The Noble Art of Document Retaining: BoxRec’s quest to police a crime ridden activity | Boxing Information
By Thomas Hauser
JIMMY CANNON famously wrote, “Boxing is the red light district of qualified sports.” If that’s the circumstance, then BoxRec.com is the police blotter.
Boxrec.com is boxing’s indispensable web-site. Promoters, managers, trainers, fighters, matchmakers and enthusiasts go to it to see a lot more than a million webpages a working day. Athletic commissions close to the world count on BoxRec to track fighter’s information, suspensions, and the like. It’s the closest thing to an official record-keeper that boxing has.
John Sheppard designed Boxrec.com and oversees the web page. He understands the value of what he does and does his ideal to maintain the integrity of the method. But “integrity” and boxing never usually go hand and hand. Just lately, Sheppard advised Boxing News about some of the troubles that he has dealt with:
* A Hungarian fighter emailed Sheppard to complain that he experienced agreed to shift about the ring and drop a struggle on factors. But his British opponent strike him really challenging in the mouth which was “not portion of the deal.” His tooth was now loose and, until he gained 500 Euros for a dentist, he preferred BoxRec to invalidate the end result.
* A Mexican boxer emailed Boxrec to complain that he had retired 5 a long time previously but agreed with a neighborhood promoter that, for a price, the promoter could use his identify to report victories for fighters that the promoter was setting up. The agreement held up for six fictitious fights. Then the promoter stopped shelling out the fighter but continued the phony record-developing observe. Introducing insult to injury, the fighter complained that some of the fictitious losses on his history had been from comprehensive bums and this was pretty humiliating for him.
* An American boxer complained that he had been “defrauded” in Mexico soon after having to pay a promoter to protected a gain on the promoter’s struggle card. Originally, all the things went as planned. The opponent had nominal boxing competencies, built no work, and took punches for four rounds. But when the result was declared, the judges gave the verdict to the opponent. The boxer complained to the promoter, who professed astonishment and explained he would communicate to the fee on the fighter’s behalf. Subsequently, he claimed back to the fighter that, with fantastic ability and diplomacy, he’d persuaded the commission to issue the judges’ selection to an professional critique. But the overview would value the fighter 4 hundred bucks.
* An American boxer emailed BoxRec.com to say that he was disputing a bout he’d missing in Mexico. The fighter wrote that, at the weigh-in, he was 4 inches taller than his opponent. But when he entered the ring on combat night, the man he was dealing with was two inches taller than he was.
* A further American boxer acquired when he arrived in the Dominican Republic that he was envisioned to shell out one hundred dollars for a blood exam. He reluctantly agreed and joined the queue, only to notice the “nurse” taking the samples was utilizing the similar needle for each individual boxer. He then refused the test, his combat was cancelled, and he did not get paid out.
* A Mexican commission submitted an celebration report to BoxRec that incorporated a combat misplaced by “Jose Lopez.” There are extra than a hundred “Jose Lopezes” in BoxRec’s databases, so Sheppard asked for clarification as to which Jose Lopez it was. “We never know,” the commission responded. “But he dropped, it doesn’t matter, just select 1.”
* A new commissioner submitted her to start with report to BoxRec and Sheppard mentioned that, in 1 of the bouts, the two boxers were being claimed as successful. He telephoned the commissioner to clarify the consequence and she instructed him that a more expert commissioner had put in a half-hour education her on combat night. One of the inquiries she’d questioned was, “How do I know who received?” The more professional commissioner instructed her, “That’s easy. The referee will elevate the winner’s hand.” He didn’t train her about draws.
* One particular of BoxRec’s editors attended a little club card in Germany in which the promoter’s principal ticket vendor was knocked out in the seventh round. Then BoxRec received a report from the supervising commission stating that the ticket seller experienced received the bout. Sheppard contacted the commission and requested them to double-check the final result, right after which a person from the fee telephoned back and confirmed that the ticket seller experienced won. Sheppard questioned how he understood that was so and was explained to that the commission hadn’t really sent a representative to the celebration but that the promoter experienced confident the commission that the ticket vendor received.
* BoxRec.com was obtaining stories from a fee relating to fights that supposedly took position in a small city in Jap Europe. The reviews lifted eyebrows. Each individual struggle card featured several “professional losers” who were being recording wins towards unfamiliar fighters who were ostensibly producing their professional debut. Sensing that this may possibly be component of a plan to make the “professional losers” extra credible as opponents, BoxRec despatched an editor to the location to notice the future purportedly-scheduled battle card. The setting up was locked and there ended up no fights. But on the next Monday early morning, the commission despatched “event results” to BoxRec with all of the “professional losers” winning.
* A BoxRec.com editor who attended a battle card arrived early and stayed until finally the servicing crew commenced dismantling the ring when the fights have been more than. His report to BoxRec outlined the success for six fights. Then the supervising fee despatched the final results for seven fights to BoxRec with corroborating images for every bout. Why the discrepancy? The editor instructed Sheppard that, at the conclude of the evening, two boxers entered the ring, have been sprayed with h2o, had their photograph taken, and then left the ring.
“We demand various degrees of corroboration from the commissions we deal with,” Sheppard says in closing. “These interactions differ from implicit trust to entire distrust.”
Thomas Hauser’s email tackle is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most modern guide – The Universal Activity: Two A long time Within Boxing – was revealed by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of The usa honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for vocation excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s greatest honor – induction into the Global Boxing Corridor of Fame.
