How I Became a Boxing Writer

Published

4 years ago

January 1, 2021

In 2010, I wanted to get back into boxing.

After enjoying the unforgettable 80’s and 90’s, my rooting interest in the cruelest sport waned in the wake of the 9/11 attack on America. When Lennox Lewis retired and the thrilling Gatti-Ward trilogy was history, I moved on. I didn’t watch much boxing in the first decade of the new millenium. I just wasn’t into the lumbering Klitschko brothers or the lighter-weight fighters.

That Christmas, my brother-in-law gifted me a subscription to The Ring Magazine, a print publication I had not enjoyed in many years. This awakened my interest in the Sweet Science. Soon I was commenting on boxing websites and dreaming of how to get more involved.

A childhood friend of mine from Brockton, Mass (the late Edwin Ayala) provided ultimate inspiration; getting hired a few years prior by Pedro Fernandez of “Ring Talk” to write up results from New England shows. Ayala, afflicted with a rare and incurable disease, inspired me. Soon, we were covering cards together and later, Ed left Pedro’s website to write and report for me.

Ayala, an Honorable Army Veteran, was 50 when he passed away on June 17, 2020. Ed suffered from a condition called Chorea-acanthocytosis. Despite this curse, my friend authored two short books, one a boxing fiction story entitled A Puncher’s Chance and the other an autobiography, Up Before The Count. He is survived by wife Loita and daughter Rosangela.

Rest in peace Ed.

HARD KNOCKS

I never went to journalism school.

My degree is in Criminal Justice from the University of Massachusetts. Later employed by Detective Joe Moura’s National Investigation Bureau (NIB) as a special investigator, I learned to gather hard to obtain facts and write detailed reports for clients. Some years after I left the field, Joe was hired by Arturo Gatti’s manager Pat Lynch to “prove” Gatti’s death was not a suicide.

In 2011, I was contacted by the administrator of a boxing website called Knockout Digest. A young Pinoy fellow named Bert Narvales asked me if I wanted to write articles and cover shows in New England. There was no pay but I jumped at the chance to live a dream, to find a way.

The first fight I was asked to cover was an HBO aired WBC welterweight title fight between Victor Ortiz and Andre Berto at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. This was my introduction to auxiliary media seating. Naive as I was, I expected to be sitting at ringside. Instead, Ed and I sat in the last row of the venue surrounded by loud and drunken fans. Ed was 5’7’’ while I’m 6’11’’.

My height helped me see the ring.

At an unforgettable post-fight presser, I questioned Ortiz about the close unanimous decision scores and whether he was certain of the victory. “In my mind and in my heart a fighter always knows if he won or if he lost or if it was close and I didn’t see it as close,” the beaming victor told me of beating Berto.

Theirs turned out to be the Fight of the Year.

DIGEST THIS

Bert’s boxing website wasn’t very well received. It was put together with press releases and other low-quality content. I wrote a few forgettable articles before figuring out I could do better myself. So, I left and created my own boxing blog. I used the experience and industry contacts I’d quickly picked up to join media conference calls, apply for press passes—and crash press row!

It was here (working at ringside) that I met Full Court Press publicist Bob Trieger. One of the few nice guys in boxing, Bob mentored me and shared his experiences with me. Though we don’t always see eye to eye, Bob remains a friend. I am grateful to him for showing me the ropes.

At an Edwin Rodriguez fight in 2012, Bob introduced me to Boston sports writer Ron Borges (pictured on my right) and later I got to work side-by-side with “KO JO” Jack Obermayer before Jack succumbed to liver cancer in 2016. Before he gave up the ghost, I carpooled with Obermayer (and fight writer Jeff Jowett) to cover the professional debut of Brandon “The Cannon” Berry in Skowhegan, Maine.

The media credentials piled up. My handheld tape recorder filled with boxing media content and fighter quotes. I wrote stories. I collaborated with two ringside photographers, Pattee Mak and Emily Harney. I became “an island of common sense in a sea of hysteria” or so said one reader.

I earned the respect of fans and fighters. Don Halpin, a Lowell journeyman who shared a ring with a young Mike Tyson in 1985, told me I did a great job of “keeping faithful readers up on what’s next, what’s gone down, and embracing the spirit of a sport that has given so many young men and women the means to reach for a dream.”

It was a special time in my life.

