Comments Thread For: Three for III? Katie Taylor, Amanda Serrano and the difference a minute makes

[BoxingUpdates]

Eric Raskin explores the arguments for and against three-minute rounds in women's boxing.
[Click Here To Read More]

[Rockybigblower]

That was one long winded post. The answer here is simple. The only thing 3 minute rounds between these 2 wil prove is who has better stamina. We already know that their skill level and power are virtually equal. If anything...Katie has proven that her power of recovery is slightly better than Serrano. Given that...other than stamina...Serrano is never finishing Taylor.

[crimsonfalcon07]

One telling relevant point is to look at the resume of any male fighter and see how many of their KO's took place in that third minute. Canelo, for instance, would lose at least 20 of his KO's, or would at least have had to go more rounds. Crawford had 14 that occurred in the 3rd minute. 13 of Artur Beterbiev's 20 occurred in the 3rd minute. Those aren't trivial numbers. You have 1/3 more time to work per round, 48 minutes of work instead of only 20, and if you hurt your opponent in the second minute, you're far more likely to get a stoppage if you have another minute to work than if you only have seconds. If you want to keep women safer, sure, 2 min rounds are the way to go. But then don't complain when the fights go to decision and seem boring. Women do the same round lengths as men and with just as high a pace in every other combat sport. They'd have to train for longer fights, but let's not pretend they can't do it.

-note- as Rockybigblower pointed out, I got the math wrong; it's 36 mins of work compared to 20, not 48 as above. The rest of my point still stands.

[Rockybigblower]

One telling relevant point is to look at the resume of any male fighter and see how many of their KO's took place in that third minute. Canelo, for instance, would lose at least 20 of his KO's, or would at least have had to go more rounds. Crawford had 14 that occurred in the 3rd minute. 13 of Artur Beterbiev's 20 occurred in the 3rd minute. Those aren't trivial numbers. You have 1/3 more time to work per round, 48 minutes of work instead of only 20, and if you hurt your opponent in the second minute, you're far more likely to get a stoppage if you have another minute to work than if you only have seconds. If you want to keep women safer, sure, 2 min rounds are the way to go. But then don't complain when the fights go to decision and seem boring. Women do the same round lengths as men and with just as high a pace in every other combat sport. They'd have to train for longer fights, but let's not pretend they can't do it.

I hear what you are saying...but next time use a calculator. 3 x 12 is not 48.

[Smash]

wheezez serrano does worse than taylor in the second half of their fights with 2 min rounds is she going to magically find some stamina?

[millcitymauler]

“…ovaries to the wall.” There had to be a better way to make a point.

[pad]

Jaysus Serrano is becoming insufferable. Such a bad loser.

[crimsonfalcon07]

I hear what you are saying...but next time use a calculator. 3 x 12 is not 48.

Sorry, you're right. 48 mins for the fight. 36 for the work time. Which is still pretty close to being double the amount of work.

I've added a note to my original post to reflect your point without changing my error, so people can have the correct math.

[billeau2]

Boxing started in a style that was not conducive to a KO. Fighters started bare knuckle and graduated to small gloves, meaning that if one were to swing their fists like Dempsey on up, they would wind up with a broken hand most of the time... As things progressed, fighters changed to emphasize the punches, the gloves got a little bigger and 15 rounds became the standard for a real championship bout. This was the sweet spot, the puncher and boxer were kind of even...

As the sport has changed less and less has gone to the puncher. Less rounds, bigger gloves... So when you now take a round and make it less, you are hurting the puncher, not the boxer. Punchers score by landing damaging shots, which also separated professional prize fighting from amateur fighting. Amanda needs a full round to work, like any puncher. Her stamina is counter balanced by her performance early when setting up a KO, like what happened in the first fight. Any of us would take that longer round in amandas case...