olympic scoring sucks

i'm surprised that boomonjong or whatever his name is, isn't back this year. he won the gold at 140 eliminating willy blain and eventually winning the gold. i read that he was eliminated in the asian games but some unheralded guy and didn't qualify or attempt to qualify for this year.

his brother is back though. not sure how good he is, but i think he won the bronze in 2004.

 

They didnt' draw too badly actually. They're just not doing well.

 

precisely.

 

Imagine an exceptionally talented amateur fighter, one with blazing hand speed, legitimate knockout power and, as a bonus, the kind of rosy-cheeked smile you simply can't teach.

He goes to the Olympics and loses a controversial decision in the opening round because his blurs of combination punches get him nowhere under the modern computer scoring system. He comes home to no fanfare, modest interest from promoters and a lot to prove before any of the networks are prepared to offer him a penny.

I've just described Sugar Ray Leonard, if he'd been born 32 years later.

Leonard, who of course won a gold medal in Montreal in '76 and became the defining non-heavyweight fighter of his time, doesn't deny the likelihood of that generation-jumping fictional scenario..........

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/columns/story?columnist=raskin_eric&id=3526264

 

That was a very strange article by Raskin. The part you quoted had little to do with the rest of the story, and the article overall seemed to almost discourage people from going out of their way to watch Olympic boxing

One part I found ironic (to the point of hypocritical) was his highlighting the lack of mainstream exposure, yet his article doesn't offer a single result from the Olympics, and ESPN.com hasn't offered a drop of coverage beyond AP releases. Dan Rafael didn't mention any fights (not even the Americans) in his weekly scoreboard.

Overall coverage has been ass, in print and online. I don't know if it was this thin four and eight years ago, but there are only a small handful of sites reporting as if they're actually watching the fights.

One site has it surrounded (though I'm not allowed to mention it here ::)

 

Yeah, I figured I would post it because he talks about the scoring. I haven't watched any fights yet, but that's because I don't watch TV during the week.

I caught the last round of a fight at a pub, I think it was an american named Andrade, and he looked pretty lame.

 

It may have just been a bad style matchup but Ali looked awful.

I think leonard would do just fine under the present system. He may not be awarded as highly but overall, clean and accurate punching is rewarded and he would have done just fine. I've only see one contest so far where I thought the wrong man won.

 

The scoring sucks, but people are laying too much blame for US woes on it. Our fighters just aren't fighting.

Beat up the other guy, and you'll win.

 

... and that's our best shot at a Gold medal. ::

 

Andrade's Got a Good OLYMPIC Style of Fighting & a TON of International Experience...

But NO, he ISN'T The Most "T.V. Friendly" Fighter Out There...


REED::

ps. He DIDN'T Look Great, but REED thought he Won by MORE than an 11-9 Margin...

 

I thought Andrade looked like he could be a good action fighter, he just had a spoiler opponent with a game plan, I look forward to seeing him again

 

:: Oops.

 

To be fair, I only saw him fight for about two minutes. He looks like a slapper, but maybe he's just catering to the Olympic judges.

 

1992 had red, white, and blue ppv coverage. I don't know how much they showed. 1996 sucked, I think. 2000 had a lot. 2004 had a whole lot thanks to extensive telemundo coverage mixed in with cnbc (and maybe msnbc jumped in, too).

I think, ironically enough, even though boxing isn't getting mainstream coverage (i wouldn't know), it is getting probably more television coverage than it ever has. I'll report at the end if I get around to it or anyone cares enough to ask me to check.

 

wow, I agree with SRL on something.

This scoring system is butt mud, thats just blatant. I saw another bout last night, where I thought the wrong guy won.

 

YEAH!!! OK SUNG LEE!!!!

 

Oh, when I meant coverage, I meant boxing writers actually reporting on it, which has been extremely thin this year.

I can't complain about television coverage (other having to wake up in the middle of the night to report on the live feed :bangh:). Shit, we're getting at least 6 hours per day of solely dedicated boxing broadcasts, all without having to expand beyond a basic cable/satellite package. if people want to pitch a bitch that it's not on regular NBC during prime time, well... whatever. I'm happy with the coverage it's getting.

