Boxing record-keeping website assailed for disregarding legitimate fights

MANILA, Philippines — International matchmaker Sean Gibbons has joined boxing promoters and managers worldwide in questioning a known website that serves as the de facto record keeper for professional boxing matches.

Gibbon’s criticism of BoxRec comes amid the website’s reported non-listing of results of a sizable number of fights, including those of Filipino boxers.

The influential matchmaker has put BoxRec’s credibility in question for not including the recent fights of former champion Marlon Tapales and rising star Criz Laurente in Thailand in their respective website entries without any valid reasons.

Gibbons cried foul over BoxRec’s move not to tally the result of Tapales’ fights in Thailand last September, when he scored a technical knockout win against Nirun Baonok to capture the WBF International Featherweight title.

Laurente, meanwhile, won via third-round knockout against Benchalong Tanbu to get the WBF Intercontinental Lightweight title on the same date. But the fight likewise did not reflect on the Filipino prospect’s BoxRec’s entry.

“BoxRec is no longer the same record-boxing keeping body that we knew before, they are depriving the public of the full knowledge, results, and true record of a pro boxer because they are commercializing their site. They just list what they only wanted,” Gibbons said.

“That is not BoxRec, that is absolute shame. This is not pro boxing, and not a pro fighter thing. We are surprised that it did not just happen in Asia but also in America. They are not counting fights in Thailand and other countries that are legitimate fights promoted properly,” he added.

Gibbons claimed that hundreds of legitimate bouts sanctioned by various commissions from Thailand, India, Dubai, Mexico and China, among other countries were also not recorded by BoxRec the past few years.

“BoxRec must know their role as the world’s digital boxing record-keeping body, and not as a jury or judge that decides which fight should be recorded or not. All legitimate sanctioned fights must be recorded unconditionally by BoxRec, and that is their job,” Gibbons explained.

For his part, Sanman promotions head JC Mananquil also criticized BoxRec for “ghosting” a legitimate fight by Tapales — a boxer he promotes — wondering why is BoxRec supposedly acting like a sanctioning body or commission.

“For 26 years, BoxRec serves as a digital boxing record keeping body. But we are surprised that they did not count Marlon’s latest fights and Laurente’s bout as well. There were many fans that watched those bouts. So, they expected the results to come out as well in BoxRec,” Mananquil said.

Mananquil's counterparts from Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and China have likewise expressed dismay over what they claimed as the website’s “unacceptable” treatment of various promotions as a world-renowned digital boxing record-keeping entity.

“The most frustrating part is that BoxRec initially updated the fights, but they were removed again the very next day. Even more surprisingly, some of our older fights from four or five months ago have also been removed,” Jordanian boxing manager Mohammad Nabil Mohammad Alawneh said.

“Please remember these are real athletes with real dreams and futures. We are not asking for favors. We are asking for fairness, transparency, and the opportunity to develop professional boxing in Jordan,” he added.

Middle East Professional Boxing founder Jose Mohan was also surprised that BoxRec had supposedly removed without explanation four MEPB sanctioned fights and accused the organization as “more of a regulator than a record keeper.”

“Every fighter deserves an accurate record, regardless of who promotes them,” he said.

Thai Eaung Laosuwanwat, owner of Galaxy Promotions, has challenged BoxRec to just remove the records of his boxers from their website if they will not correct them.

“I find the inclusion of incomplete records for my boxers on your platform to be professionally damaging, as it misleads the public,” he said. “If you are unable to rectify these records at once, formally request the removal of my boxers' entire 40-year fight history from your website.”

Chinese boxing promoter Liu Gang, known hosting fights sanctioned by the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, and International Boxing Federation in China, also slammed BoxRec for replacing his name as a promoter from 2016 to 2023 without valid explanations.

“Parties involved have allegedly issued directives to boxing gyms, clubs, and fighters across China, threatening to blacklist them and jeopardize their boxing careers if they do not comply with BoxRec’s new policy. Such threats are unreasonable and unacceptable,” Liu said.

BoxRec counters

An in-depth report by Matthew Brown of brunchboxing.com cited BoxRec as “boxing’s official record keeper since 2016.”

Brown reported BoxRec tightening its standards for recognizing pro fights in boxing, a sport that has been hounded by instances of “record-padding” by boxers — that is, the practice of fighting vastly inferior opposition for quick knockout wins to boost their stock.

The report mentioned BoxRec choosing not to limit itself as a record-keeping body, but one that uses editorial judgement in tallying legitimate fight results.

“The organization does not recognize every contest presented as professional boxing. Two people fighting in the street do not automatically earn official professional victories. Neither does a bout necessarily qualify simply because somebody has submitted a result,” Brown wrote.

Brown reported that BoxRec representatives have been carefully scrutinizing fights and are experienced enough “to distinguish genuine competition from what they describe as pantomime.” (Contributed story)