when i work ring Nigel Collins, the magazine’s then-editor, would often blurt out three words in editorial meetings as staff agonized over how to fill pages: “Fights and warriors.”
That’s a shorthand for the idea that most boxing fans who buy boxing magazines want to read, you know, boxing. That’s not to say we should ignore purse bids, venue fees, lawsuits or management contracts – they are part of the sport and coverage would be incomplete without covering such inner workings. But when in doubt, when trying to decide what to focus on, when deciding what a feature will be or who should be on the cover of a magazine…
“Fights and warriors.”
It was logical at the time. Now this is logical.
I wasn’t convinced at the time that it was entirely correct. I’m not quite convinced now that it’s entirely correct.
Over the past few decades, there has been a gradual shift in the way fans consume sports coverage and talk about sports. There will always be some people who are keen to argue, for example, whether Shaq is carrying Kobe on his back, or whether Kobe is carrying Shaq. But more and more people are keen to explain the NBA’s “luxury tax” and “secondary apron” and use this (common to most people) knowledge to tell you what (to most people is intimate) Related) Player trades are possible and impossible.
This shift is coming to a head in boxing—especially boxing—as the Saudi Arabian government now wields the most significant leverage in the sport. Double signature new york times story Last week, it emerged that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund was close to striking a deal with UFC owner TKO to launch a boxing league, as rumored and reported in the second half of 2024.
The article contains all the sensational names you could want to cram into an ostensible sports story: not just Turki Arasheh and Dana White, but also Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Mohammed bin Salman – and also mentioned the murder of journalist Jamal. Khashoggi, LIV Golf, Meta, WWE, TKO parent company Endeavor, the Republican National Convention, the World Cup, ESPN, and the Muhammad Ali Act.
The article made a passing mention of Oleksandr Usyk’s fight with Tyson Fury, but other than that, no active boxers were mentioned by name.
I have no doubt this story drew more eyeballs than the supposed post-fight “gamers” of Jai Opetaia’s recent successful defense of the lightweight title.
In fact, these examples are not entirely consistent. A more meaningful comparison would be the audience for the Saudi/TKO story versus the audience for the Usyk-Fury II post-fight story. A more pertinent question related to the ethos of “fighting and warriors” is which of these two themes die-hard boxing fan More concerned; certainly, mainstream people who don’t watch boxing are more likely to click on a headline that mentions Saudi Arabia “putting money into boxing.”
But the fact that I’m not entirely sure if die-hard boxing fans are more interested in reading about Usyk vs. Fury or White vs. Turki tells you how big things have gotten. change.
Boxing fans want to get caught up in the details of the business? Do they care who spends how much on what? Do they care where the money comes from, or how despicable the people involved are? Or do they not care at all as long as they get the fight they want?
This is not just “Do them? “This is also”should them? “
The motion aspect of things absolutely does not exist in a vacuum. It’s mixed with the business side of things, the political side of things, the moral side of things. Of course, it always is. But some 25 or 30 years ago, the above questions were easy to answer, which led us to focus our coverage on “fights and warriors.” By 2025, these questions will no longer be so easy to answer.
Whenever one of our writers boxing scene or elsewhere, drawing attention to the negative impact of the Saudi takeover of boxing. The audience is extremely polarized.
Some believe you can’t mention Saudi money without mentioning money laundering in sports, or that any mention of Dana White needs to be accompanied by information about him publicly slapping his wife and the widespread belief that the UFC underpays its athletes .
Others counter the negativity, arguing that as long as the money helps fund the boxing matches that fans want to watch, nothing else matters.
“Fight and warrior” was a relatively positive way to express the aggressive slogan that would become “Stick to the Movement,” or its more elitist, condescending cousin “Shut up and dribble.” There is no doubt that the “fight and warrior” mentality remains. But the need for external information and analysis has increased significantly.
publication sports business magazine Public interest in backroom dealings, dating back to 1994, is nothing new. But it kept spreading until CNBC launched Sports Business Vertical last summer.
It somewhat coincides with the rise of fantasy sports, which let fans take on the role of general managers, picking their teams, making trades, working within the salary cap, etc. And sports video games now seem to feature “career modes,” providing users with long-term investments as they perform virtual GM maneuvers.
Look, I don’t care about the stat-based financial incentives that certain NFL players get when they sign contracts, but I do care about the final week of the season, and I know he needs 85 receiving yards to earn an extra $3 million, And I can make bets and build fantasy lineups based on that information.
Some fans really want to know all the business details. Only when these deals filter directly into sports products will others take heart. For example: Will Top Rank and ESPN re-establish their partnership? Please don’t tell me the details of what lawyers and executives argued over the decimal points – but please do let me know when the deal did or didn’t close so I know if I need to continue paying for ESPN+ or cancel that fee and switch to streaming on another service Serve.
Similarly, every boxing fan wants to know when a big fight is signed. When does it happen? Where does it happen? Is it pay-per-view? These facts are all completely relevant to the fan experience.
But how many fans want to know every little, anonymous update that a contract has been faxed, a revised contract has been faxed back, or that an acceptable glove brand is in dispute? Some fans seem eager to get every detail of this information. But I personally gain nothing from knowing about incremental developments that may or may not be reversed in the next update. To me, everything between “this fight is on” and “this fight has been signed” is yawn-inducing.
However, I don’t speak for everyone. Boxing social media is filled with fans or haters of a particular promotional company. There are those who support the Premier League Boxing Championship, the commercial entity, just like I support the Philadelphia Eagles, and there are those who hate PBC and all of its boxers, just like I hate the Dallas Cowboys and all the players who don’t like PBC. their uniforms. That I “support the laundry,” as Jerry Seinfeld put it, should be weird to some people; that they root for boxing promoters should be weird to everyone—but it shows that “Fight and Warriors” approach doesn’t meet every fan’s wants and needs.
In the Internet age, sites like this boxing scene Expect new headlines every hour or two, all you have to do is cannot Cover sports without emphasizing the business side. There aren’t enough fights to preview and review, and there aren’t enough fighters to interview and profile day in and day out to produce enough content to satisfy the Gods of Stirring. So, to some extent, the move to expand coverage beyond “boxing and fighters” is necessary, as we are no longer in an era where newspapers commission one or two boxing articles every week or magazines plan five features every month .
In other words, you cannot No more insistence on “fighting and warriors.” Boxing business coverage is part of the package, whether the individual reader skims directly through it or works to absorb every detail.
Still, “fighting and grappling” remain the focus of the sport.
I hate that before the final game of the World Series even begins, half the media is already focused on the “hot stove” season, speculating on offseason activities while the most important game is still being played. It’s okay to care about things other than sports, but not at the expense of enjoying the sport.
Fists landed, punches emptied, chins checked, fighters dressed to the nines – that’s still at the heart of it all. If you’re more interested in reading about archives and archivers than about boxing and boxers, then you might want to rethink why you watch boxing matches.
Eric Raskin is a veteran boxing reporter with more than 25 years covering the sport for outlets including BoxingScene, ESPN, Grantland, Playboy and The Ring (where he served as managing editor for seven years) experience. He also co-hosts the HBO Boxing Podcast, Showtime Boxing with Raskin & Mulvaney, The Interim Champion Boxing Podcast with Raskin & Mulvaney, and Ring Theory. He has won three First Writing Awards from the BWAA for his work on The Ring, Grantland, and HBO. Outside of boxing, he is a senior editor at Boxing Magazine. casino report and the author of 2014 money making effect. He can be reached via X, blue skyor LinkedInor send an email to RaskinBoxing@yahoo.com.
