Rating Fighters

Cap · 07-26-2013, 05:58 PM

For some of the newer members of our wee community here are a few sage words from one of Title Bout's founders:

UNDERSTANDING THE RATING CATEGORIES

There is probably nothing more difficult to rate in the world of sports simulations than a boxer. To begin with, the best that one can do is to base a fighter’s ratings on what we term “intelligent speculation.” There are no hard, fast statistics to dictate skills, no unadulterated numbers that provide a researcher with absolutes.

As a matter of fact, boxing statistics (what few there are) can be highly misleading. A major league pitcher who strikes out 750 major league batters in 900 innings pitched can accurately be deemed a strikeout pitcher, one who averaged 7.5 batters per 9-inning game. However, a professional boxer who knocks out 15 of 17 professional opponents may not be the big puncher that his numbers indicate. As a matter of fact, he may not be much of a puncher at all. The legitimacy of those 15 knockouts would depend greatly upon the level of competition provided by the opponents who he stopped.

In the face of the obstacles presented by the lack of statistics and the lack of veracity in those that exist, someone who wishes to rate a boxer must speculate; and the accuracy of those ratings will depend upon just how intelligently he does so.

Once significant research has been done on a fighter, ratings can be derived. But those ratings serve only as the foundation for the final ratings needed to accurately portray a fighter in a simulation. To take the raw data and form it into “playable” ratings, it becomes paramount that one understands the rating categories and how they interact.

07-26-2013, 05:58 PM	#1
Cap Hall Of Famer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Large Province in God's Country Posts: 7,776 Blog Entries: 4	Rating Fighters For some of the newer members of our wee community here are a few sage words from one of Title Bout's founders: UNDERSTANDING THE RATING CATEGORIES There is probably nothing more difficult to rate in the world of sports simulations than a boxer. To begin with, the best that one can do is to base a fighter’s ratings on what we term “intelligent speculation.” There are no hard, fast statistics to dictate skills, no unadulterated numbers that provide a researcher with absolutes. As a matter of fact, boxing statistics (what few there are) can be highly misleading. A major league pitcher who strikes out 750 major league batters in 900 innings pitched can accurately be deemed a strikeout pitcher, one who averaged 7.5 batters per 9-inning game. However, a professional boxer who knocks out 15 of 17 professional opponents may not be the big puncher that his numbers indicate. As a matter of fact, he may not be much of a puncher at all. The legitimacy of those 15 knockouts would depend greatly upon the level of competition provided by the opponents who he stopped. In the face of the obstacles presented by the lack of statistics and the lack of veracity in those that exist, someone who wishes to rate a boxer must speculate; and the accuracy of those ratings will depend upon just how intelligently he does so. Once significant research has been done on a fighter, ratings can be derived. But those ratings serve only as the foundation for the final ratings needed to accurately portray a fighter in a simulation. To take the raw data and form it into “playable” ratings, it becomes paramount that one understands the rating categories and how they interact. __________________ "...There were Giants in Those Days.."