What I have learned from scoring 528 fights as a boxing judge | Karla Caputo
Before I took up judging I thought I could score fights from TV footage or anywhere in the arena. I was wrong
By Karla Caputo for The Queensberry Rules
I started boxing seven years ago after a serendipitous chain of events. A personal training session started out as expected, with weights and plyometrics, but ended with boxing. It was love at first punch. Over the next four years I boxed a few times a week and absorbed everything I could about the sport. Weekends were spent sitting at home, scoring televised fights in a notebook. Word got out and I was approached to judge amateur boxing. My initial reaction was “hell no” but deep down I knew the reputations judges have and I wanted to make a difference. My fate was sealed.
Nearly three years and 528 fights later I have no regrets but the road has not been easy. Initially, those in the boxing community could not figure out what I was doing at the judges’ table. With no relatives who have boxed in the past and no children who were boxing in the present, my presence often caused confusion and questions. Slowly but surely, they began to accept me and realise that I was not going anywhere.