BoxRec

Hullo all, merry christmas!

One of my New Year's plans, spurred not least in part by the realisation that at the age of 30 I have precisely no articles to my name on the subject of the sport I love, is to start writing about boxing online.

What is the path people take these days to write for boxing sites? Do people with blogs get 'discovered'? Do you shotgun your articles at boxing websites in the hope one of them gives you an assignment? Given that I can't really be a journalist in the traditional fact-finding interviewing sense (having started as a trainee lawyer,most of my time and mental energy is permanently accounted for) I would have to be a writer rather than reporter.

I remember there being a thread on this before (can't seem to track it down) - perhaps if someone remembers what that was called I could look in there for more tips. All help welcome!

I have often thought about this subject, Merry Christmas by the way, Im going to be honest writing about any subject matter you need a good sense of grammer and the English language putting words together that make any piece worth reading, making something sound exciting, possibly more exciting than the real event. Remember we all have our own interpretation of an event, but writing it down to make people read and keep reading is completely another matter.

Basically in my opinion its getting the words right just like a maths sum. If you are good at writing, something im not that good at as I write wheat im saying in my head and basically that in a south Yorkshire accent so its not really readable, unless you are from Donny!

If you are good at writing about boxing look at whats in your area, and doing some freelance for you local paper. You will soon know if you can write about a sport or human function but writing it in a way that keeps people reading and wanting to read more from you.

dookus wrote:Hullo all, merry christmas!

One of my New Year's plans, spurred not least in part by the realisation that at the age of 30 I have precisely no articles to my name on the subject of the sport I love, is to start writing about boxing online.

What is the path people take these days to write for boxing sites? Do people with blogs get 'discovered'? Do you shotgun your articles at boxing websites in the hope one of them gives you an assignment? Given that I can't really be a journalist in the traditional fact-finding interviewing sense (having started as a trainee lawyer,most of my time and mental energy is permanently accounted for) I would have to be a writer rather than reporter.

I remember there being a thread on this before (can't seem to track it down) - perhaps if someone remembers what that was called I could look in there for more tips. All help welcome!

Your best bet mate is possibly to have a chat with Terry Dooley as he's in the know in that regard and also contact the editor or maybe even the Law on here. I wish you well mate. It's something id like to do myself actually.

Viktor Vaughn wrote:

columbo wrote:

dookus wrote:Hullo all, merry christmas!

One of my New Year's plans, spurred not least in part by the realisation that at the age of 30 I have precisely no articles to my name on the subject of the sport I love, is to start writing about boxing online.

What is the path people take these days to write for boxing sites? Do people with blogs get 'discovered'? Do you shotgun your articles at boxing websites in the hope one of them gives you an assignment? Given that I can't really be a journalist in the traditional fact-finding interviewing sense (having started as a trainee lawyer,most of my time and mental energy is permanently accounted for) I would have to be a writer rather than reporter.

I remember there being a thread on this before (can't seem to track it down) - perhaps if someone remembers what that was called I could look in there for more tips. All help welcome!

Your best bet mate is possibly to have a chat with Terry Dooley as he's in the know in that regard and also contact the editor or maybe even the Law on here. I wish you well mate. It's something id like to do myself actually.

You can either write a blog, which probably won't be read, or join a small site and work your way up. If you think you've got something decent on the go then you can email me using the link on one of my articles on 'Scene. Then it's down to you. A few people email me saying they want to make an impression as an online writer, then they submit maybe one article per month or disappear altogether. You go as far as you want to go.

Many thanks for the response. I think I will write a blog for a while as practice and get in touch later when I've honed my skills a bit more.

I'd contact Buncey. He loves internet writers, really respects what they bring to the sport.

mickey1975 wrote:I'd contact Buncey. He loves internet writers, really respects what they bring to the sport.

:yay:

I wrote a few articles for Saddo Boxing and interviewed Clinton Woods years ago. You should contact them as they are quite accommodating.

Have you not looked around the net. Any cock jockey can become a boxing writer these days. 90% of them are concerned with nothing more than securing press credentials and don't write anything that might jeopardize that.

