Total Bouts in the BoxRec Database: By Decade

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 05 Jan 2014, 19:54

While waiting for the final 2013 tally - let me reiterate how welcome the number of active boxers for each year would be! We hear again and again, how the talent pool was much bigger in "the good old days", with lots and lots more active boxers than today - but I've never actually seen any numbers to support this claim. So that would be very interesting to know!

If that's not possible, can someone come up with a rough estimate, just for a single year - say 1930? The year with the most fights in BoxRec's database!

delisa · Post by **delisa** » 15 Jan 2014, 23:45

are there gloved matches prior to 1865 ?

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 14 Oct 2014, 06:19

Bundana wrote:While waiting for the final 2013 tally - let me reiterate how welcome the number of active boxers for each year would be! We hear again and again, how the talent pool was much bigger in "the good old days", with lots and lots more active boxers than today - but I've never actually seen any numbers to support this claim. So that would be very interesting to know!

If that's not possible, can someone come up with a rough estimate, just for a single year - say 1930? The year with the most fights in BoxRec's database!

If the answer is, that it's too complicated to figure out - then I fully understand that. But could some editor at least reply to this, and tell us that it can't be done (if that is the case!). You often hear, that back in the 30s and 40s there were so many more active boxers than today (up to 5 times as many, I have seen claimed)... something people just accept and never question, because that's what we have always been told. But is this a fact (or even close to the truth!)? It would be INCREDIBLY interesting, if someone could cast some light on this!

Post by **John** » 25 Oct 2014, 16:58

as of two days ago ...

1850 2
1860 15
1870 339
1880 4607
1890 16503
1900 41984
1910 94008
1920 269461
1930 287746
1940 202824
1950 156486
1960 105133
1970 104888
1980 130861
1990 141126
2000 185882
2010 107123

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 11 Jan 2015, 07:03

Is it possible to get an update on the annual number of fights - so we can have the stats for 2013 and 2014?

delisa · Post by **delisa** » 29 Apr 2015, 15:35

Good idea -- need an update

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 03 Jun 2015, 22:27

Any hour now we are about to hit 1.9 million bouts in the database!

I was clearing out old paperwork the other day when I came across my old notes from 2004:

2001 (November, I think), we had 150,519 bouts and 55,136 boxers in the db. (We no longer keep an official tally of boxers due to duplicates and dummy records, etc.) The next day we had almost 2,500 more bouts entered. By Dec. 3: 210668/72,150.

In 2002: Jan 7: 229205/76,870 (and 459 Forum members with 10,177 posts)
Jan 29: 240,060/80,573
Mar 6: 258,475/86,776

2003: Jan 30: 501,405/151,575
2004: Apr 12: 750,000/216,602 (3,000 Forum members)

John, can we get a current decade-by-decade breakdown?

!! Shawn · Post by **!! Shawn** » 21 Sep 2015, 13:59

Id love to see something similar that is number of active boxers by decade. Obviously there would be problems with duplicates, but it could give a broad overview of the depth of the talent pool in each era.

It would be very obvious if there were 3 times more active fighters in a division in 1 era than another, then reaching the top of that division would be a more impressive feat.

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 02 Jan 2016, 05:51

We haven't got an update on the annual number of fights for some time - so an update that includes the last 3 years would be nice.

... as would a list of the number of active boxers each year! Such a list would be the most interesting of all... but it seems, no one is even listening!

Post by **John** » 02 Jan 2016, 09:55

Code: Select all

bouts
decade	total
1850	2
1860	16
1870	340
1880	4617
1890	16694
1900	43732
1910	102794
1920	288615
1930	318491
1940	206433
1950	158230
1960	105756
1970	105928
1980	131411
1990	141987
2000	186060
2010	136751

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 02 Jan 2016, 13:38

Thanks, John.

pugilisticspecialist · Post by **pugilisticspecialist** » 06 Jan 2016, 07:50

Any chance we could get the total bouts for individual years, John?

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 20 Jan 2016, 23:50

I hate to keep pestering you about this... but once again there's this big discussion on another site, about whether there are more or fewer pro fighters in the world today, compared to earlier times.

Therefore please... isn't there a kind soul, who can give us the number of active boxers each year? These numbers would be incredibly interesting - much more interesting than the number of fights. So PLEASE...

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 10 Jul 2016, 17:54

Any hour now, BoxRec is about to hit 2 million bout results entered!

Soon after we do, John, would you please post a year-by-year breakdown like we did way back when?
("Active boxers each year" statistics would also be nice, per popular request.)

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 03 Jan 2017, 07:14

Now that 2016 is behind us, it would be nice to have an update on the number of fights, that has taken place each year.

