"No record available" should NOT be listed 0-0-0

[Eric the Viking]

Just ran into this while discussing Carlos Zarate with Broncano on the BOTP forum. Zarate has a bunch of guys listed as 0-0-0 on his early record, but it's not clear which of these really were making their pro debut and which are really "no record available prior to this point" guys. If a fighter falls into the latter category, then there should be "n/a" in that spot, not a 0-0-0 - otherwise, how are we non-editors to know whether it was the guy's pro debut or no records are available? Those are very different things, and should appear differently on fight records.

Sure, one can click on the individual fighter record and look for the little footnote at the bottom, but there are no less than eighteen 0-0-0 guys on Zarate's record just prior to his first loss to Wilfredo Gomez. A simple asterisk next to the 0-0-0 on the fight record would tell us all we need to know. How about it?

[barry]

At the very bottom of every record the following is stated:

"NB this record may be incomplete/inaccurate and/or the boxer may still be active"


Should be plenty enough, I would think, but I don't know how some other people might look at it.

[Eric the Viking]

At the very bottom of every record the following is stated:

"NB this record may be incomplete/inaccurate and/or the boxer may still be active"

The vague may wording doesn't allow one to conclude whether a guy listed at 0-0-0 coming into a fight was debuting or not. If the editors know that a guy's record is definitely incomplete or strongly suspect that it is, it should be so noted. "0-0-0" doesn't tell a user anything. Is the guy making his debut? Were no records of previous fights found? Was he actually playing a game of chess and performed a queenside castling move??

I realize the site needs to have its legal disclaimers, but I'm talking about making some basic record information more informative (and perhaps more easily accessible) for users.

[Matt]

Should we also put comments to the effect that a guy hasn't fought for a certain period of time. That's relevant to analyzing things to.

The biggest problem I would have as an editor, is that I would have to go back and forth and flip switches on every new boxer I enter. I deal in old-timers in a lot of cases, by what guideline would I determine that a record is not "strongly suspect?"

I don't see the sense in putting in a flag that tells people something is under construction. You should know coming in that this site is a never-ending work in progress.

[Local Talent]

One way to tell if the fighter was not making his debut is most editors make a note when a fighter is making their debut.