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Monday, May 04, 2015 - 02:07 SGT
Posted By: Gilbert

- -
This Sweet Science

"I feel ripped off even though I didn't pay to see this."

- seen on r/Boxing


Woke up forty minutes after the official 11 a.m. start time of the long-awaited Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao bout, only to discover that it had been delayed due to late pay-per-view buys. As might be gleaned from the above comment, many of these were probably left cursing their impulse buy (only S$39.90 here!). Fortunately, helpful EDMW personnel had suggested various alternatives, and I was impressed at how smooth the stream from Russia was. Props to Putin, is there anything the man can't do?


Train the national squad till 11 a.m., take over a few former Ukrainian provinces before two, wrestle a couple of bears during afternoon tea, then impose the will of Mother Russia on the decadent West!
(Source: nypost.com)


Boxing Primer

Before proceeding further (moreover, we aren't missing that much), let's quickly go through the sport of boxing. Its roots are shrouded in the time-honoured ancient practice of "two males beating the living daylights out of each other"; various species and cultures independently developed conventions and rules to limit casualties (and maybe also to make the encounter more entertaining for spectators), and one of the most popular was to disallow the use of the legs to strike, because, well, only girls would rely on those non-upper-body-strength-utilizing tricks, while manly men had barrel chests, bulging biceps and big, big fists for a reason.


Next thing you'll tell me, is that you weren't born with a mustache!
(Original source: knowyourmeme.com)


Certainly, not resorting to knee and foot attacks was not quite sufficient to qualify as boxing, and men happily grappled with each other until the founder of Athens figured that that might get awkward, and instead instituted the practice of having the combatants sit down and politely punch the other guy in the face, until one died. He would probably be disappointed at having the sport sissified by his successors, who allowed leather hand wraps to protect those widdle finger bones, and even dodge strikes! What was the world coming to?!

As it was, it would be little surprise that the more macho of the period kept to pankration and wrestling, where they could forcibly keep the other fellow from running away, if required. That said, not having one's balls grabbed was attractive to at least some early Olympic contestants, and boxing regained a modicum of respect after one fighter punched into his opponent's guts and ripped out his intestines (sadly, he was disqualified on the technicality of leading with the fingertips)

The Romans knew a crowd-pleaser when they saw one, and developed boxing to new heights, to the point that it was banned in the fourth century due to excessive violence, leaving disappointed citizens to content themselves with watching wild beasts tear slaves apart in the Colosseum.

There's a gap in the authorized history from here, probably because real men had to indulge themselves in their inalienable right to hit each other in the face on the down low, after some hippy spread his "love thy neighbour" PC nonsense throughout the civilized world. Even worse, his followers would later straight-out immolate critics, instead of granting them, you know, a fair-and-square one-on-one manfight.


Contributing to boxing's dark age, He added the "turn the other cheek" rule, which gave the first guy to land a blow an overwhelming advantage, in contrast to the time-tested "let's take turns"
(Source: libriscrowe.com)


Well, good sense prevailed after the passage of a thousand years, give or take, and a number of British gentlemen came together and agreed over a cuppa that, why, old chappies, it is only proper for young strapping lads to cave each others' noses in, after all, eh? It'll toughen them up, like, put hair on their chest, etc, the perfect silly exercise for schoolboys after the morning cold shower and crosscountry run, work off some of that troublesome excess energy and teach sportsmanship in the process, what a fine idea and we are all in accord, then?

Despite their best intentions, the sport was also embraced by the unwashed working classes, some of who even fought for money, rather than the sheer distinction of having one's skull fractured for fun. Still, the gentlemen accommodated their social inferiors by and large, and the first bare-knuckle champions emerged from a vague ruleset that included a count to thirty, because where's the sportsmanship in not letting the other fellow have a breather? Such bouts often went on for hours, which conveniently gave the participants ample time to get properly acquainted.

And all was just peachy till the mid-nineteenth century, when there suddenly came a fashion for written codes, with, for instance, the Football Association laying down the Laws of the Game in 1863. One supposes that the true gentlemen of the period were a bit miffed, because a man's word is good as his bond, and only criminals and lawyers should be concerned with explicit regulations and all that, but the Marquess of Queensberry's got his stamp of approval out for the fad, and he's a right old bean, wot, so steady on, I say.


Remember, my good man, you gotta let the other gentlemen hit you, it's only basic manners. And easy on the footwork, that's *so* continental
(Original source: wired.com)


Those general guidelines have held to the present day, and as with football, the advent of professionalism only contributed to the rise of the sport, as it opened the doors to talent whom otherwise would not have been able to afford having their teeth rearranged for free. As it happened, there was a ready pool of men willing and eager to beat other men up for pay without the inconvenience of getting a full-blown battle on, and prizefighting blossomed in the Anglosphere, perhaps due to gaining a taste for it after winning a couple of world wars.

