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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Ben Davies

Canelo Alvarez and Tyson Fury back boxing rule change after Josh Taylor fight

Tyson Fury and Canelo Alvarez have backed the use of open scoring in boxing after Josh Taylor's controversial victory over Jack Catterall.

Several controversial decisions have threatened to cast a dark shadow over the sport in recent years.

The issue came to the fore in the undisputed super-lightweight title fight when Catterall was defeated by Taylor in what fans and most members of the sport claimed was a 'robbery'.

Fury has backed open scoring - where scores are announced after a certain number of rounds - and has claimed no British judges will score his contest with Dillian Whyte later this year.

"Yes I would love to see open scoring because it doesn't give you the opportunity to rob a guy does it?," Fury told The MMA Hour. "There will not be one British judge in sight at my fight, not after the decision last weekend.

Josh Taylor defeated Jack Catterall via controversial split decision (SNS Group)

"I just don't trust them with my career, yeah I watched the fight. It's not the first time it's happened and something has to be done about this scoring situation, but even open scoring wouldn't stop this at all."

Open scoring would involve the publication of judges scores after a set number of rounds with the three judge’s cards collected by the referee and handed to a member of the governing state commission.

They would then mark their official card on a computer screen before it is displayed for the TV and ringside audience to see in a public show of their judging.

This would arguably for instance have shown Catterall that he may have needed a knockout in the final rounds of the fight.

Taylor was handed the decision despite being reflected as inferior according to the punch stats with scorecards reading 113-112 to Catterall, 114-111 to Taylor, and 113-112 to Taylor.

Boxing's pound-for-pound king Alvarez has also backed the open scoring system despite admitting to not watching much of the sport.

Would you like to see the open scoring system in boxing? Let us know in the comments section below

"Yes in every round we would know where we are at," Alvarez said. "Yeah I like that."

Taylor claimed after the fight that he felt he did enough to get the nod over Catterall who was devastated with the defeat that saw him miss out on winning the undisputed title in Scotland.

Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has also spoken out about controversial scoring decisions during his time in boxing.

He has admitted he likes the idea of open scoring in boxing but has proposed the existing four and eight-round checks could work.

"I like it, the WBC already have open scoring in certain commissions that allow it but the British Boxing Board of Control is not one of them that allows it," Hearn said.

"After four rounds and eight rounds you will see the scorecards. If it is every round I'm not sure how that works from a TV perspective, but I quite like the four and eight rounds as it can be quite exciting from the fights I have been too with open scoring."

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