Rocky Stevens (#028458)

[JohnMcMinn]

I was looking at Rocky Stevens' record in the 1983 Ring Record Book and I was wondering why so many of his fights are missing from the Boxrec database:

[Matt]

Because the Ring Record Book had garbage records in it at times during the later years, and that is one of them.

[JohnMcMinn]

How do you determine that this record is "garbage?"

[Petu v.d. Pajm]

Well, if the dates & shows are "invented" and can not be verified at all... That is pretty good starting point for determining "garbage". Check boxing wiki of f ex S.T. Gordon and you find how "bullshit" is found out...

[JohnMcMinn]

Do you guys verify all records in the RRB with primary sources like newspaper reports? How did the fake records end up in RRB in the first place?

[Matt]

Managers submitted the fake records. It was less prevalent in the earlier days of the Ring Record Book, but became a full-fledged scandal around 1977 with the Don King promoted US championship tournament, this can be read about elsewhere.

Editors, myself included, were probably a bit more willing to enter from Ring Record Books with less scrutiny in the earlier days of this website. Over time though this site has largely shifted with historical stuff towards newspaper sources, as so many more newspaper archives have become available online. The Ring Record Books aren't completely without merit obviously, and have played a role in getting us to where we are today.

A quick glance at that record and the fact that we don't have those Orlando bouts entered, though we have access to Orlando newspapers, tells me to be suspicious of that record. It's possible that those bouts and others will turn up, but I would rather enter them with newspaper sources, so that I had a bit more confidence in their credibility before using the record book.

[JohnMcMinn]

Interesting info. I’ve heard of the scandal, but thought that was limited to a few fighters. Didn’t realize false records were more prevalent.