It was getting to the point on Saturday where Dale Youth boxers needed to knock their man out to get a clear result in the semi-finals of the English School Championships.
Just as well then that Andrew Smith stepped up to knock seven bells out of his hapless opponent to win by a crushing 33-11 scoreline in the U63 kilo category.
Even then the North Kensington club's corner wondered where the judges got the 11 accrued by Danny Preece from Guildford.
Fourteen-year-old Smith gave his man a standing count in the second round - and flattened him in the third and last, only for Preece to gamely beat the count.
In between, crisp clean shots for once had the judges practically leaning on their scoring buzzers.
Before that, coach Stevie Newland wondered if the officials in Haslemere, Surrey, were watching a different bout to him as Sean Robinson squeezed past Kingsley Stembridge from Sporting Ring Club in Reading.
The Dale 13-year-old won the U42 kilos contest on countback 7-5 after the judges deemed the bout had ended 5-5 on the regular scoring system.
He said: "Sean's punching was clean and obvious, but obviously not to some."
