We all know that the judges play a very important role in boxing matches. If there’s no K.O. or a disqualification, i.e. when both fighters are still standing after the last round, the judges are the ones who decide the winner. They have to carefully follow the whole match, score each round based on the fighters’ performances and the sum of all these numbers gives us the winner. But, since each judge scores for himself – the other judges are not permitted to see his scores and vice versa – and there’s no direct influence on the decisions, the final result can vary and there are several possible outcomes.

A unanimous decision is when all three
judges score a fight for one side. A majority decision is one in which two judges score a fight for one side, and the third judge scores it a draw. A split decision is when two judges score a fight for one side, and a third judge scores it for the other side.

Unanimous decision – each of the three judges has decided in favour of one fighter, so that the final score card’s result is 3:0 in favour of one corner or the other. This usually means that the winner was overwhelmingly better than his opponent.

Majority decision – two of the judges awarded the win to one fighter, while the third had a dissenting opinion in the form of a draw; for him, no fighter had a clear advantage. Since the majority of the judges are still leaning towards one fighter, he is declared winner by majority decisions. The final score card’s result is 2:1 in favour of the winning fighter.

Split decision – this one is similar to the former decision, but instead of a draw, the third judge decided in favour of the losing fighter. The other two judges awarded the victory to the winning fighter, who is declared winner by split decision based on the fact that he has the majority of judges on his side.

Split draw – a very interesting decision where each judge decided differently. One voted in favour of one fighter, the other in favour of the other fighter and the last one declared it a draw. This is the first of three decisions that results in a draw.

Majority draw – this decision is the equivalent of a majority draw, but instead of two judges being in favour of one fighter, they are in favour of a draw, while the last judge decided in favour of one of the fighters.

Unanimous draw – a clear-cut situation where the judges couldn’t decide between the fighters, so all three of them declared the match a draw. That is also the final result in such cases.

Ok

Thanks. I knew most of these already. I was surprised to learn of majority decision. I always assumed a majority decision was a synonym for a unanimous one.

tanks