BOXING : Will the Computer Change the Face of the Amateur Game?

Push-button boxing, in subtle, almost imperceptible fashion, has arrived.

And the new method of scoring amateur bouts has worked so smoothly thus far in the U.S. Olympic Festival’s boxing tournament, it’s almost as if no one has noticed.

Yet decades from now, particularly if computer scoring is next applied to professional boxing, historians will call this Festival a starting point for one of the most significant changes in the sport in the 20th Century.

Although its introduction at the Festival’s Saturday and Sunday sessions was so free of controversy that it went largely unnoticed, some coaches are unhappy with the idea of electronic buttons replacing scorecards. They fear computerization of the sport will alter Olympic-style boxing.

Favoring the system are judges and amateur boxing administrators, who see it as greatly improving the quality of judging as well as eliminating biased scoring in international competition.

Pat Nappi, the three-time head coach of U.S. Olympic boxing teams, has accepted the advent of computers.

“I hate it, but I’m stuck with it,” he said Sunday.

Nappi and other old-line amateur coaches believe the new scoring system will cause coaches and boxers to abandon the traditional style of amateur boxing; that it will encourage boxers to rely on more easily seen single, powerful punches instead of amateur boxing’s traditional emphasis on multiple scoring blows, speed and combination punching.

“I’m still learning the system, and what I’ve learned about it so far I don’t like,” said Roosevelt Sanders, head coach of the Camp Lejeune, N.C., Marine boxing team and a candidate for the 1992 Olympic coaching job.

“When I see one bout scored 10-9 and another 90-11, I don’t understand that. None of the people in charge of the system has taken the time to meet with the coaches and explain it to us, and we need that.

“My impression is this system will gradually take away the finesse, speed, the art of boxing, the hit-and-don’t-get-hit technique from our sport. I don’t want amateur boxing to become an all-power, puncher’s game.”

Electronics came to the sport after the 1988 Olympics, when International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch ordered the International Amateur Boxing Federation to either eliminate biased scoring or face expulsion from the Olympics.

Computer scoring was used first in international competition at the 1989 world amateur championships at Moscow. But this week’s application at the Festival is the first time it has been used in the United States.

Highlights of the computer system:

--Five judges sit in front of a black console, index fingers poised on red and blue buttons, one for each corner.

--If the boxer from the red corner registers a scoring blow, the judge pushes his red button. But for the punch to count, the button must be depressed within one second of the blow by at least three of five judges, or the central computer will not accept the point.

In a nutshell, if a boxer wins a decision by, say, 31-20, it means at least three judges credited him with 31 scoring blows, his opponent 20.

In the event of a tie, the high and low scores are eliminated.

Under the old method, judges scored rounds on a 20-point must system. A close round would be scored 20-19, with 20-18 or 20-17 to more one-sided rounds.

So how will the computer prevent biased or incompetent judging in future Olympics?

“The judges’ supervisors seated at the display terminal can see very clearly how a judge is scoring a bout,” said Marco Sarfaraz of La Crescenta, an electronics engineer and longtime amateur boxing referee/judge.

“The system won’t eliminate biased or incompetent judging, but it will reduce it to the point where it’s virtually impossible to manipulate the system,” Sarfaraz said.

“The unique part of this is that a judge scoring a bout often has no idea who he’s scored as the winner. The system puts a lot more pressure on the judges. It makes them more alert and greatly raises their concentration level.

“It puts a little fear into them. No one likes to be embarrassed, and you know your work is being closely scrutinized afterward by people reading the computer printouts.

“I think eventually as they get used to it, the coaches will like it, too. Right now, the system is forcing them to understand how a computer works, and they don’t want to know.”

Sarfaraz acknowledged that computer scoring might change the style of amateur boxing. “I think you’ll see our kids going more to the stand-up, European-style, with a lot more straight punches and harder jabs,” he said. “The kids who’ve scored heavily with in-fighting, a lot of combinations . . . it’s a little harder to see all those punches, and it’s even harder to hit the button for all of them within one second.”

Because judges sit on all four sides of a ring, some will score blows that are unseen by counterparts across the ring. But there are exceptions to that, too.

