Meta-analysis of the red advantage in combat sports
Peperkoorn, Hill, Barton and Pollet meta-analyse 6,589 contest outcomes in boxing, taekwondo and wrestling from seven Summer Olympic Games between 1996 and 2020 and nine World Boxing Championships between 2005 and 2021. Red won 50.5 per cent of bouts overall and 51.5 per cent of close bouts, neither significantly different from an even split. Before 2005, when the red advantage was first reported and before changes in tournament rules, red won 56.8 per cent of close bouts. The authors suggest that knowledge of the effect and rule changes may have reduced a small effect until it disappeared. Journal of record: Scientific Reports 14, 2024.
Peperkoorn, Hill, Barton and Pollet meta-analyse 6,589 contest outcomes in boxing, taekwondo and wrestling from seven Summer Olympic Games between 1996 and 2020 and nine World Boxing Championships between 2005 and 2021. Red won 50.5 per cent of bouts overall and 51.5 per cent of close bouts, neither significantly different from an even split. Before 2005, when the red advantage was first reported and before changes in tournament rules, red won 56.8 per cent of close bouts. The authors suggest that knowledge of the effect and rule changes may have reduced a small effect until it disappeared. Journal of record: Scientific Reports 14, 2024.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex record, 2026-11-03; citation details from the same record.
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Peperkoorn, L. S., Hill, R. A., Barton, R. A., & Pollet, T. V. (2024). Meta-analysis of the red advantage in combat sports. Scientific Reports, 14, 30822. doi:10.1038/s41598-024-81373-3 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-81373-3