Part I: Many Questions Arising on
Boxers' Official Boxing Records
by Sue TL Fox
June 30, 2021
(JUNE 30) 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 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. So much for the ABC protecting fighters
rights. Abdicating their fiduciary responsibilities is
inexcusable. Their lack of oversight cannot be excused.
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.
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.
