I think the Muay Thai scoring system is very logical and makes a lot of sense. You just have to remember that you are judging a FIGHT. Who has won the fight? Not round by round adding up the scores but who is the winner at the end.

If one fighter nicks a couple of rounds by one or two techniques but the other wins one round by knocking the other all over the ring, the maths says that the weaker fighetr would win as they have more rounds. But how can you say you have beaten someone in a fight when they beat you all over for a round and you didnt do the same to them? (I'm NOT referring to any of the fights last week by the way just hypothetical).

The early rounds are often scored even because even if one fighter slightly pulls ahead by landing a few shots, these shots are unlikely to have a great effect as both fighters are fresh. But - the jugdge will bear in mind that the fighter is starting to look like they are going to win. If one fighter totally dominates the other, of course they will win the round. But this doesnt happen very often. If the round is close it is likely to be scored a draw as it has not had sufficient bearing on he outcome of the fight.

I think it is a mistake to talk in terms of taking the early rounds easy. You are looking to win every round but you are fighting with your mind and not your body more in the early rounds - looking for weaknesses and trying to expose them. If you take the rounds easy you are going to lose! But even scoring techniues are unlikely to have an efect on a fresh fighter - and it is EFFECT that we are looking for. A clean kick across the body might not have an effect in round 1 but probably will in round 4 when the fighter is more tired.

When the early rounds are close like this, more emphasis will be given to the later rounds but if every round is close, the judge may take into acoount the slight advantage to the one fighter in the early rounds and award the fight accordingly. If neither fighter has had any significant effect on the other through the fight it will be a draw.

This is the Thai way of scoring. Its a fight not a paper excercise. I understand people saying that this is too difficult for people to understand (although I think its pretty logical) and should be changed. The western boxing way of scoring usually relies on more rounds and takes the maths into account. The Thai way of scoring looks at who has won the overall fight. If there were no rounds and no referee who would have won?

BUT - people go on about fighting FULL THAI RULES, but then want to change the rules????? Its either Thai rules or its not.

How can we bring over 4 top Thais and say we have beaten them at their own game when we have changed the rules to our own interpretation?????

If we want to change the rules and the scoring criteria to suit ourselves or because we think the sport will grow better, dont bringThais over as we are fighting different sports, or at least tell them waht the judges are looking for before they come so they can decide whether to accept the rules or not.

I am not referring to any of the fights specifically in this post but I will say again that I feel that all the decisions were right under Muay Thai criteria. If we are saying that the criteria should be changed thats one thing but if we are saying the criteria have been applied wrongly, thats another.

I am also very disappointed at the underlying criticism of Tony Myers who does everything for the love of our sport and has had a lot more experience than anyone in this country direct from the top officials in Thailand. I accept that certain people might be offended at the suggestion that we all need "educating" but I have no problem with this as I am learning all the time and still have a lot to learn, and greatly respect the superior knowledge that Tony has.

Apologies for the ridiculously long post - you dont have to read it if you dont want to!