Why Boxrec is indispensable - Thomas Hauser

[Like a Boss]

Thomas Hauser on Boxrec :

Nine years ago, I wrote an article entitled “BoxRec.com: Boxing’s Indispensable Website.”

I praised John Sheppard, the indefatigable Brit who has maintained the site as a gift to the boxing community since its inception
in 2000. And I quoted numerous boxing aficionados, among them:

Matchmaker Bruce Trampler – “Short of actually being at a fight, they’re the best source of information out there. I have my
own computerized records, and I’m on BoxRec at least a dozen times a day. We take it for granted, but everyone in boxing
would miss it if it was gone.”

Historian Mike Silver – “BoxRec.com is a dream come true. It’s one of the greatest gifts to boxing fans and boxing historians in
the history of the world. Years ago, you needed a whole shelf of Ring record books to track the records of fighters. Now anyone
can do it in seconds for free. Every time I write about boxing, I want to thank them.”

Promoter Lou DiBella – “Anyone in boxing who says he doesn’t use BoxRec is either a complete imbecile or lying.”
Virtually everyone who follows the sweet science, from the most powerful denizens of the boxing world to casual fans, uses
BoxRec.com.

John Sheppard still works fulltime on the site, as he has since 2005. He recently hired his first fulltime employee, a computer
programmer who works from home “so I’m not so stressed anymore.”

The site has almost 200 editors located around the world, none of whom are paid. The end result is a data base that’s unparalleled in the history of boxing.

BoxRec.com has data on more than 55,000 referees, judges, managers, promoters, matchmakers, supervisors, and other
“non-fighters.” But its core content consists of more than 2,050,000 bouts that have been entered into its data base. That
includes roughly 23,000 active (having fought within the past 365 days) and 622,000 non-active fighters. These numbers keep
growing as new fights take place and more old ones are recorded.

And there’s a feature unique to BoxRec.com that makes it the clear industry favorite. Anyone who views a fighter’s record can
also see the complete record of that fighter’s opponents, his opponents’ opponents, and so on down the line.

One change from recent years is that BoxRec.com has now been embraced by, and is an official registry for, the Association of
Boxing Commissions. That makes life easier for Sheppard because, in his words, “Even the most recalcitrant states now send
us results.”

On a typical day, BoxRec.com has 116,000 visitors who view 700,000 pages. Those are impressive numbers that translate into
3,596,000 visitors who view 21,700,000 pages per month. Roughly 27 percent of this traffic comes from the United States
and 25 percent from the United Kingdom.

And BoxRec.com’s recently-hired computer programmer is now redesigning the site and code. “We have so many ideas on how
we can take the site forward,” Sheppard explains. “But we’ve been held back by the original code base, which is fifteen years
old.”

Converting BoxRec.com to a pay-site would mean a big payout for Sheppard. But nine years ago, he told this writer, “I’ve
always lived within my means. I’ve never needed a lot of money to be happy. That’s not why I started the site. That’s not what
it’s all about. I don’t want Boxrec to ever become a closed shop.”

To this day, Sheppard maintains that view, saying, “It’s never going to happen. Not on my watch.”

Three years ago, the Boxing Writers Association of America honored Sheppard with the James A. Farley Award for Honesty and
Integrity. He deserves that recognition and any other accolades that come his way.

http://www.thesweetscience.com/feature- ... es-nuggets

[Baby Face Finster]

Thank you Mr. Sheppard for this wonderfully indispensable site.

[Like a Boss]

Thank you Mr. Sheppard for this wonderfully indispensable site.

I fully concur

[Jip]

boxing is the best sport in the world.

boxrec is the best website on boxing in the world.

[davie]

Converting BoxRec.com to a pay-site would mean a big payout for Sheppard. But nine years ago, he told this writer, “I’ve
always lived within my means. I’ve never needed a lot of money to be happy. That’s not why I started the site. That’s not what
it’s all about. I don’t want Boxrec to ever become a closed shop.”

To this day, Sheppard maintains that view, saying, “It’s never going to happen. Not on my watch.”

Amen to that

However, many sites operate on a donation basis, with the option to put a few pennies in, if you so desire.

I wouldn't grudge the site owners this and may even throw a few sheckles at them occasionally

[crusader]

BoxRec 4 life bitches

John Shep

[bnovelist]

B-O-X-R-E-C

[RScarf1]

I read that article by Hauser and it's true. Boxrec is used all the time by people in the boxing business and journalists. Thank you BoxRec.

