full shares of the purse. If, however, both are still able to continue at the end of the twelfth round, then instead of looking to judges Goldberg, Goldstein and Goldman to name a "winner" an "overtime" round ensues (and both fighters automatically forfeit 20% of their share of the purse). If the initial overtime round proves inconclusive, another follows (with a further 20% purse reduction) and so on, with an upper limit of 17 rounds.
If the 17 rounds fail to deliver a result, a "no decision" ruling is declared - binding both boxers to a compulsory rematch. The fear of potential eventual defeat as a consequence of physical exhaustion and the knowledge that 5 extra rounds could erase one's earnings would ensure that the vast majority of fights were decided by knockout or technical knockout within twelve rounds.
I mentioned underground bare knuckle events as I attended a fair few in my late teens and early twenties and can tell You that the bouts didn't last for anywhere near twelve three-minute rounds, nor did they involve judges' decisions. Were they comparatively brutal? Maybe, but at least the winners were decided in the ring, the warehouse or on wasteland and not by some poxy judges. Whether or not certain individuals were paid to take dives is a separate matter...
The problem of "judging" also bedevils Mixed Martial Arts. In the early days of the sport, two blokes entered the ocatgon and one emerged - the other was either knocked out or eventually tapped out. Now, of course, there are rounds and judges - and, funnily enough, an overrepresentation of blacks and bean boys...
Keep in mind that all of this is simply Rebajlo's somewhat fanciful concept which, for obvious reasons, will never see the light of day... :icon_wink:
