How has the media evolved in boxing.

In my country, people know De La Hoya. They don't know Mayweather any more than they know Bernard Hopkins.

Guys like Mundine, Tszyu, Green and Fenech will always make news. Boxing as a fan based sport isn't actually in a bad way in Oz. Whats scary, is our participation numbers. They are astronomically low. Dire in fact. I believe we have around 60 registered, professional boxers, across all weight divisions.

Ammy participation is reasonably good, yet those are not translating into pro numbers. There is a definite missing link at this point and the administrators have got to find out why we are losing the young kids to other sports and professions.
 
brother muzone said:
umm. Kelly Pavlik? from the same town, white boy with KO power and the lineal belt?

and Pavlik actually has received decent coverage nationally. sportscenter has highlighted his last two fights, SI did an article on him. And that would be great if it was followed by other top fighters putting on entertaining fights.

Cotto Margarito absolutely should receive coverage. But its two spanish speaking fighters, and the sports media is greatly behind the curve on that end. It will be interesting to see how the change in demographics influences the media overall. Spanish speaking news and entertainment already has its own powerful outlets on tv and radio. But when does that break into the normal mainstream of american media? Its going to happen sooner than later, and its one reason why boxing will probably be just fine
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You're right....Pavlik is a good fighter and I enjoy watching him work........but if he walked down my street right now.....I'd be the only person on my block to recognize him. If Cotto or Margarito walked down my street my neighbors would be dialing 911.....The cross over just isn't there........Fighters aren't covered like they once were. Sad.
 
Margarito is a bad ass. If he isnt smiling and happy, even at 5'10 hes going to intimidate most people.
 
Tam-Tam said:
In my country, people know De La Hoya. They don't know Mayweather any more than they know Bernard Hopkins.

Guys like Mundine, Tszyu, Green and Fenech will always make news. Boxing as a fan based sport isn't actually in a bad way in Oz. Whats scary, is our participation numbers. They are astronomically low. Dire in fact. I believe we have around 60 registered, professional boxers, across all weight divisions.

Ammy participation is reasonably good, yet those are not translating into pro numbers. There is a definite missing link at this point and the administrators have got to find out why we are losing the young kids to other sports and professions.
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In Melbourne boxing gets little coverage aside from world title matches. There are certainly no dedicated boxing writers in the major papers (Herald Sun and The Age). I'm pretty sure in the era of T.V ringside and before, there would have been more dedicated boxing reports. Now the best place to find that is on the web, and often its a case of searching through the trash to find quality work. Tam, do you happen to know how TV ringside affected the sport's fanbase?
 
there are lots of great boxing journalists. maxboxing/boxingscene is full of them. Iole still does great work. espn.com is surprisingly active and deep.
 
Its actually kind of funny that someone like floyd mayweather who comes off as such a bad guy to the public is actually one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. The thing about floyd is he does everything in his power to garner attention for the sport while managing to help himself on the way, which is very enviable. Sure, some of this attention wasnt from the most desirable places but any media is good media especially for a sport like boxing. Whats unfortunate is that with dlh closing in on his last few fight and floyd coming closer to hanging them up for good is that I can only think of a few boxers who have a shot at carrying the torch after the spotlight is done shining on the sports "golden boy" and top p4p fighter. Id hate to see all of boxing end up like the current hw division but such an occurance is definitely not out of the question. With espn and the majority of the media concentrating on other sports such as basketball and football you will never see a shortage of talent and star power in those sports because of the "WOW" factor, which boxing has seemed to misplace. It wont be easy but I think a few big name fights, a really talented heavyweight, and a lot of controversy will put us in the mix once again.
 
Tam-Tam said:
The show o hands and commitment to moving forward with it was never strong enough. To it work, we would need at least 6 or 7 regular contributors specifically just focusing on writing/reporting. We also would need some kind of e-engineer to make it all work.

I'm as commited as ever to that cause, but it's not something I'm prepared to pour my own money into, if there isn't the support around me. Ya dig?
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what kind of money we talking here?
 
Spoonking said:
Im doing an essay for school and would like some sherdoggers thoughts on how the introduction of T.V, Cable, internet has changed the role of the boxing writer. I assume boxing writing used to focus mainly on straight reportage of an event in place of viewing a fight over a TV. What are your thoughts?
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How far are you going back with this evolution (or de-evolution) of boxing writing, Spoon?

