"Welcome back my friend to the show that never ends"

Hello.  My Name is Pribs, and I’m a boxing writer.

It feels so great to make an introduction without being surrounded in a circle by anonymous peers.

First and foremost, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and your New Year is off to a great start.

This like every holiday season is frantic and stressful from the moment we digest our Thanksgiving dinner.   We make our lists, check them twice, and by the time we are able to exhale it’s over.   When we do eventually have a quiet moment, we find ourselves reflecting on the previous year while optimistically looking forward to the year to come.

During my decade-plus as a boxing writer at Secondsout.com our team would write our year end awards for those that made the year memorable in and out of the ring.   We would then focus on making our wish lists and bold predictions for what we hope to see in the squared circle during the next twelve months.

A highlight of this holiday season was that I had the chance to catch up with Derek Bonnett, a friend and former teammate at Secondsout.  We had the opportunity to discuss our previous work together and I was blessed when he encouraged me to contact John Raspanti about possibly contributing to MaxBoxing.com.

With our sport taking its own holiday break, there really isn’t anything on the hot stove to write about.  I had a few ideas for articles, but after chatting with Derek, I felt I would like to use this space to write homage to some of the many that fueled my love the sport and inspired me to be the best storyteller about my view as a fan of the sweet science.

As long as I could remember, I’ve always been a fan of boxing. Growing up during a decade ruled by Four Kings I remember “fight nights” always being exciting.   I recall the way that the adults would gravitate to the TV.  Even their interaction together was different.  Cheering, high-fives, and even the occasional hug replaced the typical night ending with shouting, squaring up with your brother or best friend, and the inevitable Uncle sitting on the stoop trying to pop a lens back into his wire framed glasses.

I knew at that time boxing would always be a part of my life.

We fast forward to early 2000s.  I was shoulder-rolling my way into my 30’s, and going out for the evening at 10pm had suddenly been replaced by coming home for the evening at 10pm.  Sports continued to be the catalyst for my social life.  I had decided that I wanted to become the “go to” person in my group when it came to a sport.  My Uncle Jeff was and continues to be a Penn State football encyclopedia, his best friend Nick remains my “phone a friend” on any matters regarding the Pittsburgh Steelers.

I decided it was time to learn and follow boxing as much as my free time would allow.  Fortunately, ordering Showtime was all that was needed to go along with my basic cable and HBO subscriptions.

The more fights that I watched only made me hungrier to read and learn more about the players and the game.  I quickly found that other than Dan Rafael’s columns at USA Today, I would need to seek out the best writers and sites available on the internet.

I was soon rabidly logging into and consuming the content on Ring Magazine online, Fight News, BoxingScene, Secondsout, and of course, Maxboxing.

I was soon scheduling my work days around which writers had their work published on which day.   David Greisman’s “Fighting Words” would kick off my work week.  Doug Fischer and Steve Kim would alternate days on MaxBoxing, and I could always find content on ESPN and Yahoo.com.

I was blown away by not only the content but also by the access that these “bloggers” had to the larger than life athletes I spent my weekends with from afar.  Not only was I becoming familiar with different writing styles, but also thrilled by the fact that most articles ended with the writer’s contact info.

I remember running through my house after 2am screaming “The Bible of Boxing” when William Dettloff answered an email I sent after reading one of his posts on The Ring online.

My turning point came in December of 2007 when I read the brilliant behind the scenes look at Mayweather-Hatton written by Hall of Famer Thomas Hauser.  I wrote an email to Mr. Hauser explaining how after reading his piece I had buyer’s remorse from not only buying the PPV, but for rooting for Mayweather.

Mr. Hauser responded to my “well written” email and asked me If I had ever written for a boxing website.  He introduced me to Secondsout.com editor Clive Bernath and offered to edit my first feature which, of course, based on my buyer’s remorse. 

My first article was published on Christmas Day 2007 and within months I found myself ringside at The Legendary Blue Horizon.  I remember finding my reserved ringside seat and not moving until the final bell rang. I couldn’t wrap my head around how a few emails led me to sitting ringside at a professional boxing tch.   I kept waiting for someone to put a hand on my shoulder and nodding as if to say, “The gig is up!”

The best and worst thing about being a beat writer is that it often requires traveling from venue to venue solo.  As appreciative as I am for every credential I received, none of the laminates come with a “plus-one”. 

Fortunately, at this point, I would be able to finally put faces to the names of many that informed and inspired me.

Quickly I realized.  Much like those we cover, only the top few percent of boxing writers show up at ringside without having a full-time “day” job. I realized I had a lot in common with many other than following a sport whose participants have the goal of leaving their opponent unconscious.

Boxing went from HBO, SHOWTIME, and ESPN to streaming on more sites than I could list.  However, no matter how much the sport changes, and despite it becoming more and more siloed, many of the names that I turn to for content and inspiration remain as vital to the sport as ever.

My thirties came and went. I’m closer to 50 than 40, however, when I look back I can’t name too many things I’ve ever been a part of that made me as proud as being introduced by someone as a boxing writer.   I’m honored to be part of a fraternity that is able to recall when someone was born, married, or celebrated anything by recalling what fight happened on that particular weekend.

As I celebrated putting 2022 in my rearview, I was soon had to face the fact that there are many things personally and nationally that cause anxiety.  However, a text from an old friend along with having a new partner, the lovely Jillian, to watch the biggest and brightest of the sport ply their trade comforts me to know that my sport doesn’t have an off-season.

I could only hope to contribute with the quality and consistency as the many that I mentioned in this article.  Perhaps, even one day I could inspire a young scribe to shout “MaxBoxing” around his house by answering an email.

Jason Pribila is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and he could be reached for questions or comments at pribs2000@gmail.com and @PribsBoxing.