Evening star., 1938-07-19
FLASHES. AFTER ROUNDS
WILL TIP FANS ON FIGHT
Boxer in Front to Be Indicated by Blue or Red
Signal Referee Gives After Getting Judges
Vote During Feature Next Monday.

action before taking steps to install it
in local ring rules.
Owen, a keen student Of sports,
analyZed the problem for a full week
after the subject of bringing official
scoring closer to customers first had
appeared in The Star. The result is
a system which reveals the leading
fighter at progressive stages Of the bout
without sacrificing interest in the FINAL
decision.
A red light will be installed above
one fighters corner and blue one
over the corner of the other contestant.
At the end Of each round the bulb will
light in the corner of the fighter who
is leading in the entire fight. The
light, therefore, will not indicate the
winner of the previous round neces-
sarily, but at all times will show who
is ahead over the route In the optics
Of the two judges and referee.
This necessitates partial explanation
Of the District scoring system. BY the
local 10-point system a fighter may
win the first three rounds, for ex-
ample, by margin of one point in
each round. The light, then, would
flash in his corner at the end of each
of those rounds because he Is leading
in the entire fight at each Of those
stages.
Referee to Control Signals.
II, however, the other fighter rallies
in the fourth round to win that round
by four or five points that offsets the
margin Of his opponent and places
him in the lead, the light flashing In
his corner as evidence.
The two judges will point to the
corner of the fighter they have rated
ahead over the entire scrap at the
end of each round The referee will
catch these signals, include his own
winner at the various stages and
switch on the light lowering over the
head of the winner to that point
Suppose, for instance, one judge
has rated Joe Butch ahead of Tommy
Slugg by total point score of 48-47
at the end of the fifth round. He points
to Butch's corner. The other judge.
however, has Slug ahead, 49-47. He
points to Slugs corner. The referee
also has Slug ahead, 48-45. In the
opinion of two of the three officials
Slug is the winner to that point, SO
the light flickers in Slug's corner.
Points, Not Rounds, Decide.
This eliminates the possibility Of
confusion in collecting slips from each
of the three officials and having indi-
| vidual totals announced and doubt
less will be more clear to spectators,
who have only to see in which corner
the bulb is lit to determine which
fighter is leading at that point.
Under the local scoring system win
ming of a round does not mean too
much. 1t is the margin by which
fighter wins those rounds that Is i'm
portant. One fighter may win seven
rounds by close margins, yet lose the
decision because the other fighter rail-
lies in the last three rounds, winning
them by prohibitive margins to offset
that early gap. Briefly, points, not
rounds, decide the winner on each
Of the three cards.
In case Of split decisions, in which
two officials vote Slug the winner and
the other votes Butch ahead, the ma
jority opinion decides the winner.
Both Lights Burn for Draw.
Further, should Butch win the last
few rounds or so after losing the early
rounds, the light would continue to
flicker in Slug's corner until Butch
caught up with or passed Slugs point
total on at least two Of the three off,
cial scorecards.
Should officials indicate the fight is
draw at any stage Of the bout, lights
will flicker in both corners.
BY this system fighters will know
only that they are ahead or behind,
but not how much. Thus any tendency
to grab and hold if the fighter knows
he is far ahead is eliminated. He never
will know how many points he is
ahead and that is important. At the
same time the fighter who is running
behind possibly will be spurred to
more action.
The boxing customer, through the
efforts OF The Star, Owen and the Dis
trict Boxing Commission, finally is 60
ing to get break.