Boxing journalism is extremely poor on the whole.

Thomas Hauser was the best around, but he's basically been bought by HBO. He writes a couple of great articles about them and the next thing you know he's been hired as a 'boxing consultant'. Whatever the f**k that is.

dookus wrote:Hullo all, merry christmas!

One of my New Year's plans, spurred not least in part by the realisation that at the age of 30 I have precisely no articles to my name on the subject of the sport I love, is to start writing about boxing online.

What is the path people take these days to write for boxing sites? Do people with blogs get 'discovered'? Do you shotgun your articles at boxing websites in the hope one of them gives you an assignment? Given that I can't really be a journalist in the traditional fact-finding interviewing sense (having started as a trainee lawyer,most of my time and mental energy is permanently accounted for) I would have to be a writer rather than reporter.

I remember there being a thread on this before (can't seem to track it down) - perhaps if someone remembers what that was called I could look in there for more tips. All help welcome!

I was in pretty much the same spot as you this time last year I think. I'v had a bit of a rough 2013 in my personal life which has pretty much killed any desire to write for the moment but my advise would be think about doing some kind of journalism course relevant to what you wanna write. The stuff that the boxing websites post are rarely going to be opinion pieces and ultimately a journalist doesn't really offer his opinion that often, unless he is extremely well respected as a writer having had years and years experience within boxing writing.

I went about things in probably the wrong order and sent a piece on Lee Haskins v Jamoye into boxrec news and got that posted up. Then contacted BS with some pieces which were not really (and I know this now but didn't at the time) journalism but were more just me transmitting my opinion. They got put up but I look back now and think I should have held back and not let my enthusiasm at the time get the better of me. I also managed to get about 3 or 4 articles on Michael Sprott (fight reports and build up/fight announcements) posted in the Reading chronicle.

It was then that I decided to go on an internet based freelance journalism course. I'm at the final stage of it now and to complete it I have to get a piece printed in a magazine and get paid for it. Obviously the chances of this happening for me in boxing are almost zero so I'm trying to get something commissioned in the renewable energy area.

Part of the way through my course I did write a reasonable piece (for a novice) on Aussie boxer Mark De Mori because I was able to contact him relatively easy (friends on facebook) but I never got it posted because obviously there's not a huge amount of interest and to be fair had it got posted up it would have been a bit embarrassing as he hasn't really kicked on at all since the interview and is still fighting at a low level despite being in some of the rankings.

If I could go back a year now I'd do my course first and start trying to get things posted up online once I have a bit of journalism knowledge which would have been part of the way through the course.

James, shave your ass, don your old Navy beret and a pair of unlaced boots, and submit a picture to Attitude magazine. They'll pay you a few quid.

Like I said, Saddo Boxing were very professional. And once you've done a few articles will let you fill your boots doing as much as you want. They will line up the interviews and supply contact details.

Aden wrote:James, shave your ass, don your old Navy beret and a pair of unlaced boots, and submit a picture to Attitude magazine. They'll pay you a few quid.

jameswilson wrote: I was in pretty much the same spot as you this time last year I think. I'v had a bit of a rough 2013 in my personal life which has pretty much killed any desire to write for the moment but my advise would be think about doing some kind of journalism course relevant to what you wanna write. The stuff that the boxing websites post are rarely going to be opinion pieces and ultimately a journalist doesn't really offer his opinion that often, unless he is extremely well respected as a writer having had years and years experience within boxing writing.

I went about things in probably the wrong order and sent a piece on Lee Haskins v Jamoye into boxrec news and got that posted up. Then contacted BS with some pieces which were not really (and I know this now but didn't at the time) journalism but were more just me transmitting my opinion. They got put up but I look back now and think I should have held back and not let my enthusiasm at the time get the better of me. I also managed to get about 3 or 4 articles on Michael Sprott (fight reports and build up/fight announcements) posted in the Reading chronicle.

