Why Boxrec is indispensable - Thomas Hauser
Posted: 12 Mar 2017, 20:52
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
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
...