COMPUBOX ADDS INSIGHT, MORE.

Byline: MICHAEL ROSENTHAL Boxing

One must only watch Lennox Lewis' knockout of Mike Tyson to understand the utter dominance of the heavyweight champion. Another element helps paint an even clearer picture: punch statistics.

Lewis outlanded Tyson 193-49 before the fight was stopped in the eighth round, a figure that tells the story of a one-sided fight as well as Tyson's battered face.

CompuBox punch statistics, while not designed to compete with the judges to determine a winner, have added such texture and a fresh perspective to the sport since their inception in the mid-1980s.

``We're always looking for ways to change the way boxing is broadcast,'' said Ross Greenberg, the president of HBO Sports who as a producer with the cable network introduced punch statistics in the mid-80s. ``We'd already had the overhead cam, microphones in the corners, interpreting Spanish and such innovations.

``So when (CompuBox's) Bob Canobbio walked in, we were open to the idea. ... Boxing was the only sport without stats. Now it's the standard. It gives the fans a point of reference they never had before, a method to the madness.''

Punch statistics are the brainchild of Canobbio and Logan Hobson, the former a onetime researcher for Sports Illustrated and the latter an ex-sports writer for United Press International.

They were working for a company that compiled sports statistics for a database when they adapted a computer program used to chart tennis shots to boxing and CompuBox was born.

The process is simple. They have two people at ringside, one for each fighter. Each presses a button on a keypad to chart jabs thrown and connected, power punches thrown and connected and overall punches thrown and connected.

Greenberg thought enough of the new concept to hire Canobbio and Hobson in 1985. They've remained with HBO and also work for ESPN and as a scouting service for fighters and their handlers, becoming an integral part of the sport in the process.

CompuBox now works about 100 boxing cards each year.

``We had no idea it would take off like it has,'' Canobbio said. ``It was just something we came up with. I still like boxing. At the time, though, I was crazy about boxing. Hagler- Hearns, Tyson, Duran. I was really into those fights.

``It was just great to be at the fights. It was pretty wild.''

CompuBox has its critics.

For example, promoter Bob Arum supports the use of the system but cautioned that the results ``can be misleading because it doesn't gauge the power of punches or their effectiveness.''

Canobbio said he and Hobson never intended to serve the function of the judges. Their goal was to be a barometer of a fighter's activity. What punches is he throwing? How many is he throwing? How many are connecting?

At the same time, Canobbio pointed out, the fighter who throws and lands more punches according to the CompuBox system wins the fight more than 90 percent of the time. And there has been an unexpected fringe benefit: Punch statistics have told a more accurate story in many miserable decisions.

``We never said this is the end-all,'' Canobbio said. ``... Different judges like different styles. Some like punchers, some finesse fighters. They see it in different ways. This is just another way of showing the outcome of a fight.

``... And I think we've gained some recognition because of some bad decisions. I won't say we're a conscience but we kind of show what went wrong when there's a bad decision.''

Added Greenberg: ``It's a quantitative analysis, not a qualitative one. ... A quarterback can complete 20 of 26 passes but it doesn't mean he'll win the game.''

Canobbio and Hobson are trying to address their principal criticism.

They're assessing a system that purports to measure the force of a punch, ``the missing link in our program,'' Canobbio said. A band around each glove would allow the speed of each punch to be measured electronically, which opens up some fascinating possibilities.

``We could measure the fatigue of a fighter,'' Canobbio said. ``Is he punching harder earlier in the fight or maintaining his power? We could measure the ability of a fighter to take a punch. Say a punch registers 6 (on a scale of 1 to 10) and a fighter doesn't go down but another fighter goes down by a punch that registers a 4.

``A lot could be done. It's in the early stages, though. We have to determine whether it's practical and accurate.''

As it is, CompuBox has changed for the better the way boxing is viewed with its simple, yet clever system. Anything else would be a bonus.

--Barrera-Morales: The Marco Antonio Barrera-Erik Morales fight was a good fight, not a great one like their first meeting in 2000. And if either fighter was responsible, it was Barrera.

John Jackson, who as head of Forum Boxing promotes Barrera, said his fighter had planned to box ``a few rounds and then go after Morales.''

``I don't know why he waited half the fight,'' Jackson said.

The fact he did made for a boring fight for the first six rounds, so boring that fans expecting a brawl booed vociferously in the fourth round. Barrera began to attack aggressively halfway through the fight and won by taking five of the last six rounds on all cards.

However, he probably lost a chance to give a dominating performance by waiting so long to fight. He probably could've beat up Morales.

``I agree,'' Jackson said.

