The Nevada State Athletic Commission instituted instant replay for combat sports about a decade ago.
Keith Kizer, the NSAC’s Executive Director at the time, made one thing clear: Replay would be used during the fight but the action itself would never be interrupted. He and the commissioners understood the importance of maintaining the structure of the sport, three minutes of fighting and one minute of rest. Timeouts were allowed only when fighter safety was an issue.
Kizer, a smart guy, and the commissioners at had it right. Current NSAC officials, who have expanded the process, have it wrong.
The NSAC employed instant replay during the Arnold Barboza Jr.-Alex Saucedo fight on the Teofimo Lopez-Vasiliy Lomachenko card Saturday in Las Vegas. Referee Celestino Ruiz ruled a slip when Barboza went down from a punch in Round 7.
The replay official, former referee Joe Cortez, knew better. He turned on a yellow light to indicate the referee’s ruling is under review and Ruiz stopped the action. Cortez informed Ruiz that Saucedo should’ve been credited with a knock down, the call was corrected and the corners were informed of the reversal.
All that is fine. Instant replay is used in an effort to get it right. And that’s what happened.
Here’s the problem: There was no reason whatsoever to stop the action to make the correction. Cortez could’ve waited until the end of the round to confer with Ruiz, who then could’ve informed the fighters of the ruling while they sat on their stools.
What did stopping the action accomplish? Was either fighter going to change his strategy or the way he was fighting because of the correction? Of course not.
One could argue that a fighter might change his or her tactics if that happened late in a close contest, although fighters aren’t apprised of the official scoring until the bout is over. Another possible example: The wrong call on whether a cut was caused by a punch or head butt could lead the injured fighter to coast when he should’ve been attacking or vice versa.
I acknowledge that there is no perfect approach to instant replay. However, in my opinion, the correction can almost always wait a minute or two – whatever time remains on the clock — until the end of the round to maintain the flow of the fight.
We’re frustrated when a tired or injured fighter purposely spits out his mouthpiece to buy time by forcing the referee to stop the action. We’re annoyed when the ref has to call a time-out because of loose tape on a fighter’s glove.
Why? Because it disrupts the flow of the fight.
And while stopping the action for instant replay can result in the correct call, as it did in the Barboza-Saucedo fight, it can also impact the fight in other ways. For example, it could give a tired or injured fighter extra time to recover. That’s not right. Boxing is not like football or baseball, which stops and starts anyway.
Nevada and other jurisdictions are on the right track by using instant replay. Again, it’s important to get these calls correct. The point here is that you don’t have to stop the action – which fundamentally changes the sport – to get that done.
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