BoxRec

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:

jBacca wrote:Cheers Keith, just trying to find Birtley on the map now.

So are most people from Birtley.

jBacca wrote:Talking of the NE. Any good amateur gyms around the Gosforth, NE3 area?

come to my gym high fell abc in gateshead - its a canny gym m8

chris hightower burton martin ward glen foot john travis dickinson they all will b stars soon hope i havent missed some one out ere ha the north east is buzzin again some great lads comin through and phill jefferys doin a great job forget to mention tony as well ha punch drunk i am hightower will win british title summer next year and martin ward willl b a champ travis dickinson hopefully wil b

What happened to Trevor Crewe? I was surprised to see him losing to two journeymen type fighters.

J-C wrote:What happened to Trevor Crewe? I was surprised to see him losing to two journeymen type fighters.

was in fano s gym lookin well then phill jefferys was runnin show last i heard he pulled out not been back since like great guy

tear up wrote:

J-C wrote:What happened to Trevor Crewe? I was surprised to see him losing to two journeymen type fighters.

was in fano s gym lookin well then phill jefferys was runnin show last i heard he pulled out not been back since like great guy

Cheers mate, it's a shame I thought he looked a good prospect.

J-C wrote:

tear up wrote:

J-C wrote:What happened to Trevor Crewe? I was surprised to see him losing to two journeymen type fighters.

was in fano s gym lookin well then phill jefferys was runnin show last i heard he pulled out not been back since like great guy

Cheers mate, it's a shame I thought he looked a good prospect.

he looked the part in the gym like but work wise his family what ever the reason to keep him out the gym must of been a big one as he a good fighter

tear up wrote:

J-C wrote:

tear up wrote: was in fano s gym lookin well then phill jefferys was runnin show last i heard he pulled out not been back since like great guy

Cheers mate, it's a shame I thought he looked a good prospect.

he looked the part in the gym like but work wise his family what ever the reason to keep him out the gym must of been a big one as he a good fighter

Fair wether friends ha DD

boxingfarmer30 wrote:

tear up wrote:

J-C wrote: Cheers mate, it's a shame I thought he looked a good prospect.

he looked the part in the gym like but work wise his family what ever the reason to keep him out the gym must of been a big one as he a good fighter

Fair wether friends ha DD

yer well hi

tear up wrote:chris hightower burton martin ward glen foot john travis dickinson they all will b stars soon hope i havent missed some one out ere ha the north east is buzzin again some great lads comin through and phill jefferys doin a great job forget to mention tony as well ha punch drunk i am hightower will win british title summer next year and martin ward willl b a champ travis dickinson hopefully wil b

Hightower is fighting in January hopefully at Cruiserweight, hope he does well I was at college with him and he only got into boxing then with Francis Jones on my course too.

J-C wrote:What happened to Trevor Crewe? I was surprised to see him losing to two journeymen type fighters.

heard trevor trainin at tommy conroys now good luck to the lad great fighter just needs to get some fight s in

tear up wrote:

J-C wrote:What happened to Trevor Crewe? I was surprised to see him losing to two journeymen type fighters.

heard trevor trainin at tommy conroys now good luck to the lad great fighter just needs to get some fight s in

Nice on thanks for the info tear up.

Good luck to him and hopefully it works out for him this time, look forward to seeing him on TV again.

Stevolad wrote:

tear up wrote:chris hightower burton martin ward glen foot john travis dickinson they all will b stars soon hope i havent missed some one out ere ha the north east is buzzin again some great lads comin through and phill jefferys doin a great job forget to mention tony as well ha punch drunk i am hightower will win british title summer next year and martin ward willl b a champ travis dickinson hopefully wil b

Hightower is fighting in January hopefully at Cruiserweight, hope he does well I was at college with him and he only got into boxing then with Francis Jones on my course too.

what is francis doin now is he still doin that security and the preachin god thing on saturdays lost touch with him he one funny guy mad in the head

tear up wrote:

Stevolad wrote:

tear up wrote:chris hightower burton martin ward glen foot john travis dickinson they all will b stars soon hope i havent missed some one out ere ha the north east is buzzin again some great lads comin through and phill jefferys doin a great job forget to mention tony as well ha punch drunk i am hightower will win british title summer next year and martin ward willl b a champ travis dickinson hopefully wil b

Hightower is fighting in January hopefully at Cruiserweight, hope he does well I was at college with him and he only got into boxing then with Francis Jones on my course too.

what is francis doin now is he still doin that security and the preachin god thing on saturdays lost touch with him he one funny guy mad in the head

Francis has gone over to Vegas, still doing the preaching I think and 'Sparta Security'. He's a lunatic, funny man but not sure whether he's had too many blows to the head.

