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Boxrec Once the End All Be All for Fight Records & Information Needs to Be Called Into Question!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

The problem with boxing has always been control.

Now we have so many bodies involved in managing and regulating the sport that the term “alphabet soup” is a cliché.

For many the reason for this is down to the pace of change. The problems that arise can take an age to sort as the principal bunch of guys who are responsible for the work are a wee bit behind the times. Often, they struggle because they want to retain control or simply, they do not see the need for change.

In the United Kingdom, the British Boxing Board of Control (BBB of C) has been the principal body responsible for the sport and the safety of fighters since 1929. I am a member as I am a registered MC – still waiting on my first gig!

The problem with one body looking after the sport can be summed up in the fights, not in a ring, but in the smoky halls where people have unfettered debate and opinions are shared, swapped and then very often, not acted upon; or at least not seen to lead to any action.

We all know that boxing is a dangerous sport so opinions can be very highly charged so when there are competing boards having a bit of a barney it can get vicious.

But should it?

After all we are all in this for the safety of our boxers and in the UK, if we have learnt anything from the current crop of social outcries over the fate of our most vulnerable – the children – it is that agencies working together without the issue of egos makes for better care.

Each week we see and hear yet another case of a child who has lost their life because the competing agencies responsible for our social fabric are trying to retain control, refuse to share information and cock it up because of their self interest and self regard rather than the common weal and common goals.

In amongst such a scary topic this sport may seem like small beer but the issue of records for boxers has become a thorny issue for the British and Irish Boxing Authority (BIBA) but seems less of an issue for BBB of C. The question is why?

Now if you are interested in boxing, a boxing commentator, someone who writes about boxing or a boxing nut, your bible is BoxRec.

It appears though, that it is far from accurate. On the 25th of April this year, and on the 15th August, Sam Allan fought Marty Kayes and then Chris Wood whilst on the 15th August Sandy Robb faced Jody Meikle. All three contests were in Scotland, the first night in Wishaw, the second in Paisley. Further investigation found other anomalies including a June 2017 contest including Lee Churcher and Matt Scriven in Nottingham.

So what? Well you might ask because some fighters could be quite happy to see some of their losses expunged in this way or lose some of the bad stuff to look better to promoters…

Well… OK, Nottingham, Wishaw and Paisley are hardly MSG or Las Vegas but these are professional boxers. Their future performances will be matched by reference to their records and the paying public are always close to becoming a baying public when mismatches are made.

BIBA have now raised this issue once again with other boxing authorities and commissioning bodies again and in August 2016 they alleged that there are even fake fights listed. Incredibly BoxRec seems to be only accepting the records of BBB of C sanctioned events and not from other bodies who have a legitimate place within the industry. We are not talking about a few this is alleged to include over 100 boxers from European, African and Asian countries.

Amazingly after this has been raised to other work and regional level bodies including the WBC and EBU, there has been no official or unofficial response. The IBF seemingly have advanced some of the boxers whose records have not been updated on Boxrec. Is that not dangerous? Will this not lead to mismatches? What can happen then?

And why have the sanctioning bodies and BoxRec been silent? Is it because the competing agencies responsible for our sporting fabric are trying to retain control, refuse to share information and chock it up because of their self interest and self regard rather than the common weal and common goals?

There does appear to be a dysfunctional fight going on and it would be nice to know how the bigger boys in the sport see things but they seem to be keeping it all ever close to their chests. BIBA are using Fight Fax and promoting its use by others as the accurate way of checking records.

ight now I have taken the view that all needs to be proven rather than shouted from the rooftops but this is an issue to which I shall return as it appears to be quite simply dangerous; how long before a tragedy strikes?

Surely as a sport we take things like records seriously? We might gripe and may moan about the number of sanctioning bodies but it is surely time to just deal with it. As Terence Crawford and Julius Indongo are due to get in the ring to unify for the first time the four belts in their division it seems that the only way to get unity is to have a fight. I wonder who at the head of each body would win if we made it stripped to waist and no nipping…

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