It was then that I decided to go on an internet based freelance journalism course. I'm at the final stage of it now and to complete it I have to get a piece printed in a magazine and get paid for it. Obviously the chances of this happening for me in boxing are almost zero so I'm trying to get something commissioned in the renewable energy area.

Part of the way through my course I did write a reasonable piece (for a novice) on Aussie boxer Mark De Mori because I was able to contact him relatively easy (friends on facebook) but I never got it posted because obviously there's not a huge amount of interest and to be fair had it got posted up it would have been a bit embarrassing as he hasn't really kicked on at all since the interview and is still fighting at a low level despite being in some of the rankings.

If I could go back a year now I'd do my course first and start trying to get things posted up online once I have a bit of journalism knowledge which would have been part of the way through the course.

Very useful response. Thank you for taking the time to post that.

As it happens, I have written a few articles before but have no formal training in journalism. Which course did you do online?

ArtOfWar wrote:Have you not looked around the net. Any cock jockey can become a boxing writer these days. 90% of them are concerned with nothing more than securing press credentials and don't write anything that might jeopardize that.

Absolutely 100% correct!!

But lets be honest its been like that for years!!

I remember myself & Rhino blagging our way into Vitali v Danny Williams fight in Vegas after we bet Ant Evans (ex writer for seconds out) on the plane we would get a better seat than him and any other journalist ...

We managed to speak to a lady who worked for K2 Promotions ... basically Rhino came out with some classic chat up lines ... she gave us promoters passes after we said we ran ESB ... once we got into the Mandalay Bay arena we sat with Don King, Chris Byrd, & others ...

dookus wrote:Very useful response. Thank you for taking the time to post that.

As it happens, I have written a few articles before but have no formal training in journalism. Which course did you do online?

The Professional freelance journalism course.

http://www.britishcollegeofjournalism.com/index.asp

It's a series of pdf lectures and then tasks that you do while being mentored by a professional freelance journalist. It's brushed my writing up but the biggest thing you learn is actually how the freelance side of things work. How to go about contacting editors etc. It costs a bit of money as you'll see on the website so if you are just looking to blog for now and write for websites (that don't tend to pay) then that's possibly something that stands against it.

Spud wrote:

ArtOfWar wrote:Have you not looked around the net. Any cock jockey can become a boxing writer these days. 90% of them are concerned with nothing more than securing press credentials and don't write anything that might jeopardize that.

Absolutely 100% correct!!

But lets be honest its been like that for years!!

I remember myself & Rhino blagging our way into Vitali v Danny Williams fight in Vegas after we bet Ant Evans (ex writer for seconds out) on the plane we would get a better seat than him and any other journalist ...

We managed to speak to a lady who worked for K2 Promotions ... basically Rhino came out with some classic chat up lines ... she gave us promoters passes after we said we ran ESB ... once we got into the Mandalay Bay arena we sat with Don King, Chris Byrd, & others ...

You're in a favourable position anyway though Spud to be fair.

He wasn't then.

mickey1975 wrote:He wasn't then.

Nope. Some of the positions Spud had to assume when he first got going would have made Louis Spence wince.

columbo wrote:

Spud wrote:

ArtOfWar wrote:Have you not looked around the net. Any cock jockey can become a boxing writer these days. 90% of them are concerned with nothing more than securing press credentials and don't write anything that might jeopardize that.

Absolutely 100% correct!!

But lets be honest its been like that for years!!

I remember myself & Rhino blagging our way into Vitali v Danny Williams fight in Vegas after we bet Ant Evans (ex writer for seconds out) on the plane we would get a better seat than him and any other journalist ...

We managed to speak to a lady who worked for K2 Promotions ... basically Rhino came out with some classic chat up lines ... she gave us promoters passes after we said we ran ESB ... once we got into the Mandalay Bay arena we sat with Don King, Chris Byrd, & others ...

You're in a favourable position anyway though Spud to be fair.

Only did a few jobs here and there in them days.

Out of all the boxing writers I have met or spoke to on the internet the best was Elliot Worsell - followed by Ben Carey and defo Terry Dooley.

