Webbman, I don't know where you got the information from, but the fight involving Roy Jones in Seoul had no influence at all on why the amateur scoring system was changed, because for the simple fact that the change was already announced in advance of Roy's gold medal bout at those Olympics.

For one such example, here's a quick quote from the president of the AIBA at the time, Anwar Chowdhry, as stated on Sept 27th, 1988, and printed in various newspaper sources the very next day (I'm typing this directly from the L.A. Times, Sept 28th, 1988);

"At our world championships in Moscow, in September, 1989, we will introduce electronic scoring. Each judge will have two buttons in front of him, each representing a boxer. For each scoring blow a judge will push a button, and that punch will be shown on the scoreboard, next to the judge's number. For the first time in boxing the public will see blow-by-blow scoring. I am an engineer by profession and I am convinced we can, by electronic scoring, bring about better, more consistent performances by judges." - Chowdhry

Roy Jones' fight with Park Si Hun didn't happen until after that statement was released and the announcement was made in regards to the changes, as that fight of Roy's was on Oct 1st of that year, I believe. Maybe Oct 2nd, but it was the 2nd when the papers were reporting on it.

Again, that fight was irrelevant as to why the scoring change was made.

As history continues to roll up events and years there is always the opportunity for a new event to supersede what history has recorded, let's take the 2008 United States Olympic Boxing Team, (take them, please!) as of this writing, Saturday 08/16/2008 only 2 of 9 boxers still remained. You probably think I mean 2 U.S. fighter's remain and are about to fight for Gold Medals, well let me help you, there could be nothing further from my mind, or from those Gold Medals. None of our fighter's have qualified TO THIS POINT for the quarterfinals, that's right NOT ONE HAS even made it to the quarterfinals-!! And, although not as important as winning it is easy to tell that most of these fighters haven't thought enough about the great privilege they are receiving to really think about what they would have said should they LOSE A FIGHT, and so we get this stuff in response to a jim Gray question, Gray, "What happened?" A fighter responded, "well, I am just happy to be here, hey it's okay man, I don't think the judges scored it right." And, in ALL fairness to the fighter's the judging WAS JUST HORRENDOUS there needs to be a complete overhaul of the scoring procedure in the AMATEUR'S and Olympics, but that is another story entirely. Our American Boxer's didn't have a jab, they pawed like cats, they didn't appear to have any clue, a game-plan about HOW to out point their opponent's for a win in International boxing, and mostly that belongs at the feet of the Coaches and Dan Campbell, about 95% of that belongs there, but some of those guy's looked to me as if they could cared less, but not much. Oh yeah, There was this choice remark made by Coach Dan Campbell in an interview that in retrospect I am sure he would like to take back when he said, "In four years nobody is going to remember who the coach was in 2008, nobody will care." We'll see! Nope, the Roy Jones theft in 1988 although wreaks of I.O.C. incompetence and corruption in specific fights, but it was not nearly the pervasive problem that the judging incompetence of 2008 shall certainly become! Counting punches? For my likes, lose white stripe on those silly gloves, and drop the head gear and then GO FOR IT, then you can find out who the best fighter is! As for American Amateur Boxing, Teddy Atlas is right when he say's, ''that OLYMPIC AMATEUR boxing has become nothing more than a feeder system for the professional fight game. . ." Teddy and Joe discussed possibly bringing in some top flight International coaching talent, and rearranging the incentives for coaches, and possibly for the athletes themselves, I agree with their opinion's on this matter, but I would go a step further and ask one of our top executives, and if there is one thing that the United States still has, and that is top flight exec's, and ask him or her, I like T Boone Pickens, ask him to take a look at the overall organization of U.S. Olympic Boxing, and allow him recreate the entire thing if he likes, but rebuild it with the best boxing officials around, Teddy perhaps? No matter what, I am convinced that going through that program with a fine toothed comb (the comb being the right people) is the ONLY thing that will make any difference going forward.

  I cannot place the terrorist acts at the Munich games at the top of a sports "travesty list". Just because it was during the olympics and the victims were athletes, does not give any grounds to mention this horrible act in the same breath as athletes and or teams being robbed by bad calls. The games wherever they were held or will be held in the future will always, in some way, have that hanging overhead.

