Why Zarika won Fight Night Two

Kenya's Fatuma Zarika [Courtesy]

Fatuma “Iron Fist” Zarika retained her super-bantam weight World Boxing Council (WBC) belt on Saturday last week.

Zarika beat Zambia's Catherine Phiri in a 10-round fight at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi.

Zarika immediately went on the offensive at the gong with a quick succession of jabs and punches to her opponent's midsection. Phiri attempted to respond to the offensive, but rarely hit the target. 

The fight's three judges were from Uganda, Ghana and Namibia, while the referee was from South Africa. The overall supervisor for the championship bout was Peter Ngatane from South Africa. 

Boxers score points for clear punches that land on target. Punches should be delivered correctly (knuckle part landing on the target), and have sufficient force. Tapping an opponent, or delivering punches that are deflected or guarded by an opponent don't earn any point.

Social media went wild after Zarika was declared winner of the bout by points decision. The feeling was that Phiri was robbed of victory, because she looked most determined and with a flurry of punches. Indeed, it's true that Phiri threw more punches than Zarika, but most of her punches were wide and untargetted. 

The target area in boxing refers to the face, chest and midsection. A punch that lands on a target area earns a score if it is properly delivered with force. A punch that lands on the head does not warrant more points than one delivered on the stomach.

A judge awards 10 points per round to the boxer who scores more in a round. The boxer who is second best in a round gets nine points, but in cases where there is a knockdown or a boxer is overwhelmed, the losing boxer gets eight points.

WBC rules stipulate that during a championship bout, the ring announcer should declare the results on the scorecards of the judges after four rounds and eight rounds. During the Zarika-Phiri fight, the scores after round four where 39-37 in favour of Zarika.

What this meant was that Zarika had won three rounds and lost one round in all the judges’ scorecards. Phiri had an upper hand in round three, but lost the remaining three rounds to the reigning champion at the first announcement.

Rounds five, six and seven were too close and could have gone either way. The second results announcement after eight rounds had two of the judges scoring the bout at 79-73 in favour of Zarika, while the third judge placed the score at 77-75, also in favour of Zarika.

This means that two of the judges were convinced that Zarika led from the fifth to eighth rounds, but one of the judges felt that Phiri had won two of the rounds. Going by the scorecard, Phiri's only option to snatch victory from Zarika was a knockout.

The fight was also too close in the final two rounds. Zarika used her vast experience to land clear punches, while ducking from the flurry of punches from Phiri, who was finding it hard to hit her target.

That the two boxers had the stamina staying power was not in doubt. They fought with determination throughout the entire 10 rounds.  But when the final bell rang to end the match, it was Zarika who had the upper hand, and happily celebrated the confirmation of her victory.

The final scores were 98-92, 99-91 and 97-93 in favour of the champion. It was a unanimous points decision. One of the judges thought Phiri won just three rounds, while the remaining two handed the contender victory in one and two rounds respectively.

So, as much as many people thought Phiri had won because of the many punches she was throwing, the reality was that Zarika was more technical in her scoring to win the fight.

The best defensive boxer in this generation has been American superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather and in most of his fights, he retreats while landing decisive punches that earn him crucial points.

Also, just because Zarika had a cut on her face does not mean she was the loser. Cuts are common in boxing and often result from headbutts, not clear punches landing on the face of a boxer. Elbowing can also cause cuts during a fight.

Zarika won because she landed more punches on Phiri. It was as simple as that. 

 

Duncan Kuria is a former Kenyan international boxer