NIETES vs GARCIA-HIRALES: THE CONTROVERSIAL SCORES
By Dong Secuya
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 10 Oct 2011
Boxing judge Liza Giampa officiating Saturday's fight.
CEBU CITY ? Returning to our hotel right after the Nietes-Garcia fight early Sunday morning in Bacolod City, Referee Bruce McTavish, Carlos Costa, Rene Bonsubre, Jr and myself had compared our personal scorecards on the controversial result of the just concluded world championship fight. The official judges had Nietes the winner by unanimous decision with scores of 118-110 by Liza Giampa of Las Vegas, 117-111 by Carlos Ortiz of New York and 115-113 by Danrex Tapdasan of the Philippines.
A lot of people were divided on the scoring of the fight with many saying that Nietes won a very close fight concurring to the score of the Filipino judge. Many were saying that the 118-110 (10 rounds to 2 for Nietes) and 117-111 (9 rounds to 3) by the two American judges were just outrageous scores. Many were also saying that Garcia-Hirales won the fight in a close contest. The Mexicans themselves were very vocal in their belief that they won the fight and that they were robbed.
The veteran referee and judge Bruce McTavish who has officiated in over a hundred title fights and many of the Manny Pacquiao fights in the Philippines, had it 116-112 for Nietes. The globe-trotting Panamanian Carlos Costa had it 115-113 for Garcia-Hirales while prolific boxing writer and ring physician Rene Bonsubre Jr had it 115-113 for Nietes. I had Garcia-Hirales winning only 3 to 4 rounds of the 12-round contest so scores of 117-111 or 116-112 for Nietes were okay with me.
In defending our scorecards, both McTavish and myself pointed out that Nietes connected the more effective punches throughout and especially during the middle rounds where many people thought Garcia-Hirales won the rounds.
Much have been said about effective punches. But what is an effective punch as it translates to the scoring of fights?
In August of last year, right after Nietes successfully defended his title against Mario Rodriguez in Rodriguez's hometown in Guasave, Mexico, I had the pleasure of having a long conversation with well-known judge Levi Martinez, who was one of the judges of the Nietes-Rodriguez fight, as we traveled together from the little town of Guasave back to the U.S. Martinez is a Mexican-American who now resides in New Mexico, USA and had a lifetime ambition to become a boxing judge when at 5 years of age he saw a boxing match on TV and saw someone sitting on an elevated chair by the ring apron. He recalled saying ?That's the best seat in the house, I want to be there.?
Much like the Nietes-Garcia fight last Saturday, Nietes scored in the early rounds in the Guasave bout but faded in the latter rounds against the bullying Rodriguez in the oven hot Auditorio Luis Estrada Medina. Before the verdict was read I was expecting very close scores from the judges especially so that the fight was held in Rodriguez's hometown and the fact that one judge was a Mexican and another one was of Mexican descent. I was surprised however when the judges' scorecards were read as Nietes won handily by wide margins. Thomas Nardone (Florida, USA) had it 116-112, Alejandro Lopez Cid (Mexico), 118-110 and Martinez, 119-109 all for Nietes.
So in our trip back to the US, I asked Levi why his score was so wide?
Martinez, who actively conducts judging seminars for the WBA and WBO throughout North America to aspiring as well as veteran boxing judges, gave an impromptu 'boxing lesson' to this inquiring mind. First, he said, judging should never be about race or hometowns. He then narrated how, as a judge, he sees the action on the ring.
Nietes (R) connecting a short counter right to the head of Garcia-Hirales during a round 8 action. Photo by Dong Secuya.
Martinez said that he only sees two rectangle frames ? moving rectangles ? on the ring. The rectangles are the imaginary zones that cover the boxer's head and the front area of the body from the neck down to the waistline. Martinez pointed out that this is the scoring area of the boxer's physical frame and any hit to this area will register a score to the connecting party. A hit outside this area would not score a point so hits to the back of the head, back of the body, to the arms, hands and gloves do not count. ?If you hit the opponent outside the scoring zone, it may hurt him, it may be painful to him but it does not score,? Martinez emphasized. As legal hits are registered by either boxer throughout the round, the balance of the score sways in favor of the boxer who connected more or who connected the more telling blows. Aggressiveness by itself does not count in the scorecards as boxing is, in the end, is about hitting and not getting hit.
?So,? Martinez said, ?Rodriguez threw a lot of punches in the latter rounds against the retreating Nietes but they missed the target or they hit the arms, hands and gloves of Nietes and very few of them got in. Meanwhile Nietes was accurately connecting to the head and body of Rodriguez with his counters and short punches so Nietes naturally won the rounds.?
The Nietes-Garcia scorecards. Photo by Carlos Costa.
What happened to the Nietes-Rodriguez fight in Guasave was very similar to the Garcia-Nietes fight last Saturday in Bacolod. Nietes dominated the first half of the fight, scoring 5 rounds to 1 in two of the judges' scorecards (Tapdasan and Giampa) while he got 4 rounds to 2 from Carlos Ortiz. The most debatable rounds were from the 7th to 10th when Nietes's stamina faded and he was found backtracking from Garcia's onslaught. Most of those who saw a close fight gave all these rounds (7th to 10th) to Garcia-Hirales. However it was during these rounds that Garcia's aggressiveness did not really pay off well enough because either he was missing his punches or those were being blocked by Nietes. Meanwhile Nietes still managed to score with his short counters during these rounds. It was during these rounds that Martinez's scoring technique should help us determine who should deservedly win the rounds. In the official scorecards, Tapdasan had it 2-2 during these rounds while Ortiz and Giampa had it 3-1 for Nietes. The final two rounds were less controversial as many agreed (including the four of us in the hotel) that Nietes won those rounds. In the official scorecards, both Ortiz and Giampa gave rounds 11 and 12 to Nietes while Tapdasan saw it otherwise and gave them to Garcia-Hirales that allowed his scorecard to be a lot closer in the end.
In the end, Giampa's and Ortiz's scorecards may not be that outrageous after all with the knowledge of how judges score actual fights minus the drama, the emotion and the sudden ebb and flow of the fight due the a boxer's aggressiveness, stamina or the lack of it.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Dong Secuya.
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