Boxing matches aren't scored how you think as ref explains ahead of Joshua vs Dubois

Anthony Joshua will fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF world heavyweight boxing title tonight (Saturday September 21).

Two-time former champion Joshua, coming off the back of four consecutive victories, will be looking to secure a convincing win over his British rival at Wembley Stadium. There’s a strong chance that the bout will end in a stoppage, with 25 of AJ’s 28 wins being by knockout, while Dubois has managed 20 knockouts in his 21 wins.

Should the fight go the full 12 rounds, the decision will go to three ringside judges, whose scores out of ten awarded to each fighter for each round are tallied up and result in the winner. If all three officials agree on the winner, it is a unanimous decision, while a split decision victory is awarded if only two judges score the fight in a boxer’s favour.

The subjective nature of scoring by judges has resulted in countless controversial decisions down the years. And former British Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) judge Ian John-Lewis has sought to explain exactly how it works from a judge’s perspective.

John-Lewis, who is also an experienced referee, told The Sports Agents podcast that, in each round, fighters are scored separately out of 10. He revealed that judges do not keep the scorecard for a round after that round is finished, meaning they do not reach an outcome by observing the fight as a whole.

He said: “What a lot of people don’t understand is that it’s basically twelve fights. Each round is scored and you hand your card in, so you don’t know how you scored it after that. 

“You’re not thinking about the previous round. Lots of people think we keep our cards but no, you hand your card in and you don’t know the result until the end when you look at the overall scorecard and see how we’ve all scored it.”

John-lewis found himself in the midst of controversy in February 2022 when the BBBofC relegated him from A* status down to A, ruling him out of their elite events. That was because of his inexplicable 114-111 scoring in favour of Josh Taylor during the undisputed super-lightweight bout against Jack Catterall, which the Scotsman had clearly lost.

John-Lewis explained that there is no set way for judges to work out how each fighter has scored in each round. The 61-year-old from Gillingham’s own method is to use an imaginary set of scales when scoring fights which tips in each fighter’s favour, rather than making a specific punch tally or another facts-based method.

He said: “You can’t count (the score based on most hits). You’ve got to watch who’s trying to make the fight, who’s dominating the fight, who’s hitting who more.”

Explaining how judges are assembled, he added: “No judge is exactly the same. It's all about opinions you see. You’ve only got to get four very close rounds being scored differently to say to each other, ‘what have you been watching?!’”

According to the BBBofC, three judges are appointed by the Board's stewards for the purpose of scoring a contest. Its guide on scoring reads: “For British and Commonwealth Championship Contests, a supervisor will be appointed by the Board for the purpose of collating and totalling the judges scores and attending to any relevant matter pertaining to the Championship contest other than that provided for within these Rules and Regulations being within the authority of the Referee.

“Where three Judges are to score a Contest, at the end of every round the Referee has to collect the Judges' scorecards and pass them to the supervisor so that the scores can be collated.”

It adds: “The judge shall award a maximum of ten points at the end of each round to the better Boxer and a proportionate number to the other contestant. If they consider the round was even they will then award the maximum number to each contestant.

“Points will be awarded: For ‘attack’ - direct clean hits with the knuckle part of the glove of either hand to any part of the front or side of the head or body above the belt. The ‘belt’ is defined as an imaginary line drawn across the body from the top of the hip bones.

“For ‘defence’ - guarding, slipping, ducking, or getting away from an attack. Where contestants are otherwise equal the majority of points will be given to the one who does most leading off or displays the better style.”

A boxer who fails to continue in a contest - for example after a count of 10 - is not awarded points for that round and has 10 points deducted from their score, with their opponent receiving 10 points and being declared the winner. A boxer can also lose the fight if they return to their feet within the specified time but are in no condition to defend themselves.

John-Lewis said on deciding whether to end a fight as a referee: “You have to take everything into consideration. It’s a really, really tough call. But it’s about safety. We’ve all got fight in us but when that gets punched out of you, that’s when we do our job. We’re there to save you for another day.”