BOXING SA's chief executive Loyiso Mtya wants to make adjustments to the knockdown rule, which, he says, has done more harm than good to South African boxing.
This rule specifies that a boxer who knocks his opponent down automatically wins the round 10-8. But judges can also exercise their discretion.
For example, if a boxer gets dropped right at the start of the round but comes back and outboxes his opponent, clearly judges are not going to score the round 10-8 against him.
A judge can score it 10-9 in his favour or even at 10-10. But if a boxer who has been dominating the round gets dropped just before the end, judges can score it 9-10 either way or 10-10.
Knockdowns also differ. There is a flash knockdown and a hard knockdown.
But Mtya wants the rule changed. He does not worry if the international boxing world adopts it or not.
His reasoning is that any boxer can just relax and wait for the opportunity to drop his opponent to win the round, and to him that is unfair.
"I want to introduce [the rule] that if a fighter gets dropped and obviously gets up, judges must score the fight as if nothing happened. In other words, if the boxer, who got dropped was winning the round, then it must still be scored that way. But judges must put on the side a bonus point, which is a credit for the knock down," he explained.
"When all the scores are tallied, they must then add the bonus points. Same thing must happen when a boxer has been deducted a point. Put it aside and score the round as if nothing happened. In the end you put the scores together and you add those bonus points to find the winner - period."
Mtya takes issue with knockdown rule
BOXING SA's chief executive Loyiso Mtya wants to make adjustments to the knockdown rule, which, he says, has done more harm than good to South African boxing.
This rule specifies that a boxer who knocks his opponent down automatically wins the round 10-8. But judges can also exercise their discretion.
For example, if a boxer gets dropped right at the start of the round but comes back and outboxes his opponent, clearly judges are not going to score the round 10-8 against him.
A judge can score it 10-9 in his favour or even at 10-10. But if a boxer who has been dominating the round gets dropped just before the end, judges can score it 9-10 either way or 10-10.
Knockdowns also differ. There is a flash knockdown and a hard knockdown.
But Mtya wants the rule changed. He does not worry if the international boxing world adopts it or not.
His reasoning is that any boxer can just relax and wait for the opportunity to drop his opponent to win the round, and to him that is unfair.
"I want to introduce [the rule] that if a fighter gets dropped and obviously gets up, judges must score the fight as if nothing happened. In other words, if the boxer, who got dropped was winning the round, then it must still be scored that way. But judges must put on the side a bonus point, which is a credit for the knock down," he explained.
"When all the scores are tallied, they must then add the bonus points. Same thing must happen when a boxer has been deducted a point. Put it aside and score the round as if nothing happened. In the end you put the scores together and you add those bonus points to find the winner - period."
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