Reporters Telling The Truth in Boxing: An Online Editorial
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Correspondent
New York,NY (June 15th,2013)– A boxing reporter is, by nature, a neutral and fair reporter of boxing in sports. He or she does not favor one promoter or another by design. The goal of a sports reporter, or any reporter for that matter, is to present the news in a form of unbiased journalism. In boxing, whoever wins, loses or draws, and whatever the angle of the story in whatever direction in takes me, that is where the story will go.
In all true fairness and honesty, I do like a good fighter, and will befriend them with sincerity. Not just to write a story, but because I care enough to see somebody succeed and make something of their life. To be a champion in boxing is like being a champion in life. Hard work, determination, talent, luck, good promotion, courage, these are all among the different elements which come together to make a great contender and maybe a champion in the unique world of boxing.
Anybody who thinks other sports such as hockey, rugby, football, soccer, wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts are less aggressive or physical, I say it’s all about the same.
Boxing is a unique physical sport, as much the ability of the fighter physically as it is about the mental aspect of boxing psychology and the process of attempting and executing different game plans to beat an opponent in the professional fighter’s mind as the fight develops and the need arises. It’s a tactical war at the highest levels when two great fighters meet, even deeper than two grandmasters playing chess.
There are, of course, great promoters who take it well when their fighter loses. Sometimes there is a rematch when one of their money fighters loses. Such is life, as t ere are very few 25-0 Rocky Marciano types out there you’re likely to find. Other promoters drag their feet with fighters, and I have to say this is an unfortunate process. Fighters sign with somebody and don’t get moved, or don’t get moved well enough to survive either emotionally or financially. Still other fighters get pushed into fights they should not be in too soon. Promoting and managing and training fighters has been and will always be a most delicate process. Every boxer is not destined to be a ranked contender or a world champion, though I guess it is okay for them to dream the dream. Once is awhile some fighter realizes the dream and does become a world champion, and my friends, in that moment, for that fighter and his corner life truly is beautiful.
One of us are around forever. If we were, Arthur Mercante Sr., Angelo Dundee, Ray Arcel, Carmen Basilio, Joe Frazier, Emanuel Steward, Carlos Monzon, Sugar Ray Robinson, Archie Moore, Johnny Boz and so many others would still be here. I’m just throwing famous names out, but while I’m at it, we are in each of our lifetimes, as mortal as the boxers we see in the ring. However the boxers frequently look death in the face. This is something they experience which few of us every do. Walk a mile in my gloves, a fighter might say. Then you might understand.
When a fighter wins, I tell the truth. When a fighter loses, I tell the truth. I tell it like I see it. If a fighter is fighting stiffs, I write they need to fight better quality opposition. Like it or not, time and tide wait for no man, even in boxing. Adonis Stevenson may have won the WBC World Light Heavyweight title at age 35, but this is a rarity, I must admit. Usually by this point a fighter is forgotten.
Once a fighter has skills, they have to fight serious fights, not token bums. Sometimes no other fighter is available, and we understand, as that happens infrequently. Overall, as a writer, I say I write the best stories, just like a fighter has to fight the best quality opposition out there, and get better with each better fighter he or she faces.
I will not sugarcoat the boxing reporter’s role. Sometimes it is a dream, sometimes it is a nightmare. I’ve been asked to cover fights I didn’t plan for. I’ve arrived at fights only to be turned away. Being a boxing reporter can be an uneasy science.
But fair is fair. If a promoter’s fighter is not fighting quality opposition, it is NOT a terrible thing when the reporter says the fighter needs to fight better opposition. It is the truth. And when a fighter loses, the reporter should not lose for telling the truth. It is the fighter and his handlers who gain by receiving an honest appraisal of the fighter’s abilities, strengths and weaknesses. For a boxing reporter today to say anything less would not be professional. A reporter, news, sports or otherwise, has to trust his feelings, write his or her story from the heart, and tell it like it is. The cold hard truth sometimes makes one corner look good, and the other corner with much to be desired. Or maybe it wasn’t a good fight period.
I’m not looking for rewards or accolades, and like most boxing reporters will probably never be remembered. From Bill Gallo to Phil Berger, I’ve seen ’em come and I’ve seen ’em go. The realities of the sport of boxing are it’s like the Roman Coliseum all over again, the fans of boxing like the sight of blood and enjoy a good knockout. It’s like a quarterback sack, a hockey hit ,a basketball elbow, and a baseball fight at the plate. To me, it just is, and my understanding of boxing comes from not trying to understand it.
As a reporter, I live the sport of boxing to be a part of it. From a reporter’s perspective, not every fighter can be a world champion but not every promoter wants to hear the other side of the boxing reporter’s evaluation. As a reporter, I must report a boxing card the way I see it. If some promoter’s don’t like it, well just too bad. Honesty is always the best policy, and the truth will set you free. Reporters telling the truth in boxing face alienation from managers and promoters, who only want to hear what they want to hear, see what they want to see, and read what they want to say.
I write the true story of what has to be told, usually form my unique perspective, and not what the promoters necessarily want to hear. Even if a fighter wins, a good reporter highlights their strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes a promoter hears what they want to hear. Top promoters will always tell you what they want to read. They have enough money to get new fighters when some fighters cannot produce.
Bottom level promoters not only lose money, and risk safety protocols with bad match ups, but they often are on a quest to move fighters who can’t be moved.
To sum it all up, a great boxing reporter tells a story. He gets out of his chair, and gets out of his head and his patterned way of thinking, and looks for creative angles form which a boxing story can be told, free of criticism or guilt. I have been treated well at times covering fights, and other times not so well. The bottom line is top promoters can move their fighters, and keep their fighters busy and sharp. Bottom promoters think they can move their fighters, but that rarely happens unless the fighter gets out of his or her poor fight contracts.
Creativity in boxing means having a unique perspective, and speaking your mind. Sports readers don’t want the usual Campbell’s soup version of the boxing story, they want interesting and dynamic boxing stories which will peak their interest. So I say to my fellow reporters: tell the truth in boxing. And if it hurts, feel no shame, no guilt nor glory, as you are telling the history of the ring for future generations to find on the internet. The truth in reporting is my goal, and no matter what anybody in boxing says or does to me, as a writer I am a free man. As the late comedian Redd Foxx so astutely put “I don’t care of I get good or bad reviews, I care that I get reviews.”. As a boxing writer with an unshakable spirit who is still growing as an individual, I am still learning at every boxing card I get to cover, and also learning from the ones I cannot cover. The critics don’t phase me. I am too real for that.
As Iran Barkley’s shirt says in the photo above with me, God Bless America. Amen to that. I’ll probably be around covering boxing 50 years after Floyd Mayweather retires. It’ll be an interesting ride, to see how boxing changes in the years to come.
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