Now as for olympic "sports travesties", they Roy Jones Jr. decision, in my opinion is by far and away the biggest robbery in olympic history. I'm sure there are a lot of "travesties" that could be debated, and the '72 U.S. basketball decision is a close second, but that fight decision takes the cake for me. I have never seen such a one-sided competition in any sport get messed about the way this fight was. The basketball game was a close, and competitive game, and yes the U.S. got hosed, yet they still could have d'd up and stopped them for a third time instead of focusing on how they were getting hosed, I'm not blaming the team at all , but I believe it can be argued that the U.S. team could still have prevented the loss even though they were getting hosed. The Jones fight was a flat out joke. Beyond that, the only way to describe the way the fight went down would require the use of vulgre and profane language not suitable for this post. It was obvious corruption, and all fingers pointed at South Korean officials, there had to be a reason or some incentive for those non Korean judges to throw that decision. The reason I believe that the Jones hosing stands alone in olympic sports "travesties" is the fact that that one decision completely changed the way boxing is scored in the olympics. The electronic scoring system is used now because of that fight.

As someone born in Seoul, I wanted nothing more then 1988 Olympics to go well. I remember watching this match knowing that Roy Jones clearly had won the fight against Park Si Hun. After the bout was over, I thought to myself "There's no way the judges would give the decision to Park," but there had been a lot of crazy things that happened in the boxing venue during the Olympics (the boxing riot between the Korean team coaches and the referee from New Zeland, Anthony Hemberick showing up late for his bout), but I thought no way could the judges give the decision to Park.But I had a funny feeling right before the decision was announced and I remember Marv Albert of NBC saying right before the decision was announced "If Roy Jones Jr. doesn't win, we know there is something definetly wrong in Seoul" When the decision was announced I was absolutely HORRIFIED. I remember seeing Roy Jones Jr. crying into his towel (I felt so bad for him and it hurt to see him crying) and I remember either it was Marv Albert or Dr. Freddy Patcheko (also calling the bout for NBC) screaming "OOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". I went into my room thinking that the 88 Olympics were completely ruined because of it and Korea was completely disgraced. As it turnsout it didn't COMPLETELY RUIN 88 THE OLYMPICS, but it does go down as perhaps the worst robberies/decisions not just in Olymic history and sports history and it did make Korea look bad. But a lot of you may not know this, but after the decision was announced, a lot of Korean viewers called local Korean TV stations to say that giving the decision to Park was poor sportsmanship. I want to make a correction to what reviewer: "callitdownthe line" wrote in his review. There were no South Korean judges for the Jones-Park bout. Apparently it was South Korean boxing officials who had wined and dined the judges before the Olympics began, this apparently due to the fact that there were 2 Korean boxers who were also robbed of gold medals at the 84 Olympics, although I did not see those bouts,and most likely those bouts weren't as one sided as the Jones-Park fight was. Roy Jones Jr. as mentioned went onto become one of the greatest pound-for-pound boxers ever, and I became a fan of his (how could any boxing fan not?) but I always felt guilty when I saw Roy because of that awful 88 decision. Also in reponse to what reviewer "Canadasucks" said, I don't think the decision to rob Roy Jones Jr. was influenced by race. It was simply just bad judging/corruption involved. And that's simply a part of boxing in the Olympics (Like the two Korean boxers I mentioned above at the 84 Olympics and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was also apparently robbed in his semi-final bout at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics although I did not see the fight ) and at the professional level. I really am thinking about leading a drive to help get Roy Jones a gold medal, like the two Candadian figure skaters at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics) I don't know how much clout I will have, since I am not an Olympic official, or even a US Olympic official, but I will certainly try to get something done.

This does not even approach as the most appalling act ever in the annals of the modern Olympics, as the cowardly terrorists whom murdered the Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich games hold that pitiful disgrace. But this event was a travesty all to itself. Roy Jones Jr. was definitely robbed of his gold medal by scheming South Korean judges who thought they were doing a favor for their nation, but instead, embarrassed it. Even Jones's South Korean opponent was appalled with the decision as his arm was raised. But Jones went on to win the award as the best boxer of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and moreover would go on to a stellar career as the best pound for pound professional boxer for nearly a decade. The judges? Appropriately, they remain forever disgraced.

The irony of all this is that Roy Jones Jr. father competed as a boxer in the 1972 Olympics, and (get this!!!) clearly defeated his opponent but was robbed and the decsion was awarded to a fighter from (GET THIS!!!) South Korea. That fight was showed on Prime Time on Network TV (Howard Cosell did the announcing). That would never happen today. Instead, on Prime Time Olympics, we get Katie Couric, Star Jones, and Julia Roberts sitting on a soft tushy couch, sipping Latte, eating Bon-Bons and talking about the music played between each point of the Girl's beach Volleyball game.

The massacre of the Israeli athletes must top this list. . .But Roy Jones, Jr. was robbed of a gold medal in Seoul in 1988. This was the worst boxing decision I have ever seen. . .Roy whipped that Korean boxer into next week and the judges made sure that an African-American would not beat a local boy. Sad. The racism makes this an appalling memory.