WBA world super-middleweight champion Callum Smith says he struggles to see a way judging can be improved after his world title defence against John Ryder.
Smith defended his belt on Saturday, winning 116-112 116-112 117-111 on the cards.
“It was my own fault for letting it be close but I thought the decision was right. I have my own goals, standards and have my own pressure. If I didn’t think I had won, it would eat away at me.”
Asked how scoring can be improved, Smith said: “I just don’t know what you can do. You could get younger judges or maybe ex-boxers to judge.”
My reaction to Michael Buffer announcing Callum Smith won https://t.co/EJBlTaUMF4
— Shannon Courtenay (@scourtenay) November 23, 2019
“Even with ex-fighters as judges, it doesn’t mean they can score a fight, you’d still end up with debate and opinion. There’s no praise for scoring a fight right, just criticism for one you get wrong. We do need maybe younger or more experienced judges but where you can get them I don’t know.”
“It’s like in football, who would want to be a football referee? You’d just get criticism all the time. In boxing it’s always an opinion. For as long as it’s a sport of opinion you can’t prove anyone is cheating. There’s no VAR you can bring in, it’s not that kind of sport. There have been many bad decisions. Will it ever change? I don’t think so.”
