Professional boxer Robert Helenius faced Great Britain Derek Chisora In Helsinki in 2011. To the great surprise of over 12,000 people present, Helenius was declared the winner of the match.
The experts wondered how the judges were able to twist Helenius, who was the underdog in the match, to become the new European heavyweight professional boxing champion. The judges were even suspected of being dragged home.
It was difficult to prove the judges’ decision conclusively wrong. Boxing is a judging sport in which the judges subjectively assess the superiority of the contestants round by round.
With the development work now underway, similar commotions may be avoided in the future.
In Finland, to support the judges’ work, solutions based on knowledge are sought with the help of modern technology, by testing and combining various smart devices. Urheilu was able to watch the tests at the camp of the national boxing team.
In the Finnish Boxing Association, the technical development work of the sport is done by the head of coaching Ervin Kade and a boxing referee Jani Rauma.
– The goal of this data collection and analysis is to help the judges to conclude which punch hit and which didn’t. With the help of the data combination of these different sensors, we get a true picture of the superiority of the boxers. We use smart technology because the human eye cannot register everything, Kade sums up.
“Yes, sometimes we wonder”
One victory away from a medal at the Paris Olympics Pilha Kaivo-ojan personal trainer Maarit Teuronen admits that in a fast-paced sport there is still much room for improvement in the assessment of superiority between athletes.
– Sometimes there are situations when there are crosses that you can’t necessarily see which one hits.
What about arithmetic situations? Can you see where that number should be calculated?
– Yes, you can usually see it, but if there is a situation of counting numbers a little too quickly, some kind of cross-stitching, then sometimes you wonder which number is being counted. As a rule, of course, you can see the overall picture of who wins the match, Teuronen laughed.
One of the biggest promises of Finnish Olympic boxing Ismail Umar also welcomes technological development. In addition to concrete and clean hits, the athlete aiming for Los Angeles is interested in the health effects of the sport.
– Anything that improves refereeing and eases the judges’ dune is a plus. Especially at the top, there are often even matches, so it would be good to have someone add to it, which makes it easier and the decisions go right, says Umar.
– It is also interesting to know how hard blows to the head are. There are other things to do after sports and you have to take care of your health.
The traditional home wedding advantage is finally gone
The International Olympic Committee has been actively organizing development work aimed at the introduction of digital systems in the judging of Olympic-style boxing matches.
The use of different technologies has long been a part of refereeing in many sports, but in boxing it has been done with just the human eye.
It is hoped that the inclusion of digitization will change the judging activities of boxing, especially in professional boxing.
Even in the case of Helenius, the suspected “home advantage” should disappear from professional boxing, when the assessment of the superiority of athletes is based on knowledge in addition to the human eye.
A place in the Olympic family?
Olympic-style boxing has not yet been selected for the competition program of the next Olympics to be held in Los Angeles in 2028.
Regarding boxing, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which was responsible for the organization of the previous two Olympic Games, has announced that it will no longer be responsible for the organization of the sport in connection with the Los Angeles competitions.
The background of the difficult situation is the administrative ambiguities of the International Boxing Association IBA, which eventually led to the fact that the IOC no longer recognized the association as the international umbrella organization of boxing.
The Finnish Boxing Federation also joined the new international Olympic-style umbrella organization World Boxing a year ago.
In the new union, the development of boxing with the help of modern technology is one of the central goals. The development potential of the sport is now being shown on a wide front.
All possible help is needed now, because World Boxing, which is seeking IOC recognition as the new umbrella organization for Olympic-style boxing, has been given until next March to prove its Olympic eligibility.
One thing that affects Olympic qualification is the development of refereeing.