Just asking because if you're going as far back as the 1920's or thereabouts (into the 30's too), which is often called the "golden age of sports", then you're also looking at what is often called the "golden age of sportswriting", as well, where sports/boxing writers such as Rice, Runyon, McGeehan, Gallico, Kieran, etc., were basically the sole source of what was going on in the sport with radio in it's infacy and television obviously not yet existing. Unless you had a ticket for the big fights, the boxing fans around the country (and world) were completely dependant on these guys to bring their boxing legends to life, and judging by the popularity of the sport during those years, these guys had to have done a fabulous job.

"I was a pretty good fighter. But it was the writers who made me great." - Jack Dempsey

So important were the sportwriters of that day that the very best of them were among the highest paid people in all of sports, with probably the best of those makers of legends, Grantland Rice, making a rumoured annual salary of a quarter million dollars...the second richest man in all of sports, as his ultra popular "Sportlights" being syndicated in the papers all over and everywhere across the country.

Grantland Rice?

Damn, I have to get over this pet peave I have, but since I mentioned his name, and because I do have some pet peaves with some modern day 'boxing writers', which this is one...

"Nineteen hundred and seventeen, in it's big harvest, collected many a fighting man. But in taking Bob Fitzsimmons and Frank Gotch the closing year lifted two of the greatest entities boxing and wrestling have ever known. Fitz was far and away the best fighting man, pound for pound, the game ever produced. Pound for pound he never had his equal. He was the first to hear the mystic trumpeteer..." - Grantland Rice in his Jan 1st, 1918 'Sportlights' column, with this quote taken from the Lima (Ohio) Daily News on that date
 
TKDhasBin said:
Jimmy Cannon wasn't bad either.
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KO Magazine made quite a bit of money off of me when they first came out in the early 80's, and a big reason for that was because of them reprinting those old Jimmy Cannon articles from the 40's and 50's. I seem to remember those old Cannon articles running as a monthly piece by them, and I also remember that his articles were one of the first things I'd read in each issue of that mag, if not the very first.

I was just a kid back then, but Jimmy Cannon's writing helped immensely in making me a fan of the historical side of the sport.
 
sporst reporting has also gone down the crapper. sports media figures/writers dont stand out anymore. there all just a bunch of faceless talking heads, who say, act, and report the exact same thing in the exact same generic, unintresting way.
 
FIGHT FAN said:
sporst reporting has also gone down the crapper. sports media figures/writers dont stand out anymore. there all just a bunch of faceless talking heads, who say, act, and report the exact same thing in the exact same generic, unintresting way.
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There's one that stands out, and he does so a giant's head & shoulders above all the rest of those generic and uninteresting boxing writers.

Medaris.

Watch for him, read him, and then bow.
 
Sharkey said:
There's one that stands out, and he does so a giant's head & shoulders above all the rest of those generic and uninteresting boxing writers.

Medaris.

Watch for him, read him, and then bow.
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tell me more. whats his first name?
 
Sharkey said:
How far are you going back with this evolution (or de-evolution) of boxing writing, Spoon?
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Well i wanted to go back as far as the early twentieth century where print, was basically the sole source of information for those wanting to know about the fights without actually going. My plan is to chart how the arrival of new media technology has lessened the demand for quality boxing wrtitng. Although im not sure about how this process occured. Hence this thread.

What are your thoughts Sharkey?
 
Good thread guys.

Of course, there are Boxing journalists and then there are sportswriters who are assigned to cover boxing with varying degrees of passion for the assignment.

Years ago, given, as mentioned above the dependence that people had on the prose of printed reporting, and the proportionate share that Boxing commanded in the spectrum of sports, you had a host of finely tuned wordsmiths accountable for knowing fully the detail of their subject, and many of these simply loved the sport.

Boxing is a less pronounced piece of what commands our attentions today, as are most things that existed 50 years ago and still do, given the advancement of the communications age, electronic age, etc.

Limiting the discourse to the English speaking segment, most of my favorite boxing writers, I
 
Sharkey said:
There's one that stands out, and he does so a giant's head & shoulders above all the rest of those generic and uninteresting boxing writers.

Medaris.

Watch for him, read him, and then bow.
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Sharkey... wuts up with the horse racing theme.

I know an off track betting place... when I walk in, the smell of "success" is in the air.

Actually, it's the smell of people with what little money they have losing it. :icon_chee
 
I wish there was more mainstream coverage of the sport than there is. I try to get boxing in my paper whenever the AP does a fight, but it's tough. It's the same with MMA.
 
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