Francis Jones, aka The Rat (although he now rejects that moniker, preferring 'Fearless') is a genuine nutcase, a true one-off.

He boxed some heavyweight in a charity match recently (the boxers weren't showing much charity, I understand) in a self-styled 'Battle of the Bouncers'.

He's had a hell of a lot of publicity re his Sparta Security firm...for those who don't know, Francis was basically offering an alternative police service to fed up Darlington residents (for a fee). Some loved it, some thought it was a protection racket.

Daft as a brush and has quite possibly the biggest ego of anyone I've ever met but he's incredibly dedicated - and, fighting wise, probably the gamest lad I've personally come across. He'd fight a Tyrannosaurus Rex if offered out.

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:Francis Jones, aka The Rat (although he now rejects that moniker, preferring 'Fearless') is a genuine nutcase, a true one-off.

He boxed some heavyweight in a charity match recently (the boxers weren't showing much charity, I understand) in a self-styled 'Battle of the Bouncers'.

He's had a hell of a lot of publicity re his Sparta Security firm...for those who don't know, Francis was basically offering an alternative police service to fed up Darlington residents (for a fee). Some loved it, some thought it was a protection racket.

Daft as a brush and has quite possibly the biggest ego of anyone I've ever met but he's incredibly dedicated - and, fighting wise, probably the gamest lad I've personally come across. He'd fight a Tyrannosaurus Rex if offered out.

He was on fighting on unlicensed boxing shows in Northallerton and Darlington. Fought a big lad about 3 stone heavier than him and beat him eaasily I was told. Game as a paebble he said of himself in an article in the Northern Echo lol

I apologise in advance as I'm going to sound harsh here, but this for me is a good example of a 'half-baked' article - if I was an editor I'd have said it has potential as a subject matter, but would have sent it back for a rewrite as there are gaping holes in it. Where are the first-person quotes from boxing figures in the North East, for example? What sort of data is there in relation to growing or falling numbers - whether those relate to number of pro fighters or number of shows being held? What do the promoters (both local and national) think? Also interesting that other sports are mentioned but MMA is ignored, despite the North East being regarded as a bit of a 'hotbed' in the UK for this sport - that's an interesting contrast to the boxing scene and do any participants/observers on the boxing scene believe it's proving detrimental to them e.g. through teenagers who may have ended up in a boxing gym now ending up in an MMA gym?
Wrists, hope this is taken as constructive criticism - it's just I think it's indicative of some of the failings of 'digital journalism' in that it barely skims the surface of a worthwhile topic and doesn't address it properly and accurately, relying instead on a mixture of speculation and supposition.

Deserter wrote:I apologise in advance as I'm going to sound harsh here, but this for me is a good example of a 'half-baked' article - if I was an editor I'd have said it has potential as a subject matter, but would have sent it back for a rewrite as there are gaping holes in it. Where are the first-person quotes from boxing figures in the North East, for example? What sort of data is there in relation to growing or falling numbers - whether those relate to number of pro fighters or number of shows being held? What do the promoters (both local and national) think? Also interesting that other sports are mentioned but MMA is ignored, despite the North East being regarded as a bit of a 'hotbed' in the UK for this sport - that's an interesting contrast to the boxing scene and do any participants/observers on the boxing scene believe it's proving detrimental to them e.g. through teenagers who may have ended up in a boxing gym now ending up in an MMA gym?
Wrists, hope this is taken as constructive criticism - it's just I think it's indicative of some of the failings of 'digital journalism' in that it barely skims the surface of a worthwhile topic and doesn't address it properly and accurately, relying instead on a mixture of speculation and supposition.

