Long Count - Timing

Timing

Despite the Marquess of Queensberry Rules stipulating that a fighter has ten seconds to rise from a knockdown, studies of knockouts have shown that a referee's ten count does not typically last ten seconds. When Billy Conn was counted out against Joe Louis, the count lasted 12.4 seconds. Several previous Mike Tyson opponents were shown to have had a ten count which lasted over ten seconds. In his fight with Douglas, Tyson received a ten count which lasted 14 seconds. Ingemar Johansson was thought to have got a short count after being knocked down by Floyd Patterson in their 1961 rubbermatch, having been counted out despite rising a split second before the referee reached ten. Film footage showed Johansson had actually been down for between 11 and 12 seconds. Ultimately a referee's ten count is rarely a precise ten seconds; rather it is simply a human's count to ten.