And right now, in another thread over on the "Boxing History" forum, a debate (involving several of the editors!) is taking place... about the number of active fighters world wide, during different eras. Wouldn't it be fantastic, if someone could take the time to release the number of active boxers, known to BoxRec, each year?

I'm not computer savvy, and have no idea how much work would be involved in extracting these numbers from your database. But if it's very complicated, could we maybe just have the numbers from 1891 (where Fitzsimmons won his first title), 1930 (where the number of fights seem to be the highest ever) and 1976 (where a post-war low apparently was reached).

Thank you

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 09 Apr 2017, 17:33

Could we have the number of fights that took place in 2016, please? Doesn't seem that much to ask... so please!

Post by **John** » 09 Apr 2017, 18:08

Code: Select all

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 10 Apr 2017, 00:35

Thanks, John... much appreciated!

And now that I have caught you in a generous mood, I have another request. Yeah, I'm aware, that I may be pushing my luck and ask for too much here... but is it possible to give us the number of active boxers in BoxRec's database for the year 1955? For every year would of course be fantastic... but I would be very happy with just 1955.

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 01 Jan 2018, 15:42

John wrote: ↑25 Oct 2014, 16:58 as of two days ago ...

1850 2
1860 15
1870 339
1880 4607
1890 16503
1900 41984
1910 94008
1920 269461
1930 287746
1940 202824
1950 156486
1960 105133
1970 104888
1980 130861
1990 141126
2000 185882
2010 107123

Happy New Year! John, can we get the latest numbers?

Post by **John** » 01 Jan 2018, 16:02

1850 2
1860 18
1870 340
1880 4652
1890 21950
1900 59591
1910 108737
1920 313313
1930 350542
1940 223981
1950 161834
1960 107208
1970 108264
1980 132609
1990 142391
2000 186502
2010 191569

total 2112227

Happy New Year

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 01 Jan 2018, 18:15

Happy New Year to you too, John.

As you probably will know by now, I'm very interested in the yearly number of active boxers around the world. Therefore I always take a look at your p4p ratings, on the first day of a new year - as this should give me the number I want (since you list all boxers, who have had at least one pro bout in the last 365 days).

A year ago this number was 21,838 for male boxers, and all this year it has been just under 22,000... until a few weeks ago, when it suddenly, overnight, dropped to below 16,000. Today the number is 15,595!

So what gives? Can we no longer use this to determine the number of active fighters over the past 365 days? What has happened??

Ric · Post by **Ric** » 01 Jan 2018, 23:21

Per the latest bout entries, of late today, the latest official BoxRec fight identity number is ~2,216,300. John reported 2,112,227 pro bouts in the database. Some 104,000 bouts have been deleted over the years because of errors corrected, duplicates deleted, or bouts scheduled, entered and thus given a BoxRec Fight #, but never fought.

Hey?! Who knows what BoxRec Fight #1 is?

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 02 Jan 2018, 09:32

Fight #1 is Manuel Ortiz vs Benny Goldberg, 1938...

But how about those active boxers from last year? For the last 4 years, the number for active male boxers has been:

2014: 18,161
2015: 19,938
2016: 21,838
2017: 15,595

So after a steady increase of about 10% for the last few years, the number suddenly dropped almost 30% from 2016 to 2017! Is this a mistake... or does the number of boxers in your ratings, at any given time, no longer indicate how many boxers have been active over the last 365 days?

And how about those decade numbers? One year ago John reported 136,751 for the present decade - and now one year later we're up to 191,569. An increase of almost 55,000 - even though we had probably less than half that number of fights in 2017!

Can anyone explain these numbers?

Bundana · Post by **Bundana** » 08 Jan 2018, 06:33

I'll try again: Why was the number of fighters in your world wide ratings suddenly reduced overnight by almost a third last month? Does this number no longer tell us, how many boxers have been active over the last 365 days? What is going on?

I don't think this is an unreasonable question - so why will no one touch it?

pugilisticspecialist · Post by **pugilisticspecialist** » 05 Jun 2018, 13:06

Bundana wrote: ↑08 Jan 2018, 06:33 I'll try again: Why was the number of fighters in your world wide ratings suddenly reduced overnight by almost a third last month? Does this number no longer tell us, how many boxers have been active over the last 365 days? What is going on?

I don't think this is an unreasonable question - so why will no one touch it?

I'm guessing that because the ratings don't allow for negative points scores, boxers who should technically have a negative point score are now unlisted, even if they've fought in the past 365 days.

I think previously they were listed with 0 points, whereas now boxers listed with 0 points are guys whose points score is "truly" exactly 0.

This is all a guess by the way, I could be completely wrong.

Total Bouts in the BoxRec Database: By Decade

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1.9M Bouts in the Database!

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