I remember catching most of the fights on the Telemundo feed in 2004. Not sure how many were picked up by CNBC and MSNBC.

 

There was good coverage on CNBC in '04, but not quite like we're getting this time around. I'm certainly enjoying it.

I forgot to record the 112 and 119 bouts this AM, but I'm probably better off, since early yesterday morning's coverage was split and shared. The evening CNBC coverage is 3 hours of boxing!

Saddam Ali looke terrible yesterday.

In 2000, Brian Viloria was a standout. As was Taylor before and after those games. In 2004, Andre Dirrell stood out because his style seemed perfect for the pros. This year, we've gotten nothing. Hopefully someone eventually will stand out.

My current favorite talent on the team is Raynell Williams, but he's still very young.

Unfortunately, we'll see some of these guys turn pro too early, and then finally step up after six years...just a bit longer than it's taking the '04 class.

 

To Ali's credit, he didn't sugarcoat it when asked about his performance. He flat out admitted that he stunk. A refreshing change from the usual "we wuz robbed" rhetoric that usually follows every loss - this year it's been limited to basically every losing fighter in a bout against a member of Team China.

The dude from Britain (Joe Murray, I think) flat out got handled last night (early this morning), yet his coach was whining that the only thing they needed to do different was get five new judges.

A Ukrainian fighter was also visibly disgusted with the outcome against Qi Hang, to where he had to finally give in and reluctantly shake his hand at fights end. That fight was a lot closer (10-8, or so) than the one w/ the Brit, but I didn't see an issue with the outcome.

Today's feed should be interesting. Already one major upset to look forward to (for a lack of a better phrase).

 

I'll give that to Ali. He's never shown an ounce of cockiness.

I saw the Ukranian kid against Hang yesterday. That was pretty bad scoring, but I felt that he should have lost. Being in front of your home crowd makes a big difference in confindence, because he was apparently beaten easily the last time they met!

 

i'm assuming you guys read the result on Warren's bout? :mj:

 

yes joony but we appreciate your being subtle all the same.

 

i watched the replay of that russian vs. ukranian yesterday. that was a pretty good fight.

 

yeah there were two good fights in the featherweight bracket that could've easily been Finals entries in any other competition. That one, and then the Tichtchenko consolation bout between Jafarov and the guy from Kazakhstan (Forget his name). Strange though, that both bouts served as the final first round fight for each bracket when in fact it could've easily been the final rour.

 

Bye Bye Raushee Warren....FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

dumb question, but is anyone (at least in the states) able to watch anywhere other than CNBC? I've been searching for online options, esp. when stuck at work, but seem to be either too late or reach a link that's instead showing something else (on some occasions, not even the Olympics)

 

Well, I prefer to not know the results until I actually watch the fight, but with amateur boxing, I don't really mind.

I don't know why everyone was so high on him. He didn't look impressive at all in 2004. Nice personality, but he's not a feared amateur.



Random draws for the opening round. In other tournaments, they keep the favorites in seperate brackets. Raynell Williams got a pretty good draw, so he might make it further than expected.

 

That's because the scoring sucks anyway.

 

I really don't find the scoring that bad. I can't stand everyone blaming things on the scoring. Yes, there's headgear, there's a particular style, there's a different point system, but in the end, it's a fight. Beat the other guy, and you'll win. Our guys aren't beating the other guys, and in this olympics moreso than others I've seen, the international fighters are very beatable.

 

agREED. And the adjustment being made this year is that less pitty pat shit is being rewarded. Sure, body punching goes virtually ignored - but don't we have the same complaint in the pros?

I'm enjoying the fights so far, to where I don't believe other writers when they claim they're watching but find it unbearable, because it sounds like little more than recycling old grievances. The policy in the past was slap, slap, dance, but guys are actually fighting this year. In fact, the stinker fights have become the exception, at least IMO.