mikecard - 4 rounds for non title main card fights...if you can't win 3 of 4 rounds, you don't deserve the W. Solves everything.
I like 5 round fights for non-title main events but not every fight on the card
I'm not sure 5 round fights are the answer to an unreliable scoring system. I much prefer adding a round on the spot for fights that were scored draws than trying to forecast which fights should be made 5 rounds. It's not always the contender or main event fights that we later look back and think should've been 5 rounds.
However, since there is some retarded stigma against scoring correctly (10-10 every time a round is too close to call or a 10-8 after a domination in the 3rd by a guy who lost the first 2) we end up with controversial decisions and/or fights we feel should've been allowed to go longer instead of draws which would need a solution. Nobody needs a solution for draws because we never have any. There are fights we feel are draws but they are never really draws, they always end up being controversial decisions because of "you have to pick a winner" syndrome. See what I mean. It just seems that we're going about this from the wrong angle.
Change the scoring system and 3 rounds with a possible extra will be plenty... If it's still a draw after the extra, then yes you have to pick a winner but at least there was a stipulation for a 3 rounder that ended up in a winner takes all situation. It's harder to still have a draw after a 4th round and would keep us from premeditated 5 rounders that we may regret.
Also, yes, training for 5 rounds is different than training for 3.
Also, what happens if the promotion wants to change the bout order? Are they going to come into the locker rooms and say "Hey, the swing bout is going to make the PPV after all, so guys, your fight is going to be 5 rounds now instead of 3. See you out there..."
How about all the fights that in 3 rounds you couldn't sit still because they were so slow? It's much easier to remember the bouts that we feel could've been longer because of the crappy scoring system than to admit that 15 minutes is already a long time to fight and making more fights last 25 minutes would slow shit down way more than it would fix the comparitively few bouts that we feel should've been longer. Reading the posts on here you would think that every fight is controversial and would all benefit from being 5 rounders.... Ninja please!
Fix the scoring system and especially the judges and leave the 5 rounders for the title fights.
Just my 2¢.