This means that following the fourth and eighth sessions, the crowd and participants in the Salles des Etoilles will be informed of the judging totals at that exact stage of the contest. It is a controversial system that the World Boxing Council have gradually brought in further during the last few years as some, including myself, would rather not know how the officials are seeing the fight during live action.
Having the scores read out could have a detrimental effect on any fighter that is losing the bout by a wide margin or potentially sway some of the weaker judges into changing future rounds if their score does not match how the other two are seeing it. There are some upsides to it also as there is more transparency, although it remains to be seen whether adopting the practice makes a huge difference to the outcome of a fight.
Our source in Monaco heard that the system would be implemented on Friday for the WBA and IBO championship bout as the WBC’s silver belt is on the line and the organisation have a vested interest in the clash as the winner will face their 160lb king Miguel Cotto in the summer.
Golovkin heads into the Murray encounter on a hot knockout streak which could see open scoring become obsolete in the end if the fight goes the way the bookmakers are predicting, but there is no doubt that using the technique in such a massive event will give all opposed to it the chance to spark up more debate in the aftermath.
