Comments Thread For: In today’s media, truth gets trampled by quest to be clever

[Dr Rumack]

To some extent I think you have to draw some distinction between journalists and bloggers, which is what the overwhelming majority of today's boxing writers are.

There are some excellent blog writers, some of them are far better writers than guys like Rafael who have the real plum jobs.

But the majority are shockingly unprofessional and are more suited to hack gossip sites than writing about sport.

Proper sourcing, fact checking, balance, and above all research is completely beyond most of them. Whether it's a lack of any journalistic training, or desperation for clicks I don't know, but for whatever reason most of them produce nothing of a higher standard than what you get on NSB on a daily basis.

[peplz]

He gets attacked because he writes like a douchebag hack with a clear, pathetic agenda who thinks he's better than everyone.

Okay man. I get it. Its personal with you and Lyle. But there is some real talk in the article.

[big_james10]

Very good article. I think he is absolutely correct in everything he is saying. However, my problem with Stevenson is not the fact that I think Kovalev is the flavor of the week. My problem with Stevenson is that, in 2014, he acted like a cross between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj in blowing off three opportunities to fight the three best fighters in the division. Instead, he chose to fight journeymen while still expecting boxing fans and media alike to continue to worship him as the linear champion, while those three top guys fought each other.

Once you get to the top of the boxing heap, you have to take the steps to stay there and not sit on your throne like an omnipotent God who will be in that position forever. Stevenson had a chance to prove that he was the Alpha male by fighting and beating the other top dogs. Instead, he chose to beat up the dogs in the middle of the pack while avoiding a confrontation with the top dogs completely.

By doing that, he has lost all of my respect and much of the respect of boxing fans in general. Now, after losing that respect, he suddenly decides that he wants to challenge the top dogs so that he can earn back the respect that he lost.

[big_james10]

To some extent I think you have to draw some distinction between journalists and bloggers, which is what the overwhelming majority of today's boxing writers are.

There are some excellent blog writers, some of them are far better writers than guys like Rafael who have the real plum jobs.

But the majority are shockingly unprofessional and are more suited to hack gossip sites than writing about sport.

Proper sourcing, fact checking, balance, and above all research is completely beyond most of them. Whether it's a lack of any journalistic training, or desperation for clicks I don't know, but for whatever reason most of them produce nothing of a higher standard than what you get on NSB on a daily basis.

As a former journalist who did receive journalistic training, who did write balanced articles, who did do proper sourcing, fact checking and adequate research, I disagree with you. In today's world, there is no difference between boxing bloggers and boxing journalists. They are all the same. Some will actually do adequate research and report the facts, but even in doing this they still inject conjecture and their own personal bias into the article. There is no separation between reporting the facts and inserting conjecture and biased opinions. As an example, a real journalist who reports real unbiased news stories should not simultaneously have a twitter page or a facebook page or some other form of media outlet where he expresses his opinions, repeats and floats rumors and engages in conjecture and speculation as if they are face. Unfortunately, all of them do this and none of them are credible journalists.

[zzat]

Good article, I may not agree with everything but there's truth in there.

The hate just shows that the boxing writers of today are more concerned about counting clicks than anything else...

[Levity]

Interesting that the author lists opponents Adonis fought on HBO as if they make the current criticism, which largely started because he jumped to Showtime when a Kovalev fight seemed imminent, invalid. Come March 14th Kovalev's last two opponents will be Hopkins and Pascal while Stevenson's will be Fonfara and Sukhotsky; what are the average rankings for those pairs?

[TheThirdEye]

I don't understand this article.
How was the public wrong in wanting a Stevenson/Kovalev fight?

There was really nothing else to build up. HBO had done a good job building up the two to a mega fight. It was all but done when Adonis chose to walk away from the fight. He clearly ducked the fight! Fans have every right to be upset.
Particularly those of us who actually pay for HBO and Showtime for the sole purpose of boxing. It's not 1981 and fights aren't free on ABC. It's 2014 and fans have to pay to watch fights, it's only fair we get the fights we want.

Humm! I see your point.
But fans don't pay attention to details.

Showtime were thrilled with this idea, and when Stevenson signed up with Al Haymon, they offered Stevenson a long term contract, and a much better purse per fight, in the vision of fighting Hopkins.
Stevenson had no contract with HBO, neither Kovalev. HBO were waiting for the fight between these two, to determine who would get the chance to be sign. So Stevenson went where the money is, and where the Undisputed title Belts were, Showtime.

No one knew Hopkins business, he was fighting under Showtime, but was not under any contract with them. That's how he swapped network so easily in the middle of the deal with Stevenson. Leaving Stevenson alone with the WBC tied to Showtime. Hopkins would've made more money against Stevenson, but he swap network to face Kovalev for less.
He planned to deceive Stevenson, that way he no longer had to fight him.

So like always, Dan Rafael gave his bias point-of-view to belittle Stevenson,

Which grow the false belief among the fans, that Stevenson was avoiding a certain level of opposition, when in fact at 36/37 years old, he heads where the money is.
But time did the things right for everybody, because Kovalev have Hopkins Belts and he has a much higher value, and the WBC administration demand unification under a 50% split purse, which is a good conclusion.
Circumstances, place Stevenson as the underdog, anyway he is better when he is underestimate, and it's a huge advantage for the bets.
(Thanks for all the hate Dan can give)
Because when Stevenson will destroy Kovalev, most boxing fans will wonder how come they followed the mass opinion instead of using their critical thinking.