Boxing attained perhaps the peak of its popularity in the United States with returning servicemen still buzzed from thrashing those Fritz bastards in Europe, and heavyweight champion of the era Jack Dempsey was among the most popular figures of that period. His fight against Firpo inspired perhaps the most enduring depiction of the sport, and he recovered from the ring-out to knock his challenger out.

A complete recounting of all the greats since then - Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, among many others - is well beyond the scope of a single blog post to do justice to, and will not be attempted.


Dempsey Through The Ropes, by Bellows
(Source: wikipedia.org)


Along the way, a fair number of these men, most notably perhaps Marciano, Ali and Tyson, worked their way into popular culture. The Rocky film series aside, the discipline of boxing has been well represented in settings involving personal combat (Wildcat, Balrog & Dudley, Ikki, Kuro, just to name a few). Then, there are the works centered about boxing itself, with Ashita no Joe from the late Sixties the seminal manga on the subject (with frequent homages), and which retains probably the most tear-jerker ending.

Its mantle has been taken up in recent years by Hajime no Ippo - over 25 years, and a thousand chapters, and still going strong - which, as we shall see, has quite adequately covered just about every trope that boxing has to offer.


Where The Science Comes In

Depending on your personal tastes, you might or might not be happy to hear that boxing has come some way from "let's sit down and pound away until one of us is dead". For better or worse, the more cerebrally-inclined gentlemen of the age have guided it towards being more of a thinking game, which could yet turn out a good refuge for humans after they've gotten crushingly outclassed in less vigorous games of strategy - I mean, how hard can a mainframe punch?

But yeah, the details. Essentially, it comes down to hitting the other guy (woohoo!), and not letting the other guy hit you (wait, what are you, chicken?), and just about all other considerations arise from these two principles.

On hitting the other guy, or in other words offence, you'll often hear terms like hand speed, knockout power, jabs, straights, crosses, hooks and combinations mentioned.

On not getting hit - or, almost as good, getting hit but not hurt - i.e. defence, there're slips, sways, sidesteps, guards, blocks, clinches - and when all else fails, the chinny-chin-chin.

And then there's reach, footwork, conditioning and ring psychology, which apply more evenly to both spheres.

And, above that, there are the skills of how to pick your opponents, and perhaps most important of all, how to win concessions and influence judges.

While the above factors admit countless configurations, boxers tend to be pigeonholed into one of the major archetypes - infighter, slugger, outboxer. Very generally speaking, the infighter wants to get in close, stick there, and unload numerous punches; the slugger just wants that one big KO to land, and doesn't care overly about getting hit in the meantime; and the outboxer prefers to keep his distance, while scoring accurate jabs consistently.

These preferences result in the crude rule of thumb - swarmers are good against outboxers, since they often manage to push inside; sluggers are good against swarmers, since they can take enough punishment to set up that one telling blow; and outboxers are good against sluggers, since they tend to be too fast for the big hitters to catch.

Okay, too much information. Back to the Fight of the Century.


Money vs. Manny - Round By Round

"You are supposed to hug your wife and beat your enemy."

- all too many boxing observers, after the fact



That's what they said
(Source: media.foxsports.com.au)


Interestingly, Pacquiao has been assigned the red corner, despite it being usually reserved for the defending champion/favourite, of which he is neither (Mayweather has been the odds-on pick all along, and brought more titles to the fight - but more later). Indeed, he enters first, while the "bigger name" is last to arrive by convention. Those negotiations sure were complex [N.B. The judges couldn't keep up either; also, "weleterweight"?]. Bieber's supposedly in Mayweather's posse, but he's apparently being blocked off by bodyguards; well, it was always kinda one-sided.

This fight has been seen by many as a classic "good vs. evil" contest, and while Pacman may be no saint either (but, let's be honest, what's a few alleged illegitimate kids, to such manly men?), Mayweather totally outclasses him with his well-documented penchant for woman-beating, at one time going as far as to ask a friend to hold a girlfriend's child, so he could better punch her. That said, as far as is known, he does hold a perfect undefeated record in this category too.

About the best thing one can say about Mayweather's personality is that he is has largely been honest, about being in it for the cash, baby! In case you've missed it, he'll be taking home a guaranteed US$180 million, whereas Pacquiao will have to be content with just US$120 million.


