[Antonin]

Here's my first attempt at rating a fighter.

UK journeyman JWW Arv Mittoo has a total of 91 bouts under his belt. He is 9-78-4, with 3 stoppages. He himself has been stopped 7 times.

I'm very interested in fighers rated 1-3, partly because I think the game needs more of them. Also, I have a great deal of respect for lower level fighters who are never going to have a big payday but are willing to go out there and put on a good show. They knowingly serve as stepping-stones for guys who have their eyes focused higher up on the boxing career ladder.

According to his Boxrec info, Arv manages himself. He fights about twice a month at various places throughout England and Scotland. The majority of his matches are 6 rounders. He has fought only two guys in the game: 2-rated Steve Conway (JLW) and 6-rated Junior Witter (JWW). Witter defeated Mittoo in 4 rounds on points in their only meeting. Conway beat him on points in all three of their 6-round encounters.

It's hard to find accounts of Mittoo's fights, but I did find references to him as one of several "high-profile tomato cans" who lost on a particular day (I personally would never call a guy with the guts to fight for a living a "tomato can"...I'm just passing along a quote). He has also been described as a "go anywhere" fighter, so presumably he is well known on the UK club circuit. One writer also called him "charismatic." In one recent bout, Mittoo sat calmly in his corner reading the evening's fight program while his opponent made a noisy and dramatic entrance. I thought right then and there: "This fellow should be in TBCB!" And oh yeah, he has a cool sounding name, too.

In assigning ratings I first studied Mittoo's record. Still, never having seen him, there was much about him that I had to just assume. I also studied the "rate a fighter" articles on this website. I simmed more than 1,000 fights. Mittoo vs Conway, vs Witter and vs various other 1 and 2 rated JWWs. I tweaked and tweaked and simmed some more. The Mittoo I envision is a guy who knows his way around a ring, will lose 80-90% of his fights against competition that is slightly better than himself, but will not get stopped much. When he does win, it will usually be on points--but he can achieve a TKO here and there. So he's worth coming out to see on a Friday night. Some of you might say it's not correct to assign a 32 year old guy "prime" for his career stage, but I did it anyway because I'm assuming (based on nothing, really) Mittoo's skills are at their peak for a club-level/small hall-level fighter. He is going to be able to go for a few more years at least. In RL, Mittoo's last win was June 6, 2000, which just happens to be my birthday.

The Arv Mittoo here will win (mostly by decision) between 10-20% of the time against slightly better fighters. His win percentage will be higher--up to 35%--against 1-rated post-prime guys. In RL, his win rate is just 10%, but very few of his actual opponents are in TBCB. So it's hard to tell how good his opponents were. Many, by their Boxrec stats, appear to be young guys of average skills on their way up. Others appear to be go-everywhere journeymen like Mittoo himself. As you more experienced TBCB raters know, it can be really difficult to duplicate a game fighter's RL record, especially if you've never even seen the guy in action. There are just so many variables involved.

Sorry for the long post. Since I'm new at rating fighters, I just wanted you guys to know my processes and my intent in assigning numbers.

Arv, this is for you, wherever you are. Just remember to protect yourself at all times.