(Interesting thing about Halpin: Tyson hit him with an awfully late punch, a vicious uppercut, when Don was already down. Halpin endured arguably the worst of Tyson’s many fouls. It encapsulated the reality of Tyson early on in his career and the many blind-eyes turned to his flagrant acts of violence. Don told me he bears no ill-will towards Tyson despite acknowledging that Iron Mike was “trying to end a man’s life in the ring” at that point and that he’s glad Tyson was not successful with him—but not for lack of trying.)

THE SWEET SCIENTIST

Through the unfolding decade, I was fortunate enough to speak with and directly question many Hall of Fame fighters on media conference calls. I talked to Mike Tyson on one of these calls. George Foreman on another. Sometimes promoters would get testy with tough questions and rebuke a reporter. I’m pretty sure I got “yelled at” at least once by Bob Arum or Lou DiBella.

On my first such conference call, I somehow spoke with Lennox Lewis and Vitali Klitschko, asking both champions to recollect on their bloody 2003 heavyweight title fight in Los Angeles.

Lewis was humble but it was Klitschko who really gave me something, confessing: “I never met an opponent as strong as Lennox. I never took so many punches. I never looked so horrible.”

“Lennox Lewis was the hardest fight of my career.”

By 2013, I had put together a small team of contributors to meet the growing demand of my new readers. I used social media to promote our work—and it worked. I’m forever grateful to the eager writers who joined me and helped to make our website what it was—a success. They were David McLeod, Joel Sebastianelli, Derek Bonnett, Mark Jones, and Terence Strawson.

David still writes boxing (for photographer Ed Diller) in NYC, Joel is an Indy Car pit reporter who interviewed World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko for KO Digest in 2014, Derek is a Dad, Mark is still expert in the world of women’s boxing, and Terry went on to promote shows.

Around this time, I was made an offer by experienced beat writer Lem Satterfield. Lem had heard me on conference calls and occasionally used quotes from my exchanges in his stories.

Lem wanted to know if I’d be interested in joining his “Ask The Experts” panel on RingTV. This was a group of reporters and insiders who penned predictions for upcoming big fights. Those predictions were then made into an article by Lem and published on the magazine’s website.

I built a reputation for prognostication.

That lasted nearly four years. British boxing writer Anson Wainwright later took over the popular column when Lem left and it was retitled as Fight Picks. I continued to contribute until 2017 when I was told the column would now only feature Ring magazine staff. Regardless, I’m truly grateful for the opportunity I was given by Lem to grow as a writer and expand my readership.

Though I was still writing for free, I was proving to anyone who might have been reading that I could actually do this boxing writing thing if given half a chance. I’d been published in boxing programs (Lowell’s Finest) and on the pages of Beyond The Badge, a law enforcement print periodical. KO was climbing the ranks in the small but competitive world of boxing media.

One of my earliest goals was to obtain a media credential for a big fight at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In 2013, I applied to cover Fury-Cunnigham and “KO Digest” was approved. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to MSG to cover Tyson’s dramatic comeback when the Boston Marathon bombing caused all Amtrak trains out of Massachusetts to be suspended.

Incredibly, the bomber was a local amateur boxer. Because I closely covered the 2012 Lowell Golden Gloves and made basement contacts there, I was one of the first people in the boxing media to make the connection and report on it. How? Gloveboy Ryan Lones messaged me during the manhunt with a photo of an old boutsheet bearing the name Tammy Tamlor.

Such was the misspelling of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

I continued to work hard. I improved as a writer. I grew as a journalist. Every day was something new to write and report about. Articles, ratings, interviews, predictions, live shows. KO Digest was running regularly scheduled features. Keeping up with all that was a full-time job for me.

One that still didn’t pay. (To Be Continued…)

Part 2: Pressrow at Madison Square Garden, Breaking Heavyweight News, Hired by The Sweet Science, Auxiliary Acceptance by the Boxing Writers Association of America, On The Beat in Boston, Winning My First Bernie, Boxing Writers Breakfast of Champions.

—

Boxing Writer Jeffrey Freeman grew up in the City of Champions, Brockton, Massachusetts from 1973 to 1987, during the Marvelous career of Marvin Hagler. JFree then lived in Lowell, Mass during the best years of Irish Micky Ward’s illustrious career. A new member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and a Bernie Award Winner in the Category of Feature Under 1500 Words, Freeman covers boxing for The Sweet Science in New England.

