WBA 104th Convention Day 1 Meetings

Story and photos By Boxing Bob Newman

President Gilberto Jesus Mendoza greeted the delegates assembled for the first session of the day- the judges seminar. Mendoza stressed unity and growth within the boxing industry. After a.playing of the U.S. national anthem, a remembrance video was played- depicting those in boxing who passed over the last few year.

With that, expert and experienced judge Steve Weisfeld commenced his ABC certified seminar. The final rst video clip shown was very telling. A three-way split screen showing the same moment in a fight, as seen from the vantage point of each of the three judges, was played. In each view, the ability to see the punch land was completely different, emphasizing how judges can see three different outcomes.in an individual round and overall, in a fight.

Weisfeld also discussed the relationship between the judges and the referee. The referee can count a knockdown or wave it off. He or she does not declare if a punch landed or which hand scored. That is up to the judge and their ability to discern such.

Scoring criteria according to the ABC was discussed. In theory, a 10-7 round can be scored with only one knockdown, if the remainder of the round sees the already downed fighter, continuing to get hurt and dominated. There must always be 10 point for at least one of the boxers. If both fighters go down in a round, one of them still gets 10 points- hence the 10-point must system.

The weaknesses of the judge were discussed:
*Effectiveness vs volume
*Female bouts
*Lighter weight boxers
*Boxer vs puncher
*Puncher vs counter puncher
* Commissions, promoters, sanctioning bodies

Relay was used in.some of the video reviews where it was actually used in the real fight. In one case, the commission told the judges to score a knockdown when the ref hadn’t ruled as such during the round where a fighter did go down from a punch during the round.

Just before a break, President Mendoza introduced Timothy Shipman, the president of the Association of Boxing Commissions. Mendoza pledged cooperation between the two organizations.

During video review of several rounds, the 11th round of Crawford-Canelo was reviewed. The majority of the assembly scored that round for Crawford, which was in agreement with the actual judges on the night. However, this particular fight, had an AI judge, which actually scored the round for Canelo!

After a lunch break, the referees seminar was conducted by veteran retired referee Russell Mora. Mora stressed the referee being “invisible,” but not irrelevant.

He stressed many pre-fight points:
*Get to the show at least one hour before the first fight
*Don’t post your assignment on social media
*Don’t let yourself be influenced by information you received before the fight
*Check the ropes in all four corners
*Verify who the chief second is for each fighter
*Zero tolerance for rabbit punches & hitting a downed fighter

Center of ring instructions:
*Establish waistline
*Establish mouth guard
*Touch gloves

Mouthpieces:
*Fighter should have two mouthpieces
*Referee can deduct points if mouthpiece is intentionally spit out
*Referee should replace mouthpiece at first opportune moment
* If a mouthpiece comes out during a knockdown, the knockdown actually counts as a lull in the action, when the mouthpiece can be replaced

Many other aspects of the ABC Boxing Referee Manual were cited: unintentional fouls, scoring partial rounds when a fight is stopped due to an accidental injury, etc.

And with that the ABC official exams were administered for both judges and referees. Next up, the official opening of the convention and the BoxLab professional boxing night!

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