Rating Your Own Fighters - Articles From The Fistic Scene

[sepia warrior]

The Fistic Scene was a newsletter published by Jim Trunzo in 1993 as a companion to the early computer version of the Title Bout board game called "TKO Boxing" which was distributed by Lance Haffner Games. Although it can best be described as a very primitive adaptation of the board game and lacking in any of the bells and whistles in this iteration of the game, the underlying system and the ratings are pretty much the same.

In the first volume of The Fistic Scene, Jim Trunzo included the first installment of an article Rating Your Own Fighters. The article originally was going to be in three installments but after all was said and done, there was a fourth installment. While the article in this version of the game "Understanding The Rating Categories" is an excellent overview, I think this much earlier version has insights into the rating system that are useful in the rating process.

There are some caveats. Because TKO Boxing was an early computer version, the rating categories in some instances have other names, the rating ranges of certain categories are different, and some rating categories have been eliminated or modified. While TBCB2.5 also has some additions, they function as embellishments or refinements of the system rather than a drastically different game.

Here is the first installment which I have attached as individual pages in .jpeg format. I'm not a computer maven so when I discovered the .pdf files were too large for the upload program, I decided to attach them this way. In this installment, the significant difference between the two games is that TKO had a Control Factor (CF) range while in TBCB2.5 the range is 1-15. I believe that the CF ranges are adjusted by the computer in TBCB2.5 just as was the case in TKO to insure that one fighter didn't remain in control too long. The other ratings mentioned in this installment which are defense (DEF), Clinching (CL) and Ring Movement (RM) have the same ranges.







The other installments will follow very shortly.

[sepia warrior]

As with the first installment, the rating ranges of certain categories are different in TBCB2.5 than in TKO Boxing. Hitting Power (HP) is now 0-15 whereas to was 13-2. The discussion about 3 point punches not only taces how that rating has evolved, it also suggests adjusting these numbers in the current game can be used to fine tune a rating. Endurance and Aggressiveness are also covered. Those rating ranges have remained the same in the two games.







More will follow.

[sepia warrior]

In this installment note that there is a change in the names used regarding knockdowns, knockouts and recovery. For example KOR in TKO Boxing is the chin v. knockout rating in TBCB2.5 while KD2 is the same as Recovery in the current version. The concepts in these three categories are the same in both games as is Killer Instinct (KI). The section on cuts can be disregarded as there were two ratings CO and CH. The CO (cutting others) has been eliminated while CH is what is now the fighter's resistance to cuts.







The end is clearly in sight.

[sepia warrior]

This is it. The rating range in the Absorb Punishment rating (called TKO in TKO Boxing) is slightly larger but works as desctibed in the article. The discussion of Punches Landed numbers seems germane to TBCB2.5 despite the games evolution.



I suspect that much of what appears in this article is either known by some raters or is simply intuitive in others. I found this helpful in thinking about how to rate certain fighters, closely analyzing the BoxRec records both as to the fighter and his opponents, and viewing fights on TV, film or youtube. I know there are other rating categories that were not discussed. Perhaps this article will spark a discussion not only on the article but also those categories such as Fast/Slow Starter, Conditioning, In Corner/On The Ropes which impact fighter performance.

[Cap]

Wow! I've just discovered I know next to nothing about rating fighters!

I've always just looked at established fighters in the game rated by the designers and compared them to fighters I want to add myself. Then I usually tinker a bit. This has worked for me.

Right now I'm looking at re-rating my version of heavyweight Dan Daly, the white hope giant out of Williamsport, PA. He started off pretty well in real life from 1911 to 1914 before running into Jess Willard in April of that year and getting knocked out. He apparently took a real beating from Willard after a hard uppercut in round two from which he didn't recover. After that loss he wasn't the same. The year before, Daly lost a 12 round decision to Boer Rodel who simply eluded Daly's firepower and landed enough punches of his own to take the decision without ever hurting "Big Otto".

I picture a huge guy (he was 6'6" and around 210-220) who packed a big punch if he could land it, and could take a lot of punishment, only clinching if he was hurt. Not much movement, just coming forward, likely bulling smaller guys around, using his size.

Currently I have him with an OR of 4 at Prime. He's beaten Al Benedict (OR 0), Jim Jeffords (Post Prime OR 1), and Andy "Buck" Smith (OR 2); guys like that. In real life he did manage wins over guys like George "One Round" Davis, Tim Logan, Soldier Kearns, Al Palzer, Fred McKay and Jim Coffey, but didn't do as well in simulations. Almost.

Too bad a lot of the old ratings guys seem to have disappeared from this forum.

Cap