Fleischer Eat Your Heart Out
I attended a fight in possession of press credentials for the first time on Friday, the Sky televised Stuey Hall-Martin Power dust up just down the road from where I rest my boxing fixated noggin. My ringside report for TheBoxingBulletin.com can be found here, however, I’ve tapped out a few additional notes from the coal face:
- I felt very much like the new kid at school on arrival. The mood on press row was pretty convivial and I encountered none of the snootiness from the “proper writers” in attendance I’d feared going in. I quickly whipped out a notepad so that I’d at least look the part, (even if I wasn’t quite feeling it) and attempted to come to terms with the oddness of working alongside members of the media I was more used to seeing in pixelated form in the comfort of my front room. I parked myself behind action replay guy and a dude once termed “Britain’s Hardest Man” (Dominic Negus, now a security gaffer). I was fascinated with the goings on around me yet, once the action got underway, my focus never left the ring.
- Once again, Maloney Promotions relayed the action to fans via a big screen in the corner of the arena, a touch of class which proved invaluable to yours truly for fact checking purposes in between rounds.
- There was a bit of an inquest amongst the local news hounds after the Tony Jeffries blip. Consensus opinion seemed to indicate that the former Olympian faced an uphill battle if he was to fulfil his potential. I’ll be most interested to read Danny Flexen’s opinion in this Thursday’s Boxing News.
- I fluffed a couple of interview opportunities, namely with world title challenger Jason Booth and main event winner Stuart Hall. I’ll chalk it down to inexperience and be bolder next time.
- I was hesitant as to just where in the arena my shiny press pass could carry me. Other scribes seemed to disappear backstage on occasion, although I wasn’t sure quite where they ended up or for what purpose. Perhaps if I hadn’t adopted my John Ruiz impression (in staying schtum as opposed to going round hugging everyone) I’d have found out.
Off topic, I was all set to rattle out a post over the weekend conveying my abject outrage at the latest alphabet transgression, after reading an excerpt from a Thomas Hauser piece in Friday’s Boxing News (reported as fact). After checking that it wasn’t the 1st of April, I raced by my Twitter account to check the expected fractious fallout from Messrs. Berto, Martinez and DiBella, only to draw a blank. After googling Hauser’s original piece, all became clear.
I’m pretty sure someone will have a flea in their ear down at BN HQ this week and for the rest of us, it’s another abject lesson in the pitfalls of using cyber world as source material.
To wrap up, I’ve been pretty slack this month (reflected in the viewership) which I can only apologise for, however, I’ll be lavishing attention on this weekend’s huge Vegas card so stay tuned for that one.
2 comments on “Fleischer Eat Your Heart Out”
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“Fluffing those interview opportunties” is par for the course to begin with Andrew.
Boldness is hard to muster when you feel like an imposter.
Took me a while to get over that.
I guess it’s like anything Dave, once you’re used to being there it’ll make it easier.
Fighters are so accommodating I’m sure they’d talk to me even if I spluttered my lines, just need to grasp the nettle next time!