Round One - Mayweather leads with his left jab to measure the distance, but Pacquiao is having none of that, and sends Mayweather scrambling backwards to the corner and into a clinch. Tyson's accusation of Mayweather being a "small, scared man" rings into consciousness... but wait, Tyson's now the voice of righteousness?! The camera cuts to him at ringside seated alongside what appears to be his latest wife, offering further reinforcement that a bit of abuse has never stopped pretty ladies from throwing themselves at real men.

Round Two - Mayweather is immediately forced to the ropes, and seems to be trying to slow the pace; Pacquiao is sending up a few combinations, and taking the momentum... or so it seems, as shall be revealed.

Round Three - More Pacquiao pressure, Mayweather appears to get one in under the belt, but it seemed inadvertent; he's skipping and swaying away comfortably enough, however. Pacman ducks a few of his own. Mayweather's corner is clearly not happy at the way things are going, and exhort him to "come back with your hook".

Round Four - Nice duck by Mayweather near the ropes, and while he gets momentarily staggered, keeps up a full peekaboo defence and doesn't seem phased. He throws some crisp jabs after getting out, though Pacquiao lands a clean counter to Mayweather's face sometime this round.


Leaning back took much of the power away, though
(Source: coed.com, another version)


Round Five - Mayweather again on the back foot, but then forces Pacquiao back for what appears to be the first time on the night. He doesn't waste time on baiting Pacquiao with a hands-down stance, and winds up dancing about with hands up. Eh, whatever works seems to be his motto.

Round Six - Almost halfway there. More combos by Pacquiao, but they don't seem to hurt, even if Mayweather's dodging a bit awkwardly. Mayweather's leaving his left hand out to keep Pacquiao away, but is again forced to the ropes. He again survives the combo undamaged, and gives Pacquiao a little shake of the head, then jabs his way out of trouble. It's gonna be a long night.

Round Seven - Mayweather appears to have finally heeded his corner's advice, and goes on the offensive. Pacquiao struggles to find a response, and the round's a more even exchange... or so I thought.

Round Eight - Pacquiao resumes normal service, but Mayweather continues to block undaunted. His home crowd (well, a lot of them are from out of town) seems to be losing their patience, and are chanting for Manny (or is that Money?). Mayweather does then throw a series of jabs, and then a rare right. Replays show Pacquiao tagging Mayweather with another solid counter to the face, while receiving a clear one to the right shoulder area in turn.


Let's have some more of that.
(Source: si.com)


Round Nine - Pacquiao continues doggedly with his offensive, Mayweather clinches. Certainly no shoulder roll on display here, as pundits predicted, due to Pacquiao being a southpaw. Mayweather finally gets his big hook out just before the bell, to instant reinforcement from his corner.

Round Ten - The periods of bobbing and weaving without any punches being thrown are getting longer now, and it certainly doesn't look like there will be a knockout. Mayweather lands a clean counter of his own, and Bieber gets his screen time.

Round Eleven - Mayweather throws the first few blows for once, and both fighters incredibly appear almost sprightlier than when they started out - no danger of either gassing out. Pacquiao's trainers are loudly reminding him that the next round is the last... at which he goes and shares a long hug with Mayweather. Huh?

Round Twelve - Mayweather's throwing sharp single jabs, Pacquiao slowly forces him to the ropes, and then it's over, and they're both up a hundred million dollars plus-plus apiece. There appear to be some boos from the crowd at Mayweather's not-particularly-engaging style, and Mayweather is only too happy to give them a piece of his mind.


Honestly, it was tough to call for me - Pacquiao was clearly the one taking the initiative the vast majority of the time, but Mayweather was never in much trouble - but nor was Pacquiao himself, for that matter. How then to decide?

Turns out, it wasn't even close. Unanimous decision, Mayweather wins, 118-110, 116-112, 116-112.


Guess who's not impressed either.



What In The...

"I think I won the fight, he didn't do nothing."

- Pacquiao is puzzled


Just to be clear about it, I'm a very casual boxing observer, which means that I shared the perspective of quite a few casuals, which was: how in the heck can you win that overwhelmingly, after spending the bulk of the "fight" getting pushed around, being pummelled on the ropes, blocking and dodging while retreating, and otherwise plain running away?

More serious sweet science enthusiasts were, on the other hand, unsurprised, and their scorecards did (mostly) tend to match the official ones. And, as it transpired, Mayweather did throw (a few) more - and land significantly more - punches than Pacquiao, according to the raw Compubox stats.

But... but... that was hardly how it looked?

At this, one can almost sense the true boxing followers sigh, let us explain to you freshies how this works.

If you had actually seen how Mayweather won his 47 previous professional fights, you could not have been surprised, since this is basically how he has always operated - dodge, slip, block, run, bait... then get a few punches in, and repeat. You didn't think the bookies didn't see this coming when they set the odds at 1/2 for Mayweather, did you?

