Specification of variables predictive of victories in the sport of boxing: II. Further characterization of previous success.

Previous success, i.e., performance in the preceding bout and total number of wins and losses, was predictive of victory. Clarification of this effect was sought in examining whether the prior performance against a particular opponent or in a common location would be predictive of a victory in a bout against that opponent or in that locale. The career records of 739 male professional boxers who participated in contests held in the USA in November 2007 were collected from the BoxRec online database. Chi-squared tests and logistic regression analyses indicated that performance in the preceding bout, prior performance against the same opponent, and prior performance in a particular location were predictive of the outcome in a current bout.

Specification of variables predictive of victories in the sport of boxing.

Compared to other sports, very little research has been conducted on which variables can predict victory in the sport of boxing. This investigation examined whether boxers' age, weight change from their preceding contest, country of origin, total number of wins, total number of losses, performance in their preceding contest, or the possession of a championship title was predictive of a winning performance in a given bout. A 1-mo. sample of male professional boxing records for all contests held in the USA (N = 400) were collected from the BoxRec online database. Logistic regression analysis indicated that only boxers' age, total number of wins and losses, and the performance in the preceding contest predicted significant variance in outcome.