A Boxing-Themed Discussion with Versatile Sports Journalist Greg Bishop

Hand Greg Bishop an assignment and he’s going to be equally comfortable writing about the NFL, MLB, college basketball, the Olympics or boxing.

Bishop began covering the sweet science while at the New York Times when he penned a feature on Manny Pacquiao in 2009 prior to his fight with Miguel Cotto.

Bishop, a senior writer at Sports Illustrated since 2014, has spent time with some of the biggest names in the sport, including Floyd Mayweather Jr.

What’s Bishop’s take on the state of boxing as it’s presently constituted?

“I don’t buy the usual arguments that boxing is dying, that it won’t continue, that all these exhibition-type fights are ruining the sport (although, Evander Holyfield, woof),” he said. “I believe there is a lot of solid boxing right now. I believe there are a ton of champions who deserve more attention than they’re getting.”

Somehow, boxing has a way of messing up its own progress. “And I believe that the sport continues to get in its own way, for myriad reasons: too many belts, not enough marquee fights, too many Pay-Per-View cards that should be on network TV or streaming,” said Bishop, a graduate of Syracuse University in 2002 with a journalism and finance degree. “Boxing’s problems continue to stem from the sports infrastructure. They have long needed fixing. The question is whether they will ever be addressed.”

In the old days, boxing had eight world champions based on weight. Today that number has multiplied because of all the sanctioning bodies.

In a way, this is beneficial for the boxer because he’s able to make more money and get recognition, but it also muddies the product.

Bishop, a sports staff writer at The Seattle Times from 2002 through 2007 and The New York Times for seven years, thinks this is a problem.

“When I write I usually leave the belts out of it. Often, my editors will ask to put them in,” he said. “I always say: to what point? The general reader will for sure be confused, and if you add in which belts, you have to explain which ones are significant. It’s too many wasted words.”

Pacquiao holds a special place for Bishop. “It will be tough to argue – in my opinion – that Manny Pacquiao didn’t have an unprecedented career. We haven’t seen anything like it,” he noted. “I doubt we will again. In an era where protecting a record from losses came to matter much more than in earlier eras, Pacquiao fought everybody. He didn’t always win, but that’s besides the point.”

Bishop continued: “Think of how many incredible fights he had: the trilogies, the four times versus Juan Manuel Marquez, Cotto, [Ricky] Hatton, [Antonio] Margarito,” he said. “I always tell people I’ve covered sports all over the world, from the Tour De France to the Olympics to every tennis grand slam, and there’s nothing in sports like when Pacquiao is coming into Thunderstruck.”

Pacquiao wasn’t perfect by any measure. “Now, that doesn’t mean I have always agreed with some of his stances, or some of his choices. But from a purely boxing standpoint, Pacquiao represents one of the most fascinating careers ever embarked upon,” Bishop said. “It was truly fun to watch, and that was part of his appeal, the way he fought, how he fought everyone, how he danced and moved and darted and dipped. I believe we will appreciate Manny and his career more over time.”

In so many ways, the undefeated Mayweather was bigger than life. “We’ve had our run-ins over the years, but whenever I went to Floyd’s gym, I knew there would be some sort of event,” Bishop said. “I saw a boxer chasing another boxer down the street with a knife one time. I also always found it interesting that Floyd could pretty much do anything he wanted, buy anything he wanted, fight anyone he wanted, and yet the one thing he wanted most – unadulterated respect – he always had trouble landing. I wrote about that a lot.”

Another boxer stood out for Bishop. “Andre Ward was a hell of a fighter who took on tough opponents and consistently performed,” he said. “He had power. He had technical skill. He won some big fights. It was a pleasure to watch him up close, too.”

Even those not in the ring are interesting characters in their own right. “I’d put Bob Arum in that category. Always funny, great stories,” Bishop said of the founder and CEO of Top Rank. “Bruce Trampler, too. I’ve never talked to Bruce and not learned something. People like those are the reason I keep coming back to cover boxing. There’s no shortage of amazing material.”

The sport’s biggest money-making bout involved Mayweather and Pacquiao. Bishop was there in May 2015 for that clash at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, but feels the best fight he covered was Pacquiao-Cotto, which was held at the same venue.

“To me that was Pacquiao’s peak, from style to just pure brutality. The best of Manny was there that night, and Cotto didn’t fight badly at all,” he said. “I remember the energy, the way the crowd seemed drunk on adrenaline, the trading of blows and then, finally, the mood changing. Like I started to worry that Cotto might get hurt. That maybe this wasn’t a good idea. As I covered more and more fights, I kept coming back to that one. The way it felt. It was sort of like I was chasing that feeling when I kept coming back.”

Though boxing can be full of drama, it’s also not for the faint of heart, because it demands so much physical and mental strength from its participants.

“Boxing is not for everyone. It’s a tough sport, and sometimes I’m not sure whether I should be covering it,” Bishop admitted. “I’ve written about that before, too. I wonder sometimes if we’re glorifying what should not be glorified, or if we’re all part of this machine that leaves these fighters bloodied, beaten, and broken.”

Still, Bishop, like so many other insightful writers across the decades can’t escape the bravery these men produce.

“And yet, I’m drawn to boxing, too,” he declared. “For the science and the artistry and, yes, the violence. I’m conflicted about it and that conflict only grows over time.”

Some have suggested that boxing needs to be recalibrated in order to clear the air and make it better. “For one, I think it would be great if there was a boxing commissioner. The sport desperately needs a national commissioner,” Bishop said. “No more moving a bout to Florida so that it will be licensed when it shouldn’t be. No more allowing someone who’s not a boxer, fight someone else who’s not a boxer and calling it a pro fight. I’d fix the whole situation with the belts. One main one per division. That’s it. That’s the one that matters.”

Bishop then added: “I’d add pensions and healthcare plans to the careers of fighters,” he said. “I wouldn’t allow managers to also promote fighters – which technically, is against the law, but happens all the time. I wouldn’t even mind these spectacle fights, as long as they’re clearly delineated – as that, spectacle, something different, to catch a different audience. There’s room for all of it, in my opinion. But the sport needs to address its credibility above all. That starts with the best fighters fighting the best fighters, with mandated drug testing, with belts that mean something and can be easily understood.”

Having covered every major sport, there’s nothing quite like fight week leading up to a colossal main event like Deontay Wilder versus Tyson Fury.

“Even though I cover the NFL primarily, I want to stay involved in boxing, whether I should or my editors want me to or not,” Bishop said. “Part of it is they’re selling a product, for sure. Part of it is the great tradition that has been passed down with so many champions and many writers who are much better at this craft than I am.”

Bishop likes the preparation that goes into writing about the sport. “I go back and study all of them, how they ingratiated in those camps, how well they knew the fighters that they covered,” he said. “Boxing is one of the last places in sports where you can still find that. It’s not like before, but nothing ever is. You can still get deep into a camp, which helps get deep into the mind of a fighter, their preparations, what it means. There’s truly nothing like it.”

Maybe boxing has lost some of its shine, but it’s still special when two high-level fighters step into the ring.

“People always ask: why do you cover boxing? One of my go-to lines is that boxers would let you stay over if you wanted, while most NFL athletes I profile would prefer to limit our conversations to 10 minutes,” Bishop explained.

That’s just one way in which boxers stand tall compared to some athletes in other sports.

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