Judging the BKB

It sounds dangerous and imposing when describing the BKB pit. It’s a small circular area with no escape.

“Lock them in!” shouted referee Russell Mora.

The doors go up and there’s no escape from the confines of the pit.

Two problems emerged. Other than Layla McCarter and Diana Prazak, many of the boxers that entered the pit did not seem intent on knocking out the other as the Big Knockout Boxing label would suggest.

Jonathan Chicas floored Javier “Pelos” Garcia three times total in their welterweight clash in the pit. Both came out looking for the homerun and it was Chicas who caught his pitch first and delivered the champion Garcia to the mat with a right hand.

In the opening bout that was not televised, Julian Pollard stopped Elijah McCall in the fourth round of a heavyweight match.

The best knockout was the skillful display between McCarter and Prazak that featured the boxer versus the puncher. On paper it looked like McCarter was not capable of winning via knockout. But if you’ve followed her career, especially recently, she’s shown the ability for accuracy and pinpoint power.

Prazak entered with bone crunching power and when you add the small dimensions of the pit, it equates to a bigger chance of landing the knockout blow. It didn’t happen on Saturday night but against any other fighter I’m sure Prazak will deliver.

Two-minute drill

The major problem with BKB is the major problem of women’s boxing; few knockouts.

Both fight two-minute rounds and this leaves less time to set up an opponent for the knockout blow. Two minutes is not enough time to score knockouts. Women’s boxing has suffered through this problem for decades. Female MMA participants fight five-minute rounds in UFC and they don’t have too problems with annoying decisions.

Female boxing needs to change to three minutes or continue to suffer through a lack of entertainment value for fight fans. Everyone loves a knockout and it’s the primary reason fans do not like female boxing. No knockouts. Instead, fans are left with unpopular decisions by judges.

BKB suffered through this for consecutive fight cards. Too many unpopular decisions caused by the short two-minute rounds. It’s not enough time to trigger a knockout. Even though the pit is small and allows less running, it’s not that small. Another minute of action should lead to more knockouts, not decisions.

That leads to another problem.

Judging pit fights

Most of the fights in the BKB pit ended in a decision. The main event resulted in the most unpopular decision of the night when the judges ruled the middleweight fight between Gabe Rosado and Curtis Stevens with a majority draw.

Should pit fights be judged like boxing?

That’s the major question. If fights in the pit are not counted in a professional boxer’s record, then why judge them in the same manner?

Shouldn’t a pit fight be judged differently?

I would think judges for pit fights should rule more in favor of an aggressive performance rather than a defensive performance. It’s not boxing, so why use boxing boundaries to judge a fight?

Rosado entered the pit under boxing methods of winning a fight and expected a victory using the jab and movement. He didn’t win. But had he entered the pit realizing that aggressiveness leads to winning, it would have been a different fight. It would be a fight the BKB hoped to get when it devised the scheme.

Lock this up, fix it, and I think it can succeed.

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