Mind you Carey did not give a f*ck he was one of them who did not want to compromise what he believed in ... he was a right ***t if he thought a boxer was below par. Also bloody good on the forums, I remember ringing him loads of times roaring with laughter and the number of times I said "Oh f*ck this is going to cause the ruck of all rucks ... lost count the amount of legal threats from a certain promoter complained to ESB and Doghouse. Well planned and f*cking funny writer when he had time.

On writers ... one of the most unpleasant rucks on these forums was when Elliot Worsell and Ben Carey slated a certain top journalist brought his wife to ringside in Sheffield, she was sat next to him, yet the said journalist still complained that internet writers were in the same row as he was!!

Carey's character assasinations were gems!!!

I started my fightscorecollector blog - http://fightscorecollector.blogspot.com by going around all the boxing sites asking if I can post my work on the forum. I contacted the mods etc and was told their rules etc.

Twitter was also very important as you link your site and articles to all the boxing writers and sites.

E-mailing writers also is a great idea as they can give you hints and tips about your writing, I have had some great help here.

IF you have specific idea on boxing then go for it. I have always loved scoring fights so that's what I went for. I started collecting fan and press scores from all the boxing sites and on twitter. It took ages but you have to put in the time.

After 2years of doing my site I was luckily picked up by the boxing news mag asking if I would send them my work which was to be exclusive for their site. I couldnt knock it back as the exposure would be huge. I still get to pick what fight I cover weekly and have also picked up covering whole shows up here in Scotland as I already did that for my sites and a few others.

I now have a weekly article on the boxing news website. The guys at BN have been a great help.


Promote your writing as much as possible but ask mods etc if you can do it. On boxrec I had to wait a while as they were not sure of my site as it could be spam. Luckily I had done some smaller articles for Ian mcneilly who put in a word for me. I am allowed 2links to my work a week. Stick to their rules and you will be fine mate but get on social media and check for any website that will post your stuff.

Good luck - fightscorecollector

Spud wrote:On writers ... one of the most unpleasant rucks on these forums was when Elliot Worsell and Ben Carey slated a certain top journalist brought his wife to ringside in Sheffield, she was sat next to him, yet the said journalist still complained that internet writers were in the same row as he was!!

Carey's character assasinations were gems!!!

That would be the legendary 'Pat Sheenan' pal. It bugs me how he has earned a living covering a sport he only has a passing interest in at grass roots level. In hindsight we should have given his wife creds going forward - she might have done a better job. As for the hacks, Bunce was extremely obnoxious on occasion. Probably the nicest bloke was Nial Hickman from the Daily Express.

The standards in British Boxing journalism seem to be getting worse. Years ago eager lads were ten to a penny all wanting to cover boxing shows up and down the country and the majority wrote to a decent standard. These days it's harder to get lads to cover bog standard shows and many of them seem to think they can just cover the main event and to$$ the undercard off. In that regard many of them are as bad as the national hacks IMO.

There are some gems, past and present, to have graced the web before going onto better things. Elliot Worsell, even as a teenager, had an exceptional ability to analyse a fight. Ian McNeilly was incredibly insightful and witty but would never roll over to appease the constabulary which I admired. Terry is a superb talent - he's somehow struck the balance between writing fair and wonderfully detailed articles which give both sides (when in opposition) equal footing. That's proper reporting and he'll carve a smashing career out of it, I hope.

David Payne is also a supreme talent and it was a traversty that the pompous twat was overlooked. Dave's a family guy like me though with a good job. Once you have kids and reach middle management, finding the motivation to cover British Boxing for free just isn't there anymore. As a hobby it was often an occupational hazard because if you dared to criticise certain characters would take umbridge. Not that I cared, but it used to rile my wife, and I always said that when it began to impact my home life I'd walk with no regrets. Now I have a great job, which pays very well, and boxing just isn't worth the hassle.

