I’m gonna begin off 2024 with a whimper. Versus the same old bang I make with my bull-headed shit speaking and cussed, self-defeating defiance, I’m now pledging my compliance to the newest cash marks in boxing– the Saudis. I quit. I’m seeking to promote out to the best bidder whereas there should still be a bidder or two.
One of many worst-kept secrets and techniques within the boxing media enterprise is that Saudi Arabia, which has thrown cash round to turn out to be gamers on the world boxing scene, can also be seeking to purchase up a media presence.
Thomas Hauser, in a Day or Reckoning occasion recap posted in The Guardian, touches on this on the finish of his piece.
“There are dependable reviews,” Hauser wrote, “that the Saudi Arabian Common Leisure Authority is laying the groundwork for a brand new boxing web site and sounding out high-profile writers from a number of international locations about coming onboard for dramatically extra money than they’re presently being paid. In a world the place media protection of boxing is already restricted, that plan, if it involves fruition, would go a great distance towards enabling the Saudi authorities to manage the narrative within the candy science.”
One other veteran boxing author, Donald McRae, would chime in by way of Twitter/X, encouraging his colleagues to avoid that sketchy Saudi cash.
“You simply gotta say no, comrades,” McRae urged.
Effectively, with all due repect– Thoughts your individual enterprise, Donny! I like showering with heat water. Shit, I like showering with water! And generic Mexican peanut butter on generic Mexican Ritz crackers for dinner will get actually fucking previous after 4 consecutive days.
I’ve performed this boxing writing factor, full-time, for over ten years now (17 complete), however issues have by no means been leaner for me. Combat Hype has taken care of me and offered me a platform, however the realities of this enterprise demand a couple of stream of revenue to make life livable.
I spent 2023 treading water, forcing myself to jot down brain-dead CONTENT on different websites for morons all through the primary half of the 12 months. Then I spent the final a part of the 12 months interesting to editors and web site homeowners (those not terrified to even acknowledge my existence) for an opportunity at a gig. And regardless of them claiming to be “followers” of my work, “loyal” readers and “supporters” of my “important voice,” none would/might rent me as a result of “so-and-so on workers” would have a match if I had been introduced aboard, absolutely due to one thing “imply” I mentioned concerning the media. Then, there have been the intrepid boxing media souls, looking out tirelessly for high quality writing to “change the sport” of boxing media, who flat-out rejected my companies with out even bothering to learn any of the clips I despatched them.
This lack of man-sized huevos and common imaginative and prescient amongst males masking the cruelest of sports activities ought to inform you every part you might want to know in regards to the present sorry state of boxing media.
This isn’t the identical universe that birthed Hunter S. Thompson. This isn’t the identical BOXING universe that birthed AJ Liebling. Hell, it’s not even the identical wormhole pocket boxing universe that facilitated the presence of Bert Sugar, who at the least had the decency to wink-wink, nudge-nudge his means by way of life as a caricature of what a boxing journalist may be, if such a factor existed.
It was once that boxing media individuals would merely chorus from saying unpopular issues. Now, they do not even assume them. Essential thought and non-compliance have been bred out of the media ranks completely. So, when followers marvel why they do not get the boxing product they deserve, they want look no additional than the media that’s imagined to be the frontline protection between the bossmen and the buyer, however is, as an alternative, enjoying Vegetation vs. Zombies on their cellphone between bouts on press row, considering up quips for his or her subsequent podcast.
It might be one factor if I had been arising brief, battling forces of evil. However who may even get to the forces of evil anymore? Today, the daily battle of a right-minded boxing author is towards mediocrity and common dullness and, worst of all, towards the creeping actuality that boxing writing is meant to be anchored in mediocrity and common dullness. This current tense is a barren wasteland stuffed with nothing however Prime 10 lists, culled click-friendly quotes, and “what’s subsequent for so-and-so” articles.
The boxing media is so wishy-washy and strategically lobotomized you could’t actually have a good argument with them. They simply curl up and roll beneath their desks when hit with even the slightest little bit of push again. Their first and solely protection is to disregard you. And so they’ll stick to that as a result of all of their colleagues are, equally, curled up, tucked beneath their desks, ignoring disagreeable truths till the man saying them (often simply me, truly) stops and/or will get starved off his soapbox.
This ain’t a world that may reward you for boldness. Shit, they gained’t even ACKNOWLEDGE you when you damage too many emotions or say an excessive amount of that goes towards the grain. This, after all, makes it arduous to get your voice heard in a enterprise the place getting your voice heard goes hand in hand with making a dwelling. It additionally makes it arduous to get shit completed in case your final purpose as a author is reform and/or a push for accountability (Which, on this day of industry-sponsored media, might be the whole level of conserving content material good and vacuous).
However I quit.
I’m able to get some payments paid. I’m able to be a type of guys with nothing to say, however plenty of individuals listening. I’m able to be that man who simply doesn’t give a fuck about stuff that issues. Solely an fool retains swimming upstream towards an awesome present when there doesn’t even appear to be an final vacation spot anymore.
How do you rage towards a machine when most everybody desperately desires to be PART of the machine and no one even is aware of the right way to rage anymore?
So…
Your Excellencies, Your Awesomenesses, Your Majesties, Your Highnesses…again that filthy lucre truck as much as Stately Magno Manor right here within the hills of Central Mexico and unload that shit. Fuck the wrestle. I’ll take my distinctive items (which, as one veteran author noticed, make me “The Most Feared Man in Boxing Writing”) and pledge them in service to you, my new overlords. After which, as Don Vito Corleone mentioned in ‘The Godfather:’ “…if by some likelihood an trustworthy man like your self made enemies they might turn out to be my enemies. After which, they might concern you.”
Each good regime wants an adept and fearless hatchet man. You, my new masters, know that higher than anybody.
I humbly await your response.
P.S. I completely reserve the fitting to alter my thoughts a month into this deal, after I repay some payments, and go scorched earth, as soon as once more burning a bridge as I stand on it. I’m simply silly like that.
Bought one thing for Magno? Ship it right here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com
