I told you a couple weeks back that I’d spend some time figuring out how I want The Queensberry Rules to evolve. Little did I expect the change to be this dramatic.
Welcome to the new TQBR. It doesn’t look unlike the one you saw two weeks ago, but it is, and how.
Here’s what we’ve done, most of all: We are no longer myself plus some occasional contributors. No, TQBR now is comprised of a staff.
You should recognize all the names of these excellent fellows who have signed on as staff writers – Michael Coppinger, Corey Erdman, Andrew Harrison, Alex McClintock, Gauthum Nagesh and Paul Kelly – as