By Thomas Hauser
JIMMY CANNON famously wrote, “Boxing is the purple gentle district {of professional} sports activities.” If that’s the case, then BoxRec.com is the police blotter.
Boxrec.com is boxing’s indispensable web site. Promoters, managers, trainers, fighters, matchmakers and followers go to it to view greater than one million pages a day. Athletic commissions around the globe depend on BoxRec to trace fighter’s data, suspensions, and the like. It’s the closest factor to an official record-keeper that boxing has.
John Sheppard created Boxrec.com and oversees the positioning. He understands the significance of what he does and does his finest to keep up the integrity of the method. However “integrity” and boxing don’t at all times go hand and hand. Not too long ago, Sheppard informed Boxing Information about among the points that he has handled:
* A Hungarian fighter emailed Sheppard to complain that he had agreed to maneuver across the ring and lose a struggle on factors. However his British opponent hit him very laborious within the mouth which was “not a part of the deal.” His tooth was now unfastened and, except he acquired 500 Euros for a dentist, he needed BoxRec to invalidate the outcome.
* A Mexican boxer emailed Boxrec to complain that he had retired 5 years earlier however agreed with a neighborhood promoter that, for a payment, the promoter may use his title to report victories for fighters that the promoter was constructing. The settlement held up for six fictitious fights. Then the promoter stopped paying the fighter however continued the phony record-building observe. Including insult to harm, the fighter complained that among the fictitious losses on his report had been towards full bums and this was very humiliating for him.
* An American boxer complained that he had been “defrauded” in Mexico after paying a promoter to safe a win on the promoter’s struggle card. Initially, the whole lot went as deliberate. The opponent had minimal boxing abilities, made no effort, and took punches for 4 rounds. However when the outcome was introduced, the judges gave the decision to the opponent. The boxer complained to the promoter, who professed astonishment and stated he would communicate to the fee on the fighter’s behalf. Subsequently, he reported again to the fighter that, with nice talent and diplomacy, he’d persuaded the fee to topic the judges’ resolution to an skilled assessment. However the assessment would price the fighter 4 hundred {dollars}.
* An American boxer emailed BoxRec.com to say that he was disputing a bout he’d misplaced in Mexico. The fighter wrote that, on the weigh-in, he was 4 inches taller than his opponent. However when he entered the ring on struggle night time, the person he was dealing with was two inches taller than he was.
* One other American boxer discovered when he arrived within the Dominican Republic that he was anticipated to pay 100 {dollars} for a blood take a look at. He reluctantly agreed and joined the queue, solely to watch the “nurse” taking the samples was utilizing the identical needle for every boxer. He then refused the take a look at, his struggle was cancelled, and he didn’t receives a commission.
* A Mexican fee submitted an occasion report back to BoxRec that included a struggle misplaced by “Jose Lopez.” There are greater than 100 “Jose Lopezes” in BoxRec’s database, so Sheppard requested for clarification as to which Jose Lopez it was. “We don’t know,” the fee responded. “However he misplaced, it doesn’t matter, simply choose one.”
* A brand new commissioner submitted her first report back to BoxRec and Sheppard famous that, in one of many bouts, each boxers had been reported as profitable. He telephoned the commissioner to make clear the outcome and he or she informed him {that a} extra skilled commissioner had spent a half-hour coaching her on struggle night time. One of many questions she’d requested was, “How do I do know who received?” The extra skilled commissioner informed her, “That’s simple. The referee will elevate the winner’s hand.” He didn’t educate her about attracts.
* Considered one of BoxRec’s editors attended a small membership card in Germany the place the promoter’s primary ticket vendor was knocked out within the seventh spherical. Then BoxRec acquired a report from the supervising fee stating that the ticket vendor had received the bout. Sheppard contacted the fee and requested them to double-check the outcome, after which somebody from the fee telephoned again and confirmed that the ticket vendor had received. Sheppard requested how he knew that was so and was informed that the fee hadn’t truly despatched a consultant to the occasion however that the promoter had assured the fee that the ticket vendor received.
* BoxRec.com was receiving experiences from a fee relating to fights that supposedly befell in a small city in Jap Europe. The experiences raised eyebrows. Every struggle card featured a number of “skilled losers” who had been recording wins towards unknown fighters who had been ostensibly making their professional debut. Sensing that this may be a part of a scheme to make the “skilled losers” extra credible as opponents, BoxRec despatched an editor to the venue to watch the subsequent purportedly-scheduled struggle card. The constructing was locked and there have been no fights. However on the next Monday morning, the fee despatched “occasion outcomes” to BoxRec with the entire “skilled losers” profitable.
* A BoxRec.com editor who attended a struggle card arrived early and stayed till the upkeep crew started dismantling the ring when the fights had been over. His report back to BoxRec listed the outcomes for six fights. Then the supervising fee despatched the outcomes for seven fights to BoxRec with corroborating photographs for every bout. Why the discrepancy? The editor informed Sheppard that, on the finish of the night, two boxers entered the ring, had been sprayed with water, had their image taken, after which left the ring.
“We require various ranges of corroboration from the commissions we take care of,” Sheppard says in closing. “These relationships fluctuate from implicit belief to finish mistrust.”
Thomas Hauser’s e-mail deal with is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most up-to-date e book – The Common Sport: Two Years Inside Boxing – was printed by the College of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Affiliation of America honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for profession excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was chosen for boxing’s highest honor – induction into the Worldwide Boxing Corridor of Fame.