Bill, there are a number of things I agree with you on. I agree both boxers were equal in the clinch, I don't think Dave was in trouble during the fight or was marked or fazed by anything, and completely agree that Dave scored with a great elbow in the second. I also agree we must be seeing fights very differently.

I am sure we can both quote Boxing of Board of Sport Rules and scoring criteria but I don't think that will add much to this debate because it is the interpretation of those rules that is important in determining the winner; the written rules are open to widely differing interpretations.

This is scoring in a nut shell:

70% of determining the winner of a fight is the number of clean blows landed with power and accuracy whether the scoring fighter is moving forwards, backwards, sideways, back against the ropes or counter fighting.

20% of determining the winner of a fight is considering who dominates with MuayThai skills controlling the action so that their opponent can’t perform to perform.

10% of determining the winner of a fight is considering who forces the action, particularly if one boxer only runs away

However, when considering the above the following needs to be noted:

• Primary scoring weapons are body kicks and knees particularly if they are delivered with good timing (if a boxer is unbalanced first or as a result of the kick or knee all the better). Body kicks score even when landing on the arms but not if they are blocked. A fighter can move backwards, sideward or forward as long as they are landing cleanly.

• Teeps that make an opponent lose position also score well particularly if they are well timed and cause significant loss of position.

• Staying balanced, maintaining a good stance (position) and staying on your feet is really important in not getting scored upon.

• Low kicks and punches score (equally to anything else if they drop someone) but these techniques need to show some effect or damage to equal the score of body kicks and knees.

• Elbows score as well as punches do (they have to cut an opponent, stagger an opponent or cause them to lose position or show they are hurt to score really very well). If a fighter is dropped by an elbow it is equal to any other technique a fighter is dropped by.


Andy C I agree with you mate…you were biased and the fact that you’d had gallons of lager did influence your judgement LOL. Seriously I totally agree Dave is a winner (even though I think he lost the fight); he did fight a legend and did give a superb account of himself.