The big news in boxing media last week was that ProBoxTV had purchased Boxingscene.
Well, whoopty fucking do.
When can we just admit that the boxing media is a mess of nothingness? When can we admit that so much boxing media is simply not needed, that there’s not enough going on to justify so much coverage? We simply don’t need eighteen articles published about the same quote, all pretty much written in the exact same way, coming to the exact same conclusion. Yeah, yeah…Catterall is ready for Taylor and Taylor is ready for Catterall…and please do tell me– eight times– about Edgar Berlanga’s new outlook. What a fucking waste of energy and human spirit. What’s the point of news, anyway, when all of it basically comes from the desk of a promoter’s publicist?
If the boxing websites want to post stuff that actually matters in this day and age, punditry– the art of giving informed, entertaining opinion– is where it’s at. Cultivating free thought that informs as well as titillates might actually be of use to fight fans and to the sport, itself. At least it’ll be of more use than repurposed press releases.
The problem is that punditry, to be good, requires real, informed, biting opinion and writers with a “fuck you” attitude who are not afraid to step on toes and burn bridges. It requires a degree of editorial independence as well and site owners who will tolerate voices that may go against the grain. And all of that comes in direct conflict with the sole purpose of present tense boxing media, which is increasingly being swallowed up by boxing companies with a vested interest in a media-as-promotion model.
To make good boxing writing like this work, you also need writers who can actually write. Otherwise, you just get a lot of morons retching on screen, like we have in many corners of social media. But that’s a topic for another day.
Ultimately, we just don’t have the brave, knowledgeable souls for any of that. The boxing media in its new form has weeded out any hint of rabble-rousing and has bred a crop of writers who are equal parts compliant and conveniently ill-informed. For boxing business people, it’s no longer necessary to cultivate shills to the benefit of your company. The media shills on its own and as another generation learns from the previous, that characteristic becomes part of how things are “supposed” to be. Be polite, look down, repeat what you are told and you may go far in this business.
Now, let’s get back to Boxingscene/ProBoxTV.
I HAVE gotten a kick out of some Boxingscene old-timers bailing and leaving the site to a crew of UK-centric Brits and Eastside Boxing-level keyboard slappers who have posted nothing but worthlessness for the last few days.
But that’s just me being mean and petty.
In reality, though, having a new and worsened Boxingscene doesn’t really matter. As I wrote in this past Monday’s Notes from the Boxing Underground column at Fight Hype:
“Boxing media will remain an old (mostly white) boy’s club with zero-to-no interest in stepping on the “wrong” toes. With another promoter (or boxing company) purchasing another major boxing news outlet, the ‘media as promotion’ trend continues and actual truth becomes just a bit harder to ascertain.”
And, yeah, I totally agree with myself.
That part about me agreeing with myself is a joke. But, really, it can also be seen as a commentary on the current state of boxing media. Because, honestly, anyone with the gall to say all of the above, would definitely never be allowed to speak his mind on any other major site. I have to agree with myself because I’m alone out there and you won’t find anyone else speaking up about these things. Although media people may say what I say in private– and I know a LOT of media people actually agree with me on a number of media matters– there’s nobody with any large platform saying that stuff in public. They can’t…not if they want to keep their cool gigs.
That stuff used to piss me off. It doesn’t anymore. I’m used to the dimwits and shills acting like dimwits and shills, while the smart ones have to get as close as they can to acting like dimwits and shills to keep their jobs. It is what it is. I know the game and could’ve played it as well, but I’m just not that ambitious. Let the boys have their toys. I’ll eat generic Mexican Ritz crackers for dinner and cuddle up with my dignity at night.
So, what would I do if I were handed the gig of new bossman at Boxingscene?
After tossing aside the idea of firebombing the place, I’d keep a lean “news” staff of just two or three people. Give them the money I’d be saving from shit-canning the “Eddie Hearn says” content providers who are just there to fill space. Then, I’d find writers who could write…and think…and who knew the sport well– perhaps some of those who’ve been chased away from boxing writing over the years because they (rightfully) believed there was no livelihood in being a good writer in the world of boxing media.
Who knows, maybe that idea would fail miserably. Maybe fans really do just want palatable nonsense. That’s quite possible.
But I would never get a choice gig over at Boxingscene. I am not a “polite company” kind of guy. Plus, when it comes to the new owners, I’m cheap and broke and couldn’t afford the payola needed to keep the job, anyway– wink, wink.
JJ says
didnt you write for EastSideboxing yourself?
Paul Magno says
I don’t even recall. I might have sent in an article or two, a LONG time ago (like 2008-ish), when I was first starting to write and didn’t have any idea how to start doing this. I know this was meant as a “gotcha” comment, but I wasn’t attacking people who post at places like East Side. Everyone has a starting point. I was talking about the shitty content that tends to fill their pages and how, yeah, that kind of stuff is undeserving of a large platform– a platform that BS is currently giving stuff like that.