Ya Gotta Love BoxRec!!

Their biggest weakness is that when a guy moves up in weight, he takes his points with him. I am pretty confused as to how Zurdo is the greatest Cruiserweight ever, and Kovalev #2.

The best way would be to have a guy appear in multiple divisions according to what he accomplished in each, but if that is too much, they should at least have a drop of a quarter or so points moving up, so that they don't crowd out the guys at the top.

Alternatively, they could rank guys in their natural divisions while ADDING a quarter or so points for every division moved up.

 

I do like Boxrec but it has its flaws.

What even is their way of ranking? Is it some weird numbers thing?

 

Every year someone here re-discovers that boxrec has a horrendous automated ranking system.
And in 2026 this re-discovery has been made rather early.

 

I think they mislead new fans and casuals on purpose. I appreciate their service, but they might have financial interests that affect their rankings.

 

Their algorithm is good in ranking boxers within the same division and time period. But different time period or divisions will start to reflect a very wide range of points, which messed up the whole pound-for-pound or all-time rankings.

Years ago, you could see the points history of each boxer, which made it fully clear on how the algorithm works. Now it's no longer visible (maybe visible to subscribers?), but I assume it still works the same way.

 

BoxRec is a joke. I use Wikipedia and have for years now. BoxRec makes you log-in and doesnt have a simple format for viewing judges/refs...really overrated.

And their ranking system is laughable

 

You can pretty regularly find the judges and ref for a fight, they're usually right next to result of the fight. If you don't have a BoxRec account then it's kinda useless, but if you do then it's miles easier to navigate and better to use as an informational tool than Wikipedia is.

 

Boxrec is held together by ducktape and willpower, thus they require you to have an account to see the info you are looking for.


This is what Boxrec looks like with an account.
https://ibb.co/21hBLTHr
https://ibb.co/8n0LPQmK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deontay_Wilder#Professional_boxing_record
Notice how Wilder´s page on Wiki does not have any info about the referees or judges in the record section. You have to scroll up to see that info, if its there.
Also, you cant access the full event info the way you can on boxrec, and Wilder´s last opponent does not even have a wiki page. On Boxrec Herndon has a full profile with a partial amateur record!

Boxrec also has a bout page where you can compare data as it was when said fight happened: ages, weight, recent results and so on.
https://boxrec.com/en/event/917754/3330567

Boxrec is superior in every way. You can look up managers, trainers, event history in your country or city of choice. The only thing missing now from Boxrec is the WBA info, and majority of the info you find on Wiki is copied from Boxrec.

 

Gilberto Ramirez is Boxrec's #1 Cruiserweight in history.

Sergey Kovalev is #2 all-time.

David Haye is #3.

Evander Holyfield doesn't make the top 100. (That's when I stopped looking.)

 

Because both Holyfield and Usyk are ranked at HW. Fighters only get ranked at single weight classes, which is why you won't find Floyd rated at 130 at all despite his considerable body of work there, for example. Fighters are usually rated in the division where they last fought in, or where they spent the bulk of their career at if it's older fighters. BoxRec seems to work on an algorithmic, points based system to sort out its rankings with moderators occasionally stepping in to deal with anomalies afaik. When fighters move up to another division, the points they've accrued from the prior parts of their career follow with them, hence why Kovalev and Zurdo have high ratings, because how much they've fought below the cruiser limit.

 

If you accumulate all your points at a lower weight, like Kovalev, why the hell do they rank you at the higher one, where you accomplished nothing?

Also, David Haye arguably beat better fighters at heavyweight, yet is ranked at cruiserweight. At least an argument could be made why they would put him at cruiserweight instead of heavyweight. There is no argument to be made for Kovalev at cruiser.

If they are putting zero effort or consistency into the rankings or who goes where, what's the point?

 

Their rankings always always always were off, but that's not what the site should be used for.

I know a lot of people don't remember the dark ages before boxrec but it wasn't always easy getting a guy's boxing record with all that info.