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Late Bloomer Anthony Cacace TKOs Hometown Favorite Leigh Wood in Nottingham

Published

7 hours ago

May 10, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Late-Bloomer-Anthony-Cacace-TKOs-Hometown-Favorite-Leigh-Wood-in-Nottingham

Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions was at Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, England, tonight with a card featuring hometown favorite Leigh Wood against Ireland’s Anthony “Apache” Cacace.

Wood, a former two-time WBA featherweight champion, known for dramatic comebacks in bouts he was losing, may have reached the end of the road at age 36. He had his moments tonight, rocking Cacace on several occasions and winning the eighth round, but he paid the price, returning to his corner after round eight with swelling around both of his eyes.

In the ninth, Cacace, an 11/5 favorite, hurt Wood twice with left hands, the second of which knocked Wood into the ropes, dictating a standing 8-count by referee John Latham. When the bout resumed, Cacace went for the kill and battered Wood around the ring, forcing Wood’s trainer Ben Davison to throw in the towel. The official time was 2:15 of round nine.

Akin to Wood, Northern Ireland’s Cacace (24-1, 9 KOs) is also 36 years old and known as a late bloomer. This was his ninth straight win going back to 2017 (he missed all of 2018 and 2020). He formerly held the IBF 130-pound world title, a diadem he won with a stoppage of then-undefeated and heavily favored Joe Cordina, but that belt wasn’t at stake tonight as Cacace abandoned it rather than fulfill his less-lucrative mandatory. Wood falls to 28-4.

Semi-Wind-Up

Nottingham light heavyweight Ezra Taylor, fighting in his hometown for the first time since pro debut, delighted his fan base with a comprehensive 10-round decision over previously undefeated Troy Jones. Taylor, who improved to 12-0 (9) won by scores of 100-90, 99-91, and 98-92.

This was Taylor’s first fight with new trainer Malik Scott, best known for his work with Deontay Wilder. The victory may have earned him a match with Commonwealth title-holder Lewis Edmondson. Jones was 12-0 heading in.

Other Bouts of Note

In his first fight as a featherweight, Liam Davies rebounded from his first defeat with a 12-round unanimous decision over Northern Ireland’s previously undefeated Kurt Walker. Davies, who improved to 17-1 (8), staved off a late rally to prevail on scores of 115-113, 116-112, and 117-111. It was the first pro loss for the 30-year-old Walker (12-1), a Tokyo Olympian.

In a mild upset, Owen Cooper, a saucy Worcestershire man, won a 10-round decision over former Josh Taylor stablemate Chris Kongo. The referee’s scorecard read 96-94.

Cooper improved to 11-1 (4). It was the third loss in 20 starts for Kongo.

A non-televised 8-rounder featured junior welterweight Sam Noakes in a stay-busy fight. A roofer by trade and the brother of British welterweight title-holder Sean Noakes, Sam improved to 17-0 (15 KOs) with a third-round stoppage of overmatched Czech import Patrik Balez (13-5-1).

Photo credit: Leigh Dawney / Queensberry

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Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke

Published

1 day ago

May 9, 2025

David A. Avila

Avila Perspective, Chap. 326: Top Rank and San Diego Smoke

Years ago, I worked at a newsstand in the Beverly Hills area. It was a 24-hour a day version and the people that dropped by were very colorful and unique.

One elderly woman Eva, who bordered on homeless but pridefully wore lipstick, would stop by the newsstand weekly to purchase a pack of menthol cigarettes. On one occasion, she asked if I had ever been to San Diego?

I answered “yes, many times.”

She countered “you need to watch out for San Diego Smoke.”

This Saturday, Top Rank brings its brand of prizefighting to San Diego or what could be called San Diego Smoke. Leading the fight card is Mexico’s Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1, 32 KOs) defending the WBO super feather title against undefeated Filipino Charly Suarez (18-0, 10 KOs) at Pechanga Arena. ESPN will televise.

This is Navarrete’s fourth defense of the super feather title.

The last time Navarrete stepped in the boxing ring he needed six rounds to dismantle the very capable Oscar Valdez in their rematch. One thing about Mexico City’s Navarrete is he always brings “the smoke.”

Also, on the same card is Fontana, California’s Raymond Muratalla (22-0, 17 KOs) vying for the interim IBF lightweight title against Russia’s Zaur Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) on the co-main event.

Abdullaev has only fought once before in the USA and was handily defeated by Devin Haney back in 2019. But that was six years ago and since then he has knocked off various contenders.