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By Thomas Hauser
JIMMY CANNON famously wrote, “Boxing is the red light district of qualified sports.” If that’s the circumstance, then BoxRec.com is the police blotter.
Boxrec.com is boxing’s indispensable web-site. Promoters, managers, trainers, fighters, matchmakers and enthusiasts go to it to see a lot more than a million webpages a working day. Athletic commissions close to the world count on BoxRec to track fighter’s information, suspensions, and the like. It’s the closest thing to an official record-keeper that boxing has.
John Sheppard designed Boxrec.com and oversees the web page. He understands the value of what he does and does his ideal to maintain the integrity of the method. But “integrity” and boxing never usually go hand and hand. Just lately, Sheppard advised Boxing News about some of the troubles that he has dealt with:
* A Hungarian fighter emailed Sheppard to complain that he experienced agreed to shift about the ring and drop a struggle on factors. But his British opponent strike him really challenging in the mouth which was “not portion of the deal.” His tooth was now loose and, until he gained 500 Euros for a dentist, he preferred BoxRec to invalidate the end result.
* A Mexican boxer emailed Boxrec to complain that he had retired 5 a long time previously but agreed with a neighborhood promoter that, for a price, the promoter could use his identify to report victories for fighters that the promoter was setting up. The agreement held up for six fictitious fights. Then the promoter stopped shelling out the fighter but continued the phony record-developing observe. Introducing insult to injury, the fighter complained that some of the fictitious losses on his history had been from comprehensive bums and this was pretty humiliating for him.
* An American boxer complained that he had been “defrauded” in Mexico soon after having to pay a promoter to protected a gain on the promoter’s struggle card. Originally, all the things went as planned. The opponent had nominal boxing competencies, built no work, and took punches for four rounds. But when the result was declared, the judges gave the verdict to the opponent. The boxer complained to the promoter, who professed astonishment and explained he would communicate to the fee on the fighter’s behalf. Subsequently, he claimed back to the fighter that, with fantastic ability and diplomacy, he’d persuaded the commission to issue the judges’ selection to an professional critique. But the overview would value the fighter 4 hundred bucks.
* An American boxer emailed BoxRec.com to say that he was disputing a bout he’d missing in Mexico. The fighter wrote that, at the weigh-in, he was 4 inches taller than his opponent. But when he entered the ring on combat night, the man he was dealing with was two inches taller than he was.
* A further American boxer acquired when he arrived in the Dominican Republic that he was envisioned to shell out one hundred dollars for a blood exam. He reluctantly agreed and joined the queue, only to notice the “nurse” taking the samples was utilizing the similar needle for each individual boxer. He then refused the test, his combat was cancelled, and he did not get paid out.
* A Mexican commission submitted an celebration report to BoxRec that incorporated a combat misplaced by “Jose Lopez.” There are extra than a hundred “Jose Lopezes” in BoxRec’s databases, so Sheppard asked for clarification as to which Jose Lopez it was. “We never know,” the commission responded. “But he dropped, it doesn’t matter, just select 1.”
* A new commissioner submitted her to start with report to BoxRec and Sheppard mentioned that, in 1 of the bouts, the two boxers were being claimed as successful. He telephoned the commissioner to clarify the consequence and she instructed him that a more expert commissioner had put in a half-hour education her on combat night. One of the inquiries she’d questioned was, “How do I know who received?” The more professional commissioner instructed her, “That’s easy. The referee will elevate the winner’s hand.” He didn’t train her about draws.
* One particular of BoxRec’s editors attended a little club card in Germany in which the promoter’s principal ticket vendor was knocked out in the seventh round. Then BoxRec received a report from the supervising commission stating that the ticket seller experienced received the bout. Sheppard contacted the commission and requested them to double-check the final result, right after which a person from the fee telephoned back and confirmed that the ticket seller experienced won. Sheppard questioned how he understood that was so and was explained to that the commission hadn’t really sent a representative to the celebration but that the promoter experienced confident the commission that the ticket vendor received.
* BoxRec.com was obtaining stories from a fee relating to fights that supposedly took position in a small city in Jap Europe. The reviews lifted eyebrows. Each individual struggle card featured several “professional losers” who were being recording wins towards unfamiliar fighters who were ostensibly producing their professional debut. Sensing that this may possibly be component of a plan to make the “professional losers” extra credible as opponents, BoxRec despatched an editor to the location to notice the future purportedly-scheduled battle card. The setting up was locked and there ended up no fights. But on the next Monday early morning, the commission despatched “event results” to BoxRec with all of the “professional losers” winning.
* A BoxRec.com editor who attended a battle card arrived early and stayed until finally the servicing crew commenced dismantling the ring when the fights have been more than. His report to BoxRec outlined the success for six fights. Then the supervising fee despatched the final results for seven fights to BoxRec with corroborating images for every bout. Why the discrepancy? The editor instructed Sheppard that, at the conclude of the evening, two boxers entered the ring, have been sprayed with h2o, had their photograph taken, and then left the ring.
“We demand various degrees of corroboration from the commissions we deal with,” Sheppard says in closing. “These interactions differ from implicit trust to entire distrust.”
Thomas Hauser’s email tackle is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His most modern guide – The Universal Activity: Two A long time Within Boxing – was revealed by the University of Arkansas Press. In 2004, the Boxing Writers Association of The usa honored Hauser with the Nat Fleischer Award for vocation excellence in boxing journalism. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s greatest honor – induction into the Global Boxing Corridor of Fame.
