[CONN CHRIS]

Thanks, glad you enjoy them. I think Rocco probably does a better job than I do. I just pick a division and then rate either people that I have an odd interest in or ones that catch my eye for some reason.

By way of example:

Mofokeng came to mind with all the Bonds/Giambi news that is flying around. I think that he was stripped of his title because of steroid use or it was threatened. At any rate, he popped into my head, so I checked to see if he was in TBCB, which he wasn't.

Nigel Rafferty was one that I had never heard of. I was surfing for something else and came across a Brittish on-line mag that was talking about some new endorsement this guy had (it was an old mag). The bit was talking about him like he was a big-time player in the fight game and trumpeted some Brittish, Mid-something backyard belt that he had as though he had beaten the man that beat the man. Anyway, I just had to check him out at Boxrec and when I did I couldn't stop from giggling. He had fought for this little belt over and over winning it once, he had also fought for and lost some other equally unimpressive back yard belt. He had a huge number of losses and looked like a typical club fighter (which made that endorsement thing even more funny - it must have been for Pete's pub and car wash on the corner of fifth and nowhere) Upon further look though, I did get a little respect for the guy - he seemed to be a tough customer with pluck, so I rated him.

Then I plucked a few more Cruisers that caught my fancy.

Sorry for the rambling, I just wanted you to know that:

A) I am no expert, and

B) There really is no ryme or reason to who I rate. I'll leave rational approaches to Rocco the engineer.


One other thing when it comes to my ratings, I do not sim 1,000's of fights like it appears that some of you do. I first eyeball the ratings based on the guys record and anything that I have read about him or actualy know. Then I test him by running 50 or so fights in the scheduler against rated boxers he has faced or, if that isn't possible, boxers in the game that I am pretty familiar with and think that I can guess how they would do against. I tweak a bit with each round and stop when I am reasonably satisfied. It is not at all an exhaustive process. So if you are someone that worships at the alter of historicaly accurate replays, you may want to check my ratings to see if you agree before using the boxers. With all that said, I do care about having these guys perform realistically. But, I do look at this as fun and games rather than a science and thought that you should be aware of that - and besides, I'm not charging you guys too much for the service anyway.

Honestly, if any of you with a good handle on rating fighters have some objections to my ratings I would be more than happy to listen and learn.