The system was developed by Logan Hobson and Robert Canoggio. The system made its debut in the 1985 HBO Boxing telecast of the Livingstone Bramble-Ray Mancini rematch for the WBA's world Lightweight title. Compubox's aim is to settle controversies surrounding fights by counting each punch thrown by each of the fighters, and also each punch landed, to provide fight viewers with a final punchstat count and a perception of who should ideally be given the judges' decision, in the cases where a fight lasts the full distance. Conversely, Compubox has also created controversy; such was the case of the Fight of the Millenium, where Compubox showed Oscar De La Hoya landing around 300 more punches than Felix Trinidad, despite the fact Trinidad won the fight by a split decision. Compubox also showed Lennox Lewis outlanding Evander Holyfield by a large margin during their first fight, declared a draw or tie.
Apart from HBO,, the system is also used by NBC and ESPN, among others. Former world champion Genaro Hernandez, a computer expert, is one of the men in charge of operating the system.