why has boxrec changed the names of someThai fighters?

[jeremy]

If you search for a boxer by their ringname .. their profile will come up with a re-direct to their legal name. All Thai boxers (non world titlist) have 2 profiles (one by their ring name and one by their legal name)if their legal name is known. It was something we unfortunately had to do as many boxers are going by several different ring names depending on what country they are fighting in. The thai boxers travel to these nations with scrupulous agents who present fake results. There is no commission in Thailand to refer to, which is why this has been such a serious issue from the start. The Thai Boxing Board is in charge of licensing. Almost every boxer who fights in Japan, Australia, etc..is unlicensed. Just some guy who has a gentleman's agreement to lose the fight under some exotic ring name. The only sanctioned fights that occur in Thailand are those involving WBC, WBO, etc.. To be honest it makes more sense to not even enter Thai boxers into boxrec unless it involves a proper sanctioning body. There are many past Thai boxers in boxrec (popular boxers) whom have a couple of profiles under 2 different ring names. It is impossible to sort this out without a proper commission with well organized record keeping, sadly this does not exist. Instead, we have scrupulous agents using set-up scam operations with names like Thai Boxing Commission and now Thai Boxing Federation to make it appear that there is a commission in the country. This is why boxrec.com is taking a stand. Albeit, it is very very difficult to identify these boxers legal birth names. We will mark what ring name each boxer went by from this point on to help track the various ring names a single boxer will go by over the years. Hopefully people will get accustomed to the boxer's legal name. We apologize for the Wild West of Thai boxing which is confusing for all involved.

[jeremy]

I think there is a difference between a nickname like "Gunboat Smith" and a corporate sponsorship. If he was known as Pabst Blue Ribbon Gym maybe it would be different. :)

I don't have much interaction with the foreign boxrec stuff but I do know the editors there are doing what they are doing after tons of discussion and out of a true desire to do what is best and what is most appropriate.

Consistency is more difficult. The editors are all volunteers and so they have to change them one by one, there isn't a magic button that just changes every name they all have to be done by hand individually.

Appreciate your comments

Yes..this situation took nearly a year to sort out. We saw a few problems (gentleman's agreements on outcomes), (unlicensed boxers fighting abroad), (several boxers going be various ringnames throughout the year), (bogus scam set-up false organizations like Thai Boxing Commission & Thai Boxing Federation) made to provide false results under a bogus commission name in order to get unlicensed boxers fights abroad), and finally (there is no boxing commission in Thailand). That should be enough evidence to make a major change in my opinion. However, this change did not come easily. It took extensive conversations within our editors forum..with many editors taking part. Finally, when the decisions were made, it took days to change boxer names and create a re-direct (if you pull up boxers known ring name it will come up and re-direct you to the legal name. This all occurred about 2 weeks ago.

We do have a Thai editor who puts in bouts that he attends. We will also add any fights that have video evidence and/or are sanctioned by a major world boxing organization like the WBC or WBO.

[Boxing Prospect]

Care to tell who other than Thailand in the region cares?

The fans who may not be in the area but do follow the Thai scene and would rather not want the confusion of having fighters recorded on here under one name and yet have a different name used whilst watching them. Sure there are only a handful of us, but it is still an unnecessary confusion to people like myself, James, The Beast and others.

[jeremy]

Care to tell who other than Thailand in the region cares?

The fans who may not be in the area but do follow the Thai scene and would rather not want the confusion of having fighters recorded on here under one name and yet have a different name used whilst watching them. Sure there are only a handful of us, but it is still an unnecessary confusion to people like myself, James, The Beast and others.

We appreciate your participation on this forum.

Thailand has been a very complicated situation for boxrec.com. We are doing our best to not make things confusing, but also trying to be as accurate as possible with identifying boxers, especially those that fight under various ring names (Thailand is the only country with this problem).

You have provided some relevant insights.