BoxRec

Good piece in the Boxing News this week by Matt Christie questioning the way journalism is going in boxing. Said news conferences pre-lockdown had as many as “20 Youtubers” queuing to ask the same person the same question and invariably getting the same answer. I do worry as a lot of the current digital and social media content is invariably cosy chats between fighters, promoters and fan boys who are scared to ask any pertinent, awkward or tough questions for fear of not getting asked back.

He makes a very valid point. Comparing these ‘journalists’ with the sports writers of the past, men like Hugh McIlvanney, is like comparing night and day. I love nothing more than reading a well crafted feature in Boxing News or a paper and am fearful the road boxing journalism is going down. It’s all instant gratification stuff with no substance. Like Pot Noodles.

He alluded to a virtual round table video with Koogs and fellow YouTubers. Anyone got the link?

Matt is correct as usual, very few actual journalists cover boxing anymore. Boxing Monthly will be such a big loss and exacerbate the issue even further.

It’s one of the main reasons I don’t slag off Buncey, I know he’s a bit marmite and can talk shite pretty often, but at least he’s a genuine fan of the sport who gets boxing covered in the mainstream media.

Can’t stand all the YouTubers and the bloggers who write for those terrible ‘news’ websites which are basically just scraped from Twitter and forums.

A lot of "mainstream" journalists are hopeless as wel, not just the youtubers.

From personal experience, I was at a Q&A with Willie Limond before or after (can't remember which) a WBU title defence. All the journalists asked soft touch and completely pointless questions to their "friend". I asked him

"Did he believe the WBU title was really a world title and did he think it was dishonest to market his fights to fans as a world title fight?"

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy and Limond just moved on to the next question without even answering.

I don't blame the journalists though as they know that the promoter could ban them from attending if they ask any difficult questions. There would have to be an agreement between all the mainstream press that if anyone was banned then they would all refuse to give any coverage.

Best young boxer writer about is Oliver Goldstein but he seems to have disappeared off Twitter and not seen anything boxing-related from him recently. He really is different class. Hopefully he’s not packed it up and moved on.

They’re generally crap and Matt is bang on. Eddie must genuinely like the sound of his own voice. He does the same interview, word for word, about 20 times a day.

TheGoods wrote: ↑05 Jun 2020, 03:10 Best young boxer writer about is Oliver Goldstein but he seems to have disappeared off Twitter and not seen anything boxing-related from him recently. He really is different class. Hopefully he’s not packed it up and moved on.

Yeah, he’s quality. Currently doing a PhD at Cambridge (LinkedIn)

Koogan has his place, the amount of vids he has done free to air on you tube are worthwhile.
We have never had that kind of access before.

Of course remember he properly took advantage of Jane Couch, she introduced him about, helped him out just to get dumped on.

I don't think Koogan had ever met a boxer before her, his mate James disappeared too, ruthless b*stard is our Koog!

Another excellent piece from Christie. As others have said, since lockdown BN has been really good.

Cover to cover good. I look forward to receiving it.

doctorboxing wrote: ↑05 Jun 2020, 03:02 A lot of "mainstream" journalists are hopeless as wel, not just the youtubers.

From personal experience, I was at a Q&A with Willie Limond before or after (can't remember which) a WBU title defence. All the journalists asked soft touch and completely pointless questions to their "friend". I asked him

"Did he believe the WBU title was really a world title and did he think it was dishonest to market his fights to fans as a world title fight?"

Everyone looked at me like I was crazy and Limond just moved on to the next question without even answering.

I don't blame the journalists though as they know that the promoter could ban them from attending if they ask any difficult questions. There would have to be an agreement between all the mainstream press that if anyone was banned then they would all refuse to give any coverage.

Spot on, I found out very quickly when I worked in boxing. I worked for most of the big promoters in the late 90's and 00's and also as a freelance so I know how this game works better than most. you can say what you like in the US but here, no chance. boxing journalism is very much toe the line or you will not be welcome at pressers or shows. My life is far less complicated now

Coco wrote: ↑05 Jun 2020, 06:19 Koogan has his place, the amount of vids he has done free to air on you tube are worthwhile.
We have never had that kind of access before.

Of course remember he properly took advantage of Jane Couch, she introduced him about, helped him out just to get dumped on.