Muratalla is a slick fighting lightweight who trains at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy now in Moreno Valley, Calif. It’s a virtual boot camp with many of the top fighters on the West Coast available to spar on a daily basis. If you need someone bigger or smaller, stronger or faster someone can match those needs.

When you have that kind of preparation available, it’s tough to beat. Still, you have to fight the fight. You never know what can happen inside the prize ring.

Another fighter to watch is Perla Bazaldua, 19, a young and very talented female fighter out of the Los Angeles area. She is trained by Manny Robles who is building a small army of top female fighters.

Bazaldua (1-0, 1 KO) meets Mona Ward (0-1) in a super flyweight match on the preliminary portion of the Top Rank card. Top Rank does not sign many female fighters so you know that they believe in her talent.

Others on the Top Rank card in San Diego include Giovani Santillan, Andres Cortes, Albert Gonzalez, Sebastian Gonzalez and others.

They all will bring a lot of smoke to San Diego.

Probox TV

A strong card led by Erickson “The Hammer” Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs) facing Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0, 6 KOs) in a super welterweight clash between southpaws takes place on Saturday at Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimmee, Florida. PROBOX TV will stream the fight card.

Ardreal has rocketed up the standings and now faces veteran Lubin whose only losses came against world titlists Sebastian Fundora and Jermell Charlo. It’s a great match to decide who deserves a world title fight next.

Another juicy match pits Argentina’s Nazarena Romero (14-0-2) against Mexico’s Mayelli Flores (12-1-1) in a female super bantamweight contest.

Nottingham, England

Anthony Cacace (23-1, 8 KOs) defends the IBO super featherweight title against Leigh Wood (28-3, 17 KOs) in Wood’s hometown on Saturday at Nottingham Arena in Nottingham, England. DAZN will stream the Queensberry Promotions card.

Ireland’s Cacace seems to have the odds against him. But he is no stranger to dancing in the enemy’s lair or on foreign territory. He formerly defeated Josh Warrington in London and Joe Cordina in Riyadh in IBO title defenses.

Lampley at Wild Card

Boxing telecaster Jim Lampley will be signing his new book It Happened! at the Wild Card Boxing gym in Hollywood, Calif. on Saturday, May 10, beginning at 2 p.m. Lampley has been a large part of many of the greatest boxing events in the past 40 years. He and Freddie Roach will be at the signing.

Fights to Watch (All times Pacific Time)

Sat. DAZN 11 a.m. Anthony Cacace (23-1) vs Leigh Wood (28-3).

Sat. PROBOX.tv 3 p.m. Erickson Lubin (26-2) vs Ardreal Holmes Jr. (17-0).

Sat. ESPN 7 p.m. Emanuel Navarrete (39-2-1) vs Charly Suarez (18-0); Raymond Muratalla (22-0) vs Zaur Abdullaev (20-1).

Photo credit: Mikey Williams / Top Rank

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“Breadman” Edwards: An Unlikely Boxing Coach with a Panoramic View of the Sport

Published

2 days ago

May 8, 2025

Arne K. Lang

Stephen-Breadman-Edwards-An-Unlikely-Boxing-Coach-with-a-Panoramic-View-of-the-Sport

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards’ first fighter won a world title. That may be some sort of record.

It’s true. Edwards had never trained a fighter, amateur or pro, before taking on professional novice Julian “J Rock” Williams. On May 11, 2019, Williams wrested the IBF 154-pound world title from Jarrett Hurd. The bout, a lusty skirmish, was in Fairfax, Virginia, near Hurd’s hometown in Maryland, and the previously undefeated Hurd had the crowd in his corner.

In boxing, Stephen Edwards wears two hats. He has a growing reputation as a boxing coach, a hat he will wear on Saturday, May 31, at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas when the two fighters that he currently trains, super middleweight Caleb Plant and middleweight Kyrone Davis, display their wares on a show that will air on Amazon Prime Video. Plant, who needs no introduction, figures to have little trouble with his foe in a match conceived as an appetizer to a showdown with Jermall Charlo. Davis, coming off his career-best win, an upset of previously undefeated Elijah Garcia, is in tough against fast-rising Cuban prospect Yoenli Hernandez, a former world amateur champion.

Edwards’ other hat is that of a journalist. His byline appears at “Boxing Scene” in a column where he answers questions from readers.

