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Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council (WBC), is advocating for an expansion of the judging panel at major fights following recent controversies. Despite facing resistance to change, Sulaiman believes that increasing the number of judges could lead to more accurate decisions.
Sulaiman plans to propose a plan to include six judges at ringside for the upcoming Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk bout for the undisputed heavyweight title in Saudi Arabia. He argues that having more highly skilled judges working together can improve the accuracy of scoring and reduce the risk of bad decisions.
“If you have a fight when two judges don’t have a good night, that fight is decided, 2-1, by bad cards,” Sulaiman said. “If that happens with six judges, the correct fighter wins, 4-2. “We’ve had too many split decisions and majority decision fights over the last few months. This is not OK.”
The call for change comes after a weekend of questionable scorecards, including a bout where judge Chris Flores scored the fight in favor of Rolando Romero, despite Romero being visibly hurt and deducted a point for holding. Sulaiman emphasizes that such decisions can have a significant impact on the outcome of fights and believes that having six judges could lead to more consistent and fair results.
However, not everyone agrees with Sulaiman's proposal. Mike Mazzulli, president of the Association of Boxing Commissions, argues that three judges can effectively score a fight and questions how six judges would work in practice.
Despite the opposition, Sulaiman remains committed to his plan, suggesting that placing two judges at three sides of the ring and gathering the cards to determine a majority opinion could be a viable solution. He acknowledges that there would be an additional expense to retain the services of six judges but believes that the potential controversy-free outcomes could justify the cost.