But I saw and heard some unforgettable tales. Mostly boxers are decent blokes, until you write what you really think and they can be understandably prickly. Promoters are even less tolerant. Most internet writers sell their soul though and become too pally with promoters and fighters. If there's one piece of advice I can give, never, EVER compromise your views for anyone otherwise it's pointless and you'll end up resenting yourself for it. And secondly, trust no one. Thirdly, if you do it properly you can have an absolute ball.

My favourite interview has to be the one I conducted with Uncle Hughie Fury. The link is below, and that's the edited version because we took some things out which hit a very raw nerve with those closest to him. That's perhaps the one beauty of internet journalism. You can run a story like this which magazines and newspapers wouldn't touch in its purest sense.

http://news.boxrec.com/news/2012/exclus ... erve-price

fightscorecollector wrote:I started my fightscorecollector blog - http://fightscorecollector.blogspot.com by going around all the boxing sites asking if I can post my work on the forum. I contacted the mods etc and was told their rules etc.

Twitter was also very important as you link your site and articles to all the boxing writers and sites.

E-mailing writers also is a great idea as they can give you hints and tips about your writing, I have had some great help here.

IF you have specific idea on boxing then go for it. I have always loved scoring fights so that's what I went for. I started collecting fan and press scores from all the boxing sites and on twitter. It took ages but you have to put in the time.

After 2years of doing my site I was luckily picked up by the boxing news mag asking if I would send them my work which was to be exclusive for their site. I couldnt knock it back as the exposure would be huge. I still get to pick what fight I cover weekly and have also picked up covering whole shows up here in Scotland as I already did that for my sites and a few others.

I now have a weekly article on the boxing news website. The guys at BN have been a great help.


Promote your writing as much as possible but ask mods etc if you can do it. On boxrec I had to wait a while as they were not sure of my site as it could be spam. Luckily I had done some smaller articles for Ian mcneilly who put in a word for me. I am allowed 2links to my work a week. Stick to their rules and you will be fine mate but get on social media and check for any website that will post your stuff.

Good luck - fightscorecollector

No luck involved. You came up with a good idea and worked hard. Good on you!

Lightsoot wrote:My favourite interview has to be the one I conducted with Uncle Hughie Fury. The link is below, and that's the edited version because we took some things out which hit a very raw nerve with those closest to him. That's perhaps the one beauty of internet journalism. You can run a story like this which magazines and newspapers wouldn't touch in its purest sense.

http://news.boxrec.com/news/2012/exclus ... erve-price

I remember reading that article when you first put it up. These two lines had me rolling.

"Tyson’s a fornicating fool but God doesn’t bless you with everything. I’d rather train a bantamweight who trains like an African slave and does his job right instead of some big, fat c**t who’s 6’9."

fightscorecollector wrote:I started my fightscorecollector blog - http://fightscorecollector.blogspot.com by going around all the boxing sites asking if I can post my work on the forum. I contacted the mods etc and was told their rules etc.

Twitter was also very important as you link your site and articles to all the boxing writers and sites.

E-mailing writers also is a great idea as they can give you hints and tips about your writing, I have had some great help here.

IF you have specific idea on boxing then go for it. I have always loved scoring fights so that's what I went for. I started collecting fan and press scores from all the boxing sites and on twitter. It took ages but you have to put in the time.

After 2years of doing my site I was luckily picked up by the boxing news mag asking if I would send them my work which was to be exclusive for their site. I couldnt knock it back as the exposure would be huge. I still get to pick what fight I cover weekly and have also picked up covering whole shows up here in Scotland as I already did that for my sites and a few others.

I now have a weekly article on the boxing news website. The guys at BN have been a great help.


Promote your writing as much as possible but ask mods etc if you can do it. On boxrec I had to wait a while as they were not sure of my site as it could be spam. Luckily I had done some smaller articles for Ian mcneilly who put in a word for me. I am allowed 2links to my work a week. Stick to their rules and you will be fine mate but get on social media and check for any website that will post your stuff.

Good luck - fightscorecollector

Many thanks for the help. I've noticed your blog getting more and more exposure over the last year and have to say - what a great idea!