It’s an eclectic bag of questions that Breadman addresses, ranging from his thoughts on an upcoming fight to his thoughts on one of the legendary prizefighters of olden days. Boxing fans, more so than fans of any other sport, enjoy hashing over fantasy fights between great fighters of different eras. Breadman is very good at this, which isn’t to suggest that his opinions are gospel, merely that he always has something provocative to add to the discourse. Like all good historians, he recognizes that the best history is revisionist history.

“Fighters are constantly mislabled,” he says. “Everyone talks about Joe Louis’s right hand. But if you study him you see that his left hook is every bit as good as his right hand and it’s more sneaky in terms of shock value when it lands.”

Stephen “Breadman” Edwards was born and raised in Philadelphia. His father died when he was three. His maternal grandfather, a Korean War veteran, filled the void. The man was a big boxing fan and the two would watch the fights together on the family television.

Edwards’ nickname dates to his early teen years when he was one of the best basketball players in his neighborhood. The derivation is the 1975 movie “Cornbread, Earl and Me,” starring Laurence Fishburne in his big screen debut. Future NBA All-Star Jamaal Wilkes, fresh out of UCLA, plays Cornbread, a standout high school basketball player who is mistakenly murdered by the police.

Coming out of high school, Breadman had to choose between an academic scholarship at Temple or an athletic scholarship at nearby Lincoln University. He chose the former, intending to major in criminal justice, but didn’t stay in college long. What followed were a succession of jobs including a stint as a city bus driver. To stay fit, he took to working out at the James Shuler Memorial Gym where he sparred with some of the regulars, but he never boxed competitively.

Over the years, Philadelphia has harbored some great boxing coaches. Among those of recent vintage, the names George Benton, Bouie Fisher, Nazeem Richardson, and Bozy Ennis come quickly to mind. Breadman names Richardson and West Coast trainer Virgil Hunter as the men that have influenced him the most.

We are all a product of our times, so it’s no surprise that the best decade of boxing, in Breadman’s estimation, was the 1980s. This was the era of the “Four Kings” with Sugar Ray Leonard arguably standing tallest.

Breadman was a big fan of Leonard and of Leonard’s three-time rival Roberto Duran. “I once purchased a DVD that had all of Roberto Duran’s title defenses on it,” says Edwards. “This was a back before the days of YouTube.”

But Edwards’ interest in the sport goes back much deeper than the 1980s. He recently weighed in on the “Pittsburgh Windmill” Harry Greb whose legend has grown in recent years to the point that some have come to place him above Sugar Ray Robinson on the list of the greatest of all time.

“Greb was a great fighter with a terrific resume, of that there is no doubt,” says Breadman, “but there is no video of him and no one alive ever saw him fight, so where does this train of thought come from?”

Edwards notes that in Harry Greb’s heyday, he wasn’t talked about in the papers as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport. The boxing writers were partial to Benny Leonard who drew comparisons to the venerated Joe Gans.

Among active fighters, Breadman reserves his highest praise for Terence Crawford. “Body punching is a lost art,” he once wrote. “[Crawford] is a great body puncher who starts his knockouts with body punches, but those punches are so subtle they are not fully appreciated.”

If the opening line holds up, Crawford will enter the ring as the underdog when he opposes Canelo Alvarez in September. Crawford, who will enter the ring a few weeks shy of his 38^th birthday, is actually the older fighter, older than Canelo by almost three full years (it doesn’t seem that way since the Mexican redhead has been in the public eye so much longer), and will theoretically be rusty as 13 months will have elapsed since his most recent fight.

Breadman discounts those variables. “Terence is older,” he says, “but has less wear and tear and never looks rusty after a long layoff.” That Crawford will win he has no doubt, an opinion he tweaked after Canelo’s performance against William Scull: “Canelo’s legs are not the same. Bud may even stop him now.”

Edwards has been with Caleb Plant for Plant’s last three fights. Their first collaboration produced a Knockout of the Year candidate. With one ferocious left hook, Plant sent Anthony Dirrell to dreamland. What followed were a 12-round setback to David Benavidez and a ninth-round stoppage of Trevor McCumby.

Breadman keeps a hectic schedule. From Monday through Friday, he’s at the DLX Gym in Las Vegas coaching Caleb Plant and Kyrone Davis. On weekends, he’s back in Philadelphia, checking in on his investment properties and, of greater importance, watching his kids play sports. His 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son are standout all-around athletes.

On those long flights, he has plenty of time to turn on his laptop and stream old fights or perhaps work on his next article. That’s assuming he can stay awake.

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