moww posted:

Actually the rules make a technically important distinction between heavy strikes and normal ones in terms of what it takes to win a round. I don't think they actually say what the difference between the two strikes is, but the most important judging criterion is determined by counting the total number of heavy strikes and seeing who landed more.

In practice, that's often impossible for one judge to do with no outside help while also considering all the other things that are going on in a fight. If you assume that a judge has legitimate competitive combat experience, it's safe to say that he can decide who won on effective striking just by getting an impression of the fight.

Unless leg kicks are involved.