GUEST COLUMN
Boxing has retained its raw appeal but the way we follow it has altered immeasurably
Ed Robinson on the boxing media
WHILE the enduring, brutal simplicity of the fight game is perhaps one of its greatest strengths, the business swirling around it continually evolves and adapts. When Alan Lacey promoted his infamous ‘Boxmania’ event in Brixton 25 years ago, one of its innovations was a DJ providing loud music interround. That has now become the norm but generally, while the atmosphere and the overall experience for the fans has undeniably changed, it’s still ‘A’ versus ‘B’, it’s still boxing, its nature is timeless.
Yes, the lines may have blurred between the amateurs and the pros. The riches available at the very top may have grown, the science improved. But the real developments are in the way that we can follow our sport. The quantity, the immediacy and perhaps even some of the views on offer today would probably shock fans from previous generations.
As a kid, for me to keep up on the latest news there was Teletext and Ceefax, a family newspaper, terrestrial TV and word of mouth. Then a school friend, a relative of Mark Kaylor, introduced me to Boxing News and opened a beautiful new world of weekly knowledge.
Working for the then Frank Maloney in his North London office, I’d watch matchmaker Dean Powell trawl through the magazine on a Friday and update his paper records for every active fighter in the country. He also spent much of his time on the phone swapping information and, apart from those cards, his knowledge was often closely guarded. His early advice to me, in the nicest possible way, was shut up and listen.
Now every fan can genuinely become an expert and every fan has a voice. Boxrec is the go-to source when a new fight is announced. The print editors, who seemed to gradually turn their back on boxing, now face their own fight against the immediacy of the social media revolution. And boxing seems exceedingly comfortable in a digital space.
These days press conferences are full of video journalists, the story out as soon as the backdrop is up, the forums full of gossip and opinion, almost every aspect of boxers’ lives and career are up for public scrutiny. The negatives, apart from the negativity itself, are possibly the cost in mystique and over-familiarity.
That all being said, boxing, to my mind, is the most extraordinary of sports with the almost unbelievable stories to match. There’s undeniably a murky side but that aside, the more people who hear the tales and see the drama, the more that will be hooked. And the main benefit of the last decade of interaction could be the accountability that the public feedback produces, for absolutely everyone who works within the game - although I sometimes think that the undue scrutiny and judgemental pressure can impede the development of some young fighters. If as a promoter, trainer or matchmaker you know that your prospect struggles with tall southpaws, for example, then you’re now probably much less likely to let them learn against them in early bouts, less they be written off before they’ve even started.
I worked in boxing while at university and have done ever since, so I’d like to think that I’ve got plenty of friendly contacts in the sport. But I learn most of my news from looking at my phone, not speaking on it. That’s the world we live in now. As a press officer in the early 90s, the contacts at the papers were earned and then closely guarded, the press release sent out one at a time via a fax machine. An exclusive could be given to a Sunday national knowing it wouldn’t break anywhere else in the meantime.
There is one other point l’d like to make about this information age. I may be wrong and certainly mean no offence, although I doubt the venerable trainer Jimmy Tibbs would necessarily know that Srisaket Sor Rungvisai is one of the best fighters on the planet. But I know he could look at someone shaping up to shadow box and see things that the rest of us would never garner. There’s an obsession with facts and figures, and a presumed knowledge, but people need to remember that they make only make up a part of the picture.