Big discrepancy in CompuBox figures
To check on the accuracy of CompuBox, which gave out extremely lopsided figures in favor of Floyd Mayweather Jr. during his fight with Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao, an associate who works for a big television network said he will attempt to do what the mechanism was supposed to have done.
I’ve never seen one, but it was described in a website as “a back-up system (in a boxing fight) used to keep the judges honest.”
“It’s actually just two guys sitting there clicking a button.”
Since the scoring of the three American judges (118-110, 116-112, 116-112 for Mayweather) and the numbers from CompuBox did not support what most had actually perceived both live and on-screen in real time, my associate embarked on a most ambitious project to unmask the mysterious contraption which, in this case, supported the integrity as well as the credibility of the judges.
While most who went into this kind of venture did it by viewing the fight on super slow-mo to catch the action, my friend said he would do it a step further.
“Frame by frame, I will count all the punches, the hits, the attempts, all the stats that go into the box, to see if it’s telling the truth,” my associate declared.
“The numbers culled from CompuBox is unofficial at best, and if its integrity is beyond question, then the judges will lose their job. There will no longer be use for them.”
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Two days later, my broadcast associate called to say that he had stopped the tedious work he had started.
“I give up. It’s so tedious, so difficult pala, I couldn’t keep up with the counting. One person alone can’t do it. There has to be at least four.
“The good news is, I read online that an American group did it successfully. They were successful because they were a team. And they did it methodically.”
“It would interest everyone to know that there was a big discrepancy between the figures culled from CompuBox and those counted by the group from an actual video of the fight,” the television man explained.
“Based on actual count, the fight should have been a win for Pacquiao or a draw at the very least.”
Pacquiao must have stumbled on this valuable piece of study because he mentioned something to this effect upon his arrival from the United States yesterday.
So did a boxing scribe who guested on a morning talk show also yesterday.
I’m happy to know that my eyes and my mind did not deceive me. Nor my usually dependable crystal ball. More than a month before the fight, I told Ring Magazine writer Anson Wainwright that I didn’t see a knockout in this fight and that Mayweather will win on points by hometown decision.
