Letter from Texas: the future of boxing journalism, sport and life exists on a screen

ROUND ONE: Mike Tyson and Jake Paul face off during weigh-ins. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Is it truly an Irish sporting controversy if a TD doesn’t weigh in with a self-aggrandising statement?

Five years ago, a myth that Katie Taylor suffered a lack of coverage started to spread and certain chancers spotted an opportunity.

Channelling the ‘get in there and make it about you’ meme, Robert Troy pointed the finger, somehow, at then Minister for Sport Shane Ross. There was a lack of attention given to our sporting heroes and he was to blame.

Troy had heard more about Aston Villa’s promotion than Taylor’s historic bout at Madison Square Garden against Delfine Persoon. Less McGinn the meatball, more the bomber from Bray.

What started as a tweet from an actor complaining about publications not sufficiently promoting Taylor became a torturous weeklong debate. It didn’t matter that it was early in the week and there was plenty of quality coverage to come, faux outrage has an eternal charm.

Taylor has always had a curious relationship with the media. There are currently six representatives from this isle in Texas for a bizarre fight week featuring a 58-year-old Mike Tyson, former-Disney-star-turned-YouTuber-turned-rapper-turned-boxer Jake Paul, Arlington’s AT&T Stadium and the streaming giant that is Netflix.

Professionally that has posed all sorts of challenges. Paul lashed out at a “dumbass” journalist for questioning the legitimacy of the main event and wondering if he would ever face actual contending fighters in his own weight class.

The mania surrounding that clash is inescapable, engulfing everything in its path. Taylor’s media engagements during fight week have been pared down to the bare minimum.

A handful of international writers were cherrypicked for a roundtable conversation earlier in the week, the live-streamed press conference included a section for media to queue and ask one of 14 boxers on stage a question, but otherwise public utterances come packaged in MVP’s promotional videos or with event-appointed MCs.

This in itself reflects the remarkable mountain the 38-year-old light-welterweight has scaled over the past decade. There was a time Taylor took aim at RTÉ for jumping on the boxing bandwagon every four years.

Now she is a regular presence on the state broadcaster. Her brilliance has and will command headlines in the main News section; this story is bigger than sport.

Katie Taylor and Amanda Serranon pose during the weigh-in. Pic: AP Photo/Julio Cortez.

A move towards a lower level of engagement was understandable too. Ask any writer on the Irish women’s beat and they’ll readily acknowledge the exasperating question about hanging up the gloves has been asked in every single possible shape and size.

Over and over again, mysteriously expecting different results. In the face of that maybe Taylor felt she had two choices: fewer interviews or insanity.

Netflix for their part are content to do it themselves. The ultimate goal is eyewatering views. At Dallas Fort Worth airport, a ‘Team Taylor’ digital advertisement doesn’t even have the venue on the screen.

A three-part docuseries promoting the card was made available to their 282 million subscribers in the buildup to Friday night. In-house is a surefire mode with sufficient control. Opening the door risks outsiders pulling the thing apart.

Boxing understands this. In 2024, promoters have turned down accreditation requests or revoked them because of critical coverage. It suits them if they stay away.

Some will opt to cover it all from the comfort of their own monitor. In many places that will be sufficient. Enough to avoid a politician’s wrath. Getting the opportunity to report on fights like this remains an enormous privilege, a tremendously enjoyable experience at the forefront of sporting history. It can never be taken for granted.

So the task on the ground is to set the scene. Show the occasion for what it is. Accurately reflect the honour of what Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano produced in the early hours and expose the ignominy of what came after. All the while still doing the most important and increasingly most testing part of all, actually talk to someone.

Because whether it be in the media section positioned at the back of the hall in Irving’s Music Factory for the public workout or at in the heart of a screeching crowd in front of the stage for weigh-in, avoiding falsity is almost impossible.

Mike Tyson’s return became like something from a blockbuster movie. The Hangover, Part 4. He is a central character and getting handsomely paid for it. This entertainment-driven environment leaves no room for learning anything from an ageing man with a deeply troubled past or how this sport often leaves its legends so ill-prepared for retirement.

The demand isn’t for any awareness, it is about garnering an audience.

Everywhere you look there are phones aloft, conversations can’t start until a ring-light is switched on, queues from for photos with the ‘Hawk tuah’ social media star, virtual reality headsets present fans an opportunity to experience what it is like to be in Paul’s gym, it is not about people but avatars on a screen. Content is king.

And for the avoidance of doubt, this isn’t an entirely destructive development. Much of this new age journalism has been a force for good. An entire generation found a creative way to have their say, there is plenty of admirable creativity and talent in this sphere if you are willing to seek it out. We’ve also seen elsewhere recently how this non-traditional media, the fifth estate, has real power.

All of this comes amidst a wider move towards a new world. As technology improves and the plates continue to shift, it will become even easier, convenient and satisfying to isolate away and experience it all as images on a screen. A periodic exchange to check that all of us dopamine addicts are still watching. It is not distributed in low doses anymore; it’s becoming the only one.

Existential crisis in the face of digital advancements is not a new phenomenon. It is hard to know if panic will provide any true solutions either. Keep calm and scroll on. But maybe we can strive to stop something meaningful from being lost on the way.