Part I: Many Questions Arising on
Boxers' Official Boxing Records
by Sue TL Fox
July 1, 2021
(JULY 1) This week, WBAN was
contacted by Charles Muniz, manager for professional female
boxer Ivana Habazin, in regards to her professional bout which
took place on April 10, 2021 in Dubai.
After not being able to get her boxing record updated on the
designated website BoxRec that has been given the "Thumbs Up" by
the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC)
to be the Official Record keeper of the sport he contacted us.
The ABC is a non-profit Organization whose mission in the sport
is to promote the continual improvement of, and for,
professional boxing; professional and amateur mixed martial
arts; and other professional and amateur unarmed combat sports;
To promote the uniformity of health and safety standards and
other requirements pertaining to the conduct of combat sports
events; To promote standard reporting of combat sports events
between members, including results, injury reports, suspensions
and other medical information. [ABC
Minutes making BoxRec the Official Record Keeper]
Habazin fought Nana Chakvashvili in a scheduled ten round bout.
There was also a second female bout on the card featuring Layla
McCarter vs. Elene Sikmashvili. The two bouts were
well-documented, televised and can be easily viewed on YouTube,
and Fite.TV., May 6th replays.
Both of these female bouts as
well as other fights on the card were not recorded on BoxRec
even though the fights were under the jurisdiction and
supervision of the United Arab Emirate Boxing Federation, the
official authority for professional boxing, MMA, amateur and all
combat sports in the Emirates.
Little did I know at the time that this was far from an isolated
situation which not only affected this boxing event in Dubai,
but is widespread in different parts of the world.
So one might ask, “How did this one reported incident balloon
into a hornet’s nest of countless unreported fights on fighter’s
records; questionable records; fights on record that never took
place; a boxer having fights recorded on his record after being
deceased for several years; and yes folks, there’s more.
Allow me to take a few steps back.
After receiving the above mentioned information about this fight
card in Dubai, I simply asked a question on the WBAN Facebook
page. I reached out to active male and female boxers and asked
if they had similar issues of not having their official
sanctioned fights recorded on BoxRec, regardless of where their
fight took place.
It did not take long before my “private message” feature on
Facebook began to fill up with fighters, managers, other
entities in the sport reporting so many different problematic
situations that I and the general public were unaware of. Let's
put it this way, I had to remove my Rose-Colored glasses and
decided to find out if these are isolated incidents, or if this
is more pervasive than I imagined.
Within a few hours after posting the story, it became apparent
that we were just scraping the tip of the iceberg. Both male and
female boxers from many parts of the world, who were not able to
get their fights recorded on BoxRec contacted us with video,
photos, factual evidence, along with results from judges and
other fighters who participated in such events.
Pugilist Lee McAllister had 10 fights missing from his record on
BoxRec, yet, FightFax clearly accounted for those ten fights.
Another pugilist, Bryant Pappas, produced fight video, photos,
and other documentation when he fought in 2020 in Mexico. His
fight like many being brought to our attention was also not
recorded by BoxRec even though he fought a tough fight and
risked his life as is the case with all fighters who step into
the ring.
What we know from the amount of fighters that have contacted us,
is that this problem is systemic and has been going on for
years. Sadly, the ABC hierarchy, as in the case of Charles Muniz
reporting his fighters grievance, did nothing more than offer a
nonsensical apology claiming BoxRec is a foreign entity beyond
their jurisdiction and a Private Company. So much for the ABC
protecting fighters rights. Abdicating their fiduciary
responsibilities is inexcusable. Their lack of oversight cannot
be excused. [Emails -
We will be updating this story with the letters of
what was said between Muniz and the ABC].
Response from ABC President Brian Nunn to Charles Muniz,
dated May 5, 2021:
"I am sorry to hear about this situation. Unfortunately,
I am afraid there is nothing I can do to help resolve
it. Boxrec is the official record keeper of the ABC, but
they are also a private company, not even based in the
United States.
I’ll admit to not really understanding how boxing
“commissions” work internationally, as it is much
different than in the US (and other international ABC
member commissions). After many conversations with John
and Marina, they DO understand the situation and they
only record what they deem to be accurate.
That not to say your boxer did not actually compete, I
believe she did, and I won’t even argue that those
results SHOULD be documented, but if I liken it to some
illegal underground boxing event that may actually
happen in the US that is not regulated by the proper
commission, those results could not be officially
recorded. Neither situation is the boxer’s fault, but
unfortunately, those results would still not be
recorded.
I know you said you spoke to John Sheppard, but he would
be the only one you could convince to include those
results."
So in other words....with two
people making decisions with no board, no one to over-see these
decisions, even with boxers, managers, promoters, etc. who
furnish videos, photos, complete fight cards, fights that are
televised, will not be able to have the records, events,
recorded if the private company chooses not to publish
them. As we all know the site is free to use. They
legally have no obligation to record anything they choose not to
record----Understood.
But then the question to many is---then WHY did the ABC make
them the Official Record Keeping site to begin with if in fact
you have two people, a couple in front of their computers,
deciding who gets credited for what a boxers do to get into the
ring in the first place---this is not BoxRec's problem----- they
are a private website/company as WBAN is. The problem lies
is WHY the ABC chose this method of boxing records
documentation.
On to more of what WBAN discovered through contacts from the
boxing community
Another disturbing incident that surfaced was information
showing some fighters who were reported to have fought, in
reality never did, yet records give credit for these ghost
fights. How about a fighter without an actual win magically
showing a winning record and fighting for a title against a
high-quality opponent. Can you imagine the consequences if that
fighter suffered a serious injury?
And folks there is so much more to report, which will be in an
upcoming series of articles that WBAN will be reporting.
We have learned much more about boxing records, and
organizations in the sport that are considered private
companies, and not non-profits. No board or entities
over-seeing some very important and top-rated boxing sources
that can determine fights, licenses, ratings, and more.
So stay tuned, as we break this down, and hopefully get some
answers, rational, and solutions to remedy some of the issues
that have surfaced since getting that initial contact by Charles
Muniz.
