Judge Al Lefkowitz Scores it 29-28 Tanner

Fronted by Kid Nate

As someone who had some money on Kendall Grove, when I heard Bruce Buffer announce, "29-28, Tanner," I admittedly panicked until I heard that the second judge had scored it 30-26 Grove.  It surprised me to hear the 30-26 score, though I at least thought it could be justified.  But 29-28 Tanner?  Where did that come from?

As a pretty devout follower of sabremetrics, I have a pretty healthy case of skepticism about what my eyes see.  So, though I had a pretty good idea that 29-28 Tanner had to be way out of line, I thought I might have been swayed by the bet I placed.

Rami Genauer adds his thoughts with some stats behind it.  From FightMetric.com:

We've released the stats for Grove vs. Tanner, and the results shouldn't shock anyone but Abe Lefkowitz. FightMetric sees all three rounds for Grove, with only the third round conceivably close enough to grant to Tanner. The first round goes to Grove, who outstruck Tanner 16-4. The second round was clearly in favor of Grove, and while the FightMetric system calls the round 10-9, it was pretty close to the threshold after which the round would be called 10-8, as two judges called it. The third round was scored 66-61 for Grove in terms of effectiveness, though after factoring in damage, the score goes up to 73-61. Giving that round to Tanner seems justified.

Rami's site is a good resource to reaffirm or critique your own opinions about how to judge fights.  Highly recommended.