[handsofstone]

Amen to Boxrec, i'd never been on a computer until I got one for xmas 2010 and this was one of the 1st places I visited having read about it in Boxing Monthly, its almost too good to be true, keep up the great work John Shepard and Co

[jujigatame]

If BoxRec shut down it would seriously impact my boxing fandom.

[Like a Boss]

I read that article by Hauser and it's true. Boxrec is used all the time by people in the boxing business and journalists. Thank you BoxRec.

As Lou DiBella says in the article: “Anyone in boxing who says he doesn’t use BoxRec is either a complete imbecile or lying.”

[Freedom2013]

Great website, essential for anyone who wants to follow boxing in detail.

[littlepug]

if your a boxing nut this site is a must

[candyslim]

Putting on my pedant hat, I'd just say that indispensable means that you couldn't do without it, but it didn't exist for most of my time as a boxing fan so I had to do without it. I used to produce my own rankings and I tried to create my own ratings formula using the ELO Chess rating formula as a base.
Without computers this was a very laborious task, and I was short on time, patience, stamina and mathematical expertise, so I didn't get very far before losing the will to continue.

So thank you John Sheppard for this wonderful source of reference, knowledge and entertainment. As for your comments about not selling out as you have enough money for your needs, you Sir have my admiration and my gratitude.

[Ilya Muromets]

Nothing else compares. BoxRec is so much more valuable to boxing than all those phony crooked alphabet gangs and Las Vegas drug testing gangs and tv networks and their idiot babbling announcers and the crooked match makers and retarded boxing writers. Cheap so and so that I am I would be willing to pay for BoxRec access if it ever does go that route. That would be the only boxing related thing I'd pay for. I never pay for pay per view but BoxRec is invaluable.

[Evander]

JS is HOF

[Shirow]

In the last 10 years I honestly think I have probably spent more time on this site than any other single site.
I do take it completely for granted and feel a little bit ashamed after reading this piece.

Shep should add a discreet donation button or do a once a year appeal like Wikipedia. I'd like a way to show my appreciation.

[greg]

In the last 10 years I honestly think I have probably spent more time on this site than any other single site.
I do take it completely for granted and feel a little bit ashamed after reading this piece.

Shep should add a discreet donation button or do a once a year appeal like Wikipedia. I'd like a way to show my appreciation.

x2

[Tomasino]

In the last 10 years I honestly think I have probably spent more time on this site than any other single site.
I do take it completely for granted and feel a little bit ashamed after reading this piece.

Shep should add a discreet donation button or do a once a year appeal like Wikipedia. I'd like a way to show my appreciation.

Me too. Great website.

[Tony1244]

Great Great website. Not only my favorite boxing website, but my favorite website period.

The boxrec search for boxers feature, looking up boxers of both past and present is totally Indispensable as Hauser says. One of my favorite things to do, again period. Also greatly enjoy the discussions, we have a of couple character trolls here, but for each one of them, there are a dozen or so very knowledgable fans.

[Sequitorian]

Yeah ... except for one thing ...

Yo ... BoxRec ...

It's WBC World Middleweight Title ...

... not WBC World middleweight title ...

... and so on for every other Title ...

... (got that?) ...

... (am I getting thru to you?) ...

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

- Old guy named Gouch on the old aol forum sent me a link for Tony Alongi right around 2001 or 02, and wow!

MLB has a consistent 113 yr data base of beautiful stats and gurus dedicated to new ways of analyzing them. Boxing had nothing save Nat's Ring record book.

Now we could clearly see a fighter record in the proper timeline with all the cross referencing links to open a new world of past and present boxing plus a numerically based ranking system to counter all of baseball gurus who have gone aboard by now in their specious uniform theories.

While boxrec rankings have a ways to go, it is a noble attempt at objectivity. Shame a large lot on the forums don't use the data much or understand the timeline of a fighter career, but as a public service to the incredible history of boxing, nothing beats boxrec. Long may they continue and safeguard this hard fought historical record...Amen!

[Wales]

Imagine Christianity without the bible....

[Sequitorian]

Yeah ... except for one thing ...

Yo ... BoxRec ...

It's WBC World Middleweight Title ...

... not WBC World middleweight title ...

... and so on for every other Title ...

... (got that?) ...

... (am I getting thru to you?) ...

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

... apparently not ...

[punchoutsb]

Yeah ... except for one thing ...

Yo ... BoxRec ...

It's WBC World Middleweight Title ...

... not WBC World middleweight title ...

... and so on for every other Title ...

... (got that?) ...

... (am I getting thru to you?) ...

<> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <> <>

... apparently not ...

Dang man, you should probably close the account and never post here again since they didn't fix this.

...please...

...we can do without your shite posts every few months...

...about random boxing/mma comparisons...

... ...