As it was, Barrera's victory was somewhat controversial: The three judges scored the fight for Barrera but many at ringside saw it the other way or as a draw. Most agreed that a very difficult fight to score could've gone either way.

``It was a lot closer than the first fight,'' Jackson said.

Morales was awarded a split decision in their first meeting but most observers believed Barrera deserved the victory.

Of course, two such fights beg for a third. These two will meet again and the third fight will be more like the first than the second because Barrera will have learned a lesson.

--Title talk: Morales lost his WBC title but Barrera didn't take it.

Barrera, recognized as the best 126-pounder even though he holds no belt, has refused to accept the title because of past problems with the WBC. Barrera said he's satisfied ``because the people know who the real champions are.''

The organization will declare the title vacant.

--More Barrera-Morales: In this case, the CompuBox statistics reflected exactly what everyone saw: a very close fight.

Barrera landed 207 punches (of 607 thrown), Morales 205 (of 599). Barrera landed 90 jabs (of 278) and 117 power punches (of 329), Morales 70 jabs (of 265) and 135 power punches (of 334).

The 1,206 punches thrown falls well short of the 1,486 in their epic first meeting.

--Ruiz-Johnson: Don King and Co. spent an entire news conference Saturday trying to convince those in attendance that WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz's title defense against Kirk Johnson on July 27 is meaningful. No one objective bought it.

Everyone knows that Lewis is the heavyweight champion. Ruiz, while a decent, courageous fighter, is an example of how myriad sanctioning bodies produce titleholders who will make them money. That these fighters aren't real champions is irrelevant to the organizations.

Ruiz didn't address the value of his belt. He was grateful for one thing.

``I'm just glad Evander Holyfield isn't sitting over there,'' said Ruiz, pointing to Johnson's side of the dais.

Ruiz went 36 grueling rounds in three fights with the aging Holyfield, winning, losing and drawing.

--Ruelas watch: Gabriel Ruelas, who won his comeback fight in May, is scheduled to fight again Friday in Indianapolis. His opponent has not been selected.

His brother, Rafael Ruelas, who also is making a comeback, probably won't fight for several months while he gets in shape, manager Mike Rubinstein said.

--Ali interview: HBO will broadcast David Frost's fascinating interview with Muhammad Ali at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

COMING UP

TUESDAY

--Stevie Johnston vs. Steve Quinonez, 10 rounds, lightweights, Baraboo, Wis., ESPN2.

THURSDAY

--Antwun Echols vs. Oscar Bravo, 12, super middleweights, Santa Ana, N.M., ESPN.

FRIDAY

--Teddy Reid vs. Germaine Sanders, 12, welterweights, Santa Ana, N.M., ESPN2.

--Jesus Chaves vs. Julio Cesar Sanchez-Leon, 10, junior lightweights, San Antonio.

SATURDAY

--Wladimir Klitschko vs. Ray Mercer, 12, heavyweights, Atlantic City, N.J., HBO

--Julio Gonzalez vs. Jonathan Young, 10, light heavyweights, and Larry Mosley vs. Dagoberto Najera, 10, junior welterweights, at the Pond, Channel 9

COMPUBOX TIDBITS 

A list of CompuBox statistics follows. For more information about CompuBox, go to compuboxonline.com:

--More than 90 percent of fighters who throw and land more punches according to the CompuBox system win the fight.

--The typical heavyweight fighter throws 48 punches per round.

--``When Lennox Lewis throws 25 jabs or more a round, he's unbeatable. When he doesn't, he's in trouble,'' CompuBox's Bob Canobbio said.

--Arturo Gatti and Mickey Ward combined to land 110 punches in the frenetic ninth round of their recent fight. The average pair lands 40.

--Opponents were able to land only 30 percent of their punches against defensive wizard Pernell Whitaker - until he fought Felix Trinidad late in his career. Trinidad landed 54 percent.

--Roy Jones Jr., who some believe is the best fighter in the world, throws ``in the high-40s per round because he doesn't want to open up where he can get countered back,'' Canobbio said. Gatti and Morales typically throw 80-90 punches per round, although Morales threw only 50 per round on Saturday.

--Zach Padilla and Ray Olivera set the record for punches thrown in a 12-round fight in 1993: 3,020, or 252 per round. Vince Phillips once threw 237 punches in a round.

--Vinnie Pazienza landed no punches in one round against Jones.

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

Marco Antonio Barrera, right, landed 207 punches Saturday night than Erik Morales and, as happens more than 90 percent of the time according to CompuBox stats, won the fight.

Amy Beth Bennett/Associated Press

Box:

(1) COMING UP (see text)

(2) COMPUBOX TIDBITS (see text)