Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 523 CMR - STATE ATHLETIC COMMISSION (FORMERLY, STATE BOXING COMMISSION) › Title 523 CMR 15.00 - Boxing Contests And Exhibitions › Section 15.10 - Procedure for Counting; Knockdown; Knockout; Technical Draw

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1) When a boxer is knocked down, the referee
			 shall order the opponent to retire to the farthest neutral corner of the ring,
			 by pointing to the corner, and shall immediately begin the count over the
			 unarmed combatant who is down. The referee shall audibly announce the passing
			 of the seconds, accompanying the count with motions of his or her arm, with the
			 downward motion indicating the end of each second.
(2) The timekeeper, by effective signaling,
			 shall give the referee the correct one-second interval for their count. The
			 referee's count is the official count. Once the referee picks up the count from
			 the timekeeper, the timekeeper shall cease counting. No boxer who is knocked
			 down may be allowed to resume competing until the referee has finished counting
			 to eight. The boxer may take the count either on the floor or
			 standing.
(3) If the opponent fails
			 to stay in the farthest corner, the referee shall cease counting until they
			 have returned to their corner and shall then go on with the count from the
			 point at which it was interrupted. If the boxer who is down arises before the
			 count of ten, the referee may step between the unarmed combatants long enough
			 to assure themselves that the unarmed combatant who has just arisen is in
			 condition to continue. If so assured, they shall, without loss of time, order
			 both unarmed combatants to go on with the contest or exhibition. During the
			 intervention by the referee, the striking of a blow by either unarmed combatant
			 may be ruled a foul.
(4) When a
			 boxer is knocked out, the referee shall perform a full ten-second count unless,
			 in the judgment of the referee, the safety of the boxer would be jeopardized by
			 such a count. If the boxer who is knocked down is still down when the referee
			 calls the count of ten, the referee shall wave both arms to indicate that he or
			 she has been knocked out.
(5) If
			 both boxers go down at the same time, the count must be continued as long as
			 one is still down. If both boxers remain down until the count of ten, the
			 contest or exhibition must be stopped and the decision is a technical
			 draw.
(6) If a boxer is down and
			 the referee is in the course of counting at the end of a period of unarmed
			 combat, the bell indicating the end of the period of unarmed combat must not be
			 sounded, but the bell must be sounded as soon as the downed unarmed combatant
			 regains his or her feet.
(7) When a
			 boxer has been knocked down before the normal termination of a period of
			 unarmed combat and the period of unarmed combat terminates before he has arisen
			 from the floor of the ring, the referee's count must be continued. If the boxer
			 who is down fails to arise before the count of ten, they are considered to have
			 lost the contest or exhibition by a knockout in the round containing the period
			 of unarmed combat that was just concluded.
(8) If a legal blow struck in the final
			 seconds of a period of unarmed combat causes a boxer to go down after the bell
			 has sounded, that knockdown must be regarded as having occurred during the
			 period of unarmed combat just ended and the appropriate count must
			 continue.