“In Oscar de la Hoya’s bout Saturday, he scored with seven consecutive punches at one point, and all five judges agreed,” Sarfaraz said. De la Hoya’s margin over Dezi Ford was 37-6.

By comparison, judges scored a much closer bout Saturday when light-heavyweight Denard Trapp defeated Richard Bonds, 39-38. The widest margin of the tournament was light-middleweight Raul Marquez’s 90-11 victory over Kevin Bonner on Sunday.

An amateur boxing appeals board has upheld the suspensions of Glendale boxer Pepe Reilly and San Pedro trainer Al Stankie.

Reilly, 20, tested positive for steroids after winning a title at the national amateur boxing championships in March at Colorado Springs, Colo. Stankie, 50, was suspended at the 1990 nationals for alcohol abuse.

Stankie and Reilly appealed the suspensions, but both penalties were upheld Saturday night by a USA Amateur Boxing Federation appeals board. Reilly also was stripped of his 1991 national championship.

He placed third at the 1990 nationals as a bantamweight (119 pounds) but won it as a welterweight (147) a year later. His nine-month suspension prevented him from competing in the Olympic Festival, but he will be eligible to box in next summer’s Olympic trials, a USA/ABF spokesman said. His suspension will be lifted next March, but he must pass a drug test then. Stankie is suspended until October of 1993.

Of the 24 finalists who will box tonight for 12 Festival championships at the Forum (7 p.m.), only Raul Marquez, the hard-hitting, light-middleweight (156 pounds) from Houston, has indicated a desire to compete in the Pan American Games in August at Havana.

“That’s big TV (ABC) coverage, and I’m interested in getting both exposure and also tough competition before the Olympics next year,” he said.

Boxers who win Festival championships have their choice, the Pan-Am Games or the world championships tournament in Sydney, Australia, in November. Most are opting for Sydney, where the Cubans also will compete.

Van Nuys heavyweight John Bray, who will box Melvin Foster for a Festival title tonight, cites three reasons for choosing Sydney over Havana:

“First of all, the USOC gives a $2,500 grant to U.S. world champions and Pan-Am champions don’t get anything,” he said.

“Second, there’s a weeklong training camp in Hawaii for the world championship team. And third, for me to beat Felix Savon (Cuba’s world champion heavyweight) in Havana, I’dhave to knock him out for 10 minutes.”

Sugar Ray Leonard, on Oscar de la Hoya: “He goes to the body like a pro. He can get off a great shot to the ribs and maintain his balance. A lot of pros can’t even do that.”

Amateur boxing sources say the three top candidates to coach the 1992 U.S. Olympic team are Joe Byrd of Flint, Mich., whose two sons, Chris and Patrick, will box tonight in the finals; Nappi, of Syracuse, N.Y., Olympic head coach in 1976, 1980 and 1984; and Sanders, Nappi’s Olympic assistant coach in 1984 and head coach of the U.S. team at the 1987 Pan-Am Games.

Championship Bouts

U.S. Olympic Festival championship boxing match-ups tonight at the Forum: 106--Eric Griffin, Houston, vs. Bradley Martinez, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz. 112--Tim Austin, Cincinnati, vs. John Herrera, Corpus Christi, Tex. 119--Sean Fletcher, Norfolk, Va., vs. Aristead Clayton, Baker, La. 125--Ivan Robinson, Philadelphia, vs. Kenneth Friday, Offut AFB, Neb. 132--Oscar De La Hoya, Los Angeles, vs. Patrice Brooks, St. Louis 139--Terronn Millett, St. Louis, vs. Steve Johnston, Colorado Springs, Colo. 147--Ross Thompson, Miami, Fla., vs. Patrick Byrd, Flint, Mich. 156--Raul Marquez, Houston, vs. Ravea Springs, Cincinnati 165--Chris Byrd, Flint, Mich., vs. Michael DeMoss, Camp Lejeune, N.C. 178--John Ruiz, Chelsea, Mass., vs. Denard Trapp, Ft. Hood, Tex. 201--John Bray, Van Nuys, vs. Melvin Foster, Washington +201--Larry Donald, Cincinnati, vs. Samson Pouha, Kearns, Utah