Steve Bunce

[palooka]

I don't have the time to wipe the bath down

[herb]

In my one and only year of boxing writing I was lucky enough to cover quite a few shows, mostly at the York Hall.

I always tried to get round to as many of the fighters as possible, not just the main event guys.

I have a feeling Buncey must have noticed that, and I remember one night I came back into the Hall after interviewing someone - Liam Walsh or Rob Norton, one of the two I think - and the place was pretty much deserted. I went back to my seat, picked up my program, and started to head for the exit.

Buncey shouted across the hall, "see you later, son."

I'd never met him, never spoken to him, but to me it was really nice, and made me feel pretty good on the way home.

I plucked up the courage to speak to him only once after that time - it's more daunting than it seems, some of my first interviews with people in and around the business (although not boxers for some reason) were horrific due to my nerves. It's ok writing from behind a screen when you have time to think, but on the spot you feel like a fraud, like someone will find you out at any minute. At least I did.

Anyway, when I did speak to him he was helpful, friendly and really nice. 95%+ of the boxing people and boxers themselves were lovely to be honest. There were a couple of rotten eggs that left a bad taste in my mouth and really soured the whole game for me for quite a while, but they were few and far between, and Buncey definitely wasn't one of them.

I can appreciate that he's not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't really know of his history here, but I can only call it how I found it, and he made a good impression on me in the flesh. Most of the boxers I spoke to said nice things about him if his name ever came up, which has got to count for something too.

[keithmoonhangover]

I don't have the time to wipe the bath down

Mrs Hangover told me they were her pubic hairs in the plughole.

[Final round]

In my one and only year of boxing writing I was lucky enough to cover quite a few shows, mostly at the York Hall.

I always tried to get round to as many of the fighters as possible, not just the main event guys.

I have a feeling Buncey must have noticed that, and I remember one night I came back into the Hall after interviewing someone - Liam Walsh or Rob Norton, one of the two I think - and the place was pretty much deserted. I went back to my seat, picked up my program, and started to head for the exit.

Buncey shouted across the hall, "see you later, son."

I'd never met him, never spoken to him, but to me it was really nice, and made me feel pretty good on the way home.

I plucked up the courage to speak to him only once after that time - it's more daunting than it seems, some of my first interviews with people in and around the business (although not boxers for some reason) were horrific due to my nerves. It's ok writing from behind a screen when you have time to think, but on the spot you feel like a fraud, like someone will find you out at any minute. At least I did.

Anyway, when I did speak to him he was helpful, friendly and really nice. 95%+ of the boxing people and boxers themselves were lovely to be honest. There were a couple of rotten eggs that left a bad taste in my mouth and really soured the whole game for me for quite a while, but they were few and far between, and Buncey definitely wasn't one of them.

I can appreciate that he's not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't really know of his history here, but I can only call it how I found it, and he made a good impression on me in the flesh. Most of the boxers I spoke to said nice things about him if his name ever came up, which has got to count for something too.

A nice first hand account of the man in person

[squared circle]

Met buncey a couple of times. Happy to stop and chat with me and five pissed mates for five mins about kev Mitchell. Managed to be knowledgeable, and funny at same time. I think what you see on screen or hear on radio is just an amplified version of the real man. I like him

[junior pepa seed]

Always liked him, enjoy his podcasts... i lost in a coin toss to win a t shirt and he made effort to tweet sorry junior it was a fair toss lol.. he didnt have to bother

[jamesmcdonnell]

Met buncey a couple of times. Happy to stop and chat with me and five pissed mates for five mins about kev Mitchell. Managed to be knowledgeable, and funny at same time. I think what you see on screen or hear on radio is just an amplified version of the real man. I like him

Yes, he stopped me to chat at a show once, to talk about some article I'd written, I think on the horrendous spectacle of Reid and Ottke - though memory may be letting me down - he was busy at the time but he asked me to wait around so we could talk, in the end I had to go as it looked like he was going to be tucked up for a while, but he seemed approachable.

In fairness, Steve is trying to make a living, I'm not that fond of the TV persona, but I can understand why he feels the need to rev it up for the cameras, after all, there's not much coverage devoted to boxing, and you need to do something to make it appealing - and I guess he figured that was the best bet.

[Wake up call]

When I was studying for my journalism degree, Buncey and Danny Flexen were the two most helpful people around...and both seem to split opinion on here.

I spoke to Buncey several times and he was helpful and Flex sorted the six week work experience I had to complete in order to pass a certain module.

Top guys.

[Gazmac81]

he does a 12 round interview wth Billy joe saunders at least twice a day

Bunce is allright!!
Character infact with plenty of charisma!
Boxing needs its characters

i like buncey to ,he must be the hardest work bloke in boxing press he does every Allegedly channel show and never seem to be off the channel . i find him funny and he might get the odd thing wrong but he hasn't got his laptop with him to check every detail of fighters record .

[dbf]

The thing with Steve Bunce is that unless you have done it his way, and earned your stripes "filing 200 words for the Stevenage Journal about the divisional rounds of the schoolboy championships" then you can't possibly become a boxing journalist.

However, I kind of respect that old school mentality but think there are other ways of learning your craft, but I do think that he is good for the game. He's brilliant on radio and on telly, yes he does ramp it up and its not particularly to my liking but at least he isn't a straight boring run of the mill presenter. He divides opinion.

He knows he stuff, he's earned the right to act the way he has. I do think he sits on the fence too often and also, unsurprisingly tow's the company line a little too often but hey, boxing would be a worse off place without Buncey.

[thepocketrocket]

Whatever happened to Andy Kerr? I though him and Bunce were great on Setanta

[Bricks]

Bunce and me had our ups and downs but I think he's ok.enthusiastic and knowledgeable.a very underrated writer too.good bloke

[Ezzard]

I think that writers/journos can offer a different take on things. They come at it in a different way. It’s good to mix it up. Agree though, weight it towards the fighters...

Sometimes people within the game don’t like to direct too much criticism at others within the game.

I’d love to see you put in an appearance… Maybe you just need one of those makeovers…get that Chinese bird Gok Wan to get you TV ready… That’s probably a show all of its own…

I love Powell and Hart rasping on...its predictable and comfortable...but with TV these days those traits are actually different to the usual fare. They are the Downton Abbey of boxing...

[Wa1nuts]

Bunce makes watching the fight preview and analysis funny and enjoyable. Sky read from a script or sit on the fence.

They dont sit on the fence if its a Matchroom fighter.

My only problem with Buncey is his voice, its just too much, I know that sounds immature but it goes right through me.

Even so, I'd much rather watch him talking boxing than see Johnny Nelson prancing around a ring on Ringside.

[Weirdyman]

I like Buncey a lot, he's a bit old school. It's a shame he's massively attached to allegedly, as I don't feel we get his real opinions.

I must admit I do enjoy it when he's on the Colin Murray show on TalkSport once a week or so.

[thepocketrocket]

Credit to Buncey and Lillis, they pointed out how much trouble Clev was in pre Kovalev, SKY would have sat on the fence so not to damage the Cleverley brand