Yes, a lot of good points here. Some are a little on the harsh side though. It's clearly a first person opinion piece; I would be a bit kinder and say rather than speculation and supposition it's based on observations gathered from living there his whole life.

The data you ask for might help - but then again I think the premise is that it's never been a 'hotbed' of boxing rather than saying there has been some kind of decline. Quotes would have obviously added to the piece, as would the other stuff you mention.

It's good that you're expecting better standards from BoxRec News.

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:

Deserter wrote:I apologise in advance as I'm going to sound harsh here, but this for me is a good example of a 'half-baked' article - if I was an editor I'd have said it has potential as a subject matter, but would have sent it back for a rewrite as there are gaping holes in it. Where are the first-person quotes from boxing figures in the North East, for example? What sort of data is there in relation to growing or falling numbers - whether those relate to number of pro fighters or number of shows being held? What do the promoters (both local and national) think? Also interesting that other sports are mentioned but MMA is ignored, despite the North East being regarded as a bit of a 'hotbed' in the UK for this sport - that's an interesting contrast to the boxing scene and do any participants/observers on the boxing scene believe it's proving detrimental to them e.g. through teenagers who may have ended up in a boxing gym now ending up in an MMA gym?
Wrists, hope this is taken as constructive criticism - it's just I think it's indicative of some of the failings of 'digital journalism' in that it barely skims the surface of a worthwhile topic and doesn't address it properly and accurately, relying instead on a mixture of speculation and supposition.

Yes, a lot of good points here. Some are a little on the harsh side though. It's clearly a first person opinion piece; I would be a bit kinder and say rather than speculation and supposition it's based on observations gathered from living there his whole life.

The data you ask for might help - but then again I think the premise is that it's never been a 'hotbed' of boxing rather than saying there has been some kind of decline. Quotes would have obviously added to the piece, as would the other stuff you mention.

It's good that you're expecting better standards from BoxRec News.

Ian, I did think twice about writing it as I was concerned about looking heavy-handed and that genuinely wasn't my intention.
While I know it's an opinion piece, there are two key points I'd make:
1) All the best opinion pieces are backed up by facts or 'proof points'
2) All the best opinion piceces tend to have definitive points of view, rather than tailing off into 'maybe...' ,'perhaps...', if you see what I mean?

Finally, I was reading it in the hope of getting genuine insights, and that's where I think it fell down - there was simply nothing in there I didn't know or couldn't have speculated myself - and I'm from the South-West and have only visited the region once in my life.

Deserter wrote:I'm from the South-West and have only visited the region once in my life.

Aye, it's not rocket science

Ian 'Mr' McNeilly wrote:

Deserter wrote:I'm from the South-West and have only visited the region once in my life.

Aye, it's not rocket science

Ironically the two cities in England I admire the most are Liverpool and Newcastle as I think they've got such a strong sense of their own identity - I'm loathe to use the term 'civic pride', but I think you know what I mean. Would loved to have had the opportunity to spend more time in either

Thanks for the feedback Deserter.

Always welcome - although the term 'half baked' whilst I see your point is a little harsh, but I've got a thick skin so I wont take it to heart (scrumpy cider drinking, clotted cream eating bugger )

On reflection I think a few quotes etc etc would have helped, but on the flip side if it was a load of turd I'm sure Ian wouldnt have let it in

Thanks again

Kevin

Wrists wrote:Thanks for the feedback Deserter.

Always welcome - although the term 'half baked' whilst I see your point is a little harsh, but I've got a thick skin so I wont take it to heart (scrumpy cider drinking, clotted cream eating bugger )

On reflection I think a few quotes etc etc would have helped, but on the flip side if it was a load of turd I'm sure Ian wouldnt have let it in

Thanks again

Kevin

Cheers fella. Certainly didn't mean it was a load of turd - just felt it was a great topic and the 'icing on the cake' was missing (or clotted cream!)

twat

Wrists wrote:Thanks for the feedback Deserter.

Always welcome - although the term 'half baked' whilst I see your point is a little harsh, but I've got a thick skin so I wont take it to heart (scrumpy cider drinking, clotted cream eating bugger )

Mate, I think you're entitled to protest at the use of the phrase 'half-baked'!

I thought it was a decent piece, keep it up.