But... but... is this boxing?

*shrugs* Well, if you're going to win on points, it's effective, for sure. Like, you know, fencing, where they award credit only for a clean poke? Boxing's like that too. Unleash six or seven punches into an opponent's guard? Sorry, no can do. Fling big swings that he flees from like a little girl? Zero points. But if he sticks his arm out in the process and brushes your hair with high enough probability? Zing! That's clever, thinking, technical boxing, you lot wouldn't understand.

Er, so is this what it's come to? Bean-counting?

*shifts uncomfortably* There are supposed to be other factors - effective aggression and "ring generalship", to name but two. Okay, fine, fine, we admit it, the judges can basically call it however they want. Yeah, we know, Pacquiao got completely screwed over before, but let's get real - the guy knew what he was getting into, he was never gonna win it by a decision in Mayweather's home territory, okay?

And, you gotta concede, tagging the other guy isn't as easy as you think. It takes speed, man! There's some hair-trigger reactions behind being able to jump away at the right instant, and then back away in a circle. What, you're not gonna watch boxing anymore? Pah, fine by us.


A Simple Proposed Solution

First things first - going by the rules, Mayweather won. He set out to score points at little risk to himself, he got exactly what he came for, all power to him. Yes, the casual fans who paid a hundred bucks aren't pleased, and will likely be turned off from the sport, but he got his millions, so who cares?

Boxing should, for one, if they want to keep up with MMA; having four or five organizations fracturing the prestige of the titles hasn't helped their popularity any, and having "run away and regroup" being the go-to strategy of arguably their most recognizable face ain't helping any either.

Now, it's unavoidable that some will succeed by playing safe and gaming the percentages - Mourinho's Chelsea did it, tiki-taka can be seen to be a little like this too - but there are times one has to say, enough is enough. Football did it with the no-backpass rule, for example (and I wouldn't be against them trying out basketball-style get-the-ball-across-the-halfway-line within-thirty-seconds and no-returning-the-ball-to-your-own-half rules), and not a moment too soon.

I can appreciate good defence - heck, some of those leanbacks and sways by Mayweather were hella impressive. The problem, though, is that backing off almost always works, and there's no actual penalty for it - worst comes to worst, he'll get backed to the ropes, block some blows (not counted, remember), then nudge the opponent away with a jab or two (which often do count), and be in the clear again. Easy to pull off? Maybe not. Entertaining to watch? Hella no.

Yes, you could define this as having "ring generalship" because he's getting the other fellow to do what he wants, i.e. chase him about the ring, but then, does the other fellow have much of a choice here? Or, in other words, why should one boxer be obligated to follow another boxer willy-nilly, if it's the other boxer doing the retreating? Defence while interacting with punches I can understand, defence by continually moving away from and avoiding confrontation, on the other hand...

On this, may I introduce here... the Big Red Dot.


(Sources: dundjinni.com & guim.co.uk)


So, we slap a Big Red Dot in the middle of the ring. It should be big enough such that two boxers can stand across each other on its circumference and just about reach each other with their punches, so let's say slightly over two metres in diameter (note that pro rings are about six metres a side)

How this works is, we keep track of the length of time that each of the boxers has at least one foot inside the Dot - whether by overhead cameras, or sensors in the soles of their shoes, or assigned Dotkeepers holding down a button when their man is in position, anything will do.

Then, if a boxer spends less time than his opponent does within the Dot, he is automatically docked half a point (keeping the traditional 10-point system); if less than half the time (e.g. 70 seconds to 150 seconds), a full point is docked; if less than thirty seconds in a three-minute round, two points are docked.

Also, clinching - there's usually little doubt about when a clinch has happened (the referee has to step in), and who's initiating the clinching (the guy hugging the other guy's arms to his body). Although "excessive clinching" is supposed to be a foul, it is hardly ever called in current practice, which makes its use to take a free timeout rest only all too attractive.

So, let's make the clinching penalty explicit too. Each boxer gets five free clinches for the entire match. After that, he's docked half a point for each clinch, up to a maximum of two points per round. The total Dot/clinch penalties for each round are then rounded up, so if say a boxer is docked just half a point in total for the round, it's ignored, while if he is docked half a point twice, it gets reflected on his actual score.

Reasoning here is extremely simple - why should skirting the other guy be considered good boxing? You say you've got superb defence? Alright, then stand in the middle of the ring and start dodging. Oh, and don't go for the hug so often - you're really not that great friends.

Actually, some promotions have already been experimenting with the concept, just that there's still no explicit reward for "maintaining territory by dominating the centre" yet. One thing's for sure - I'd pay good money to watch Mayweather fight Pacquiao again, under Big Red Dot rules.



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