I don't think Koogan had ever met a boxer before her, his mate James disappeared too, ruthless b*stard is our Koog!

I want one to push Eddie on the Warrington-Galahad rematch. He was threatening courts and all sorts when Josh was with Fwank.

The IFL stuff is too repetitive these days I've stopped watching. Pretty much Hearns play thing. A couple of years ago when they were visiting gyms, it was really good content. British Boxers and VIP are still making good content (if you're based up North). Overall the format is looking overexposed.

Shhhh wrote: ↑05 Jun 2020, 08:43

Coco wrote: ↑05 Jun 2020, 06:19 Koogan has his place, the amount of vids he has done free to air on you tube are worthwhile.
We have never had that kind of access before.

Of course remember he properly took advantage of Jane Couch, she introduced him about, helped him out just to get dumped on.

I don't think Koogan had ever met a boxer before her, his mate James disappeared too, ruthless b*stard is our Koog!

Stitched up Tyan booth but he’s been paying for that ever since

What happened here ?

Wasn’t he security Or back room staff to some degree years back for Hatton?

I’m fairly sure he’s on a good few Hatton in the US footage way before IFL was a thing.

TheGoods wrote: ↑05 Jun 2020, 03:10 Best young boxer writer about is Oliver Goldstein but he seems to have disappeared off Twitter and not seen anything boxing-related from him recently. He really is different class. Hopefully he’s not packed it up and moved on.

Not seen his stuff for ages. The pieces iv'e read were top notch, though i needed a thesaurus by my side.
Good articles on Curry/Honey and Benn in the Us stand out.

Some good adages that i remember along the lines of ' before Khan decided to throw his chin under the bus
with Canello'

It's easy to hate Kugan but he found a gap and filled it and has made a living out of it. He probably works damn hard too. I listened to a podcast interviewing him a while back (sorry, can't remember which one it was) and he came across really well. He understands the game he is in, he also understands journalism, he was extremely honest and I finshed with a lot more respect for him that I had started with.

As far as BN is concenred, their lockdown issues are arguably better than when there is live boxing on! It's weird, it's like a better version of BM every week. It just goes to show the strength of history in the sport and also the value of well-written and researched articles by journalists who live and breathe boxing. Youtubers are all about themselves, making themselves the front man, but the thing I love most about Matt Christie is that you never see him in the magazine. He's all about producing the best content without bigging up himself, that's the sort of thing I'm happy to pay for.

Koogs loves posing for those puckered up selfies doesn't he

Everyone a writer, photographer and Videographer these days. One way to get free passes, free tickets and access. Sadly a lot of them only want to do the big shows but won't go near a small hall show.

Glass Joe wrote: ↑06 Jun 2020, 16:27 Everyone a writer, photographer and Videographer these days. One way to get free passes, free tickets and access. Sadly a lot of them only want to do the big shows but won't go near a small hall show.

As a fan, I often prefer the small hall shows.

Small hall shows for the most part are padded record vs professional come to survive loser, 40-36 /60-55 x 10

Some are gems though

Depends on the type of small hall show, The ones where all the away fighters have losing records are often garbage, Goodwins boxing put on some decent small hall shows with few title fights on some of them. Nathan Heaney last fight was a good showcase of small hall boxing

Glass Joe wrote: ↑06 Jun 2020, 16:39 Depends on the type of small hall show, The ones where all the away fighters have losing records are often garbage, Goodwins boxing put on some decent small hall shows with few title fights on some of them. Nathan Heaney last fight was a good showcase of small hall boxing

yeah I got tired of it and basically gave up on local shows

TheGoods wrote: ↑04 Jun 2020, 13:17 as many as “20 Youtubers” queuing to ask the same person the same question and invariably getting the same answer.

This is the problem with social media "journos" generally though. Where a media outlet can use stock footage of a question being asked/answered or a news conference, the social media types are actually the point of the channel (or often their ego/bank balance is*) so the footage they use has to be them asking the question, them getting the answer cos otherwise they'd be called out for regurgitating other people's stuff. So you're going to get the same thing 20 times so they can put up their personal interview/interaction.


* not to say mainstream journos don't have egos, I mean the news now is bunch a am dram muppets trying to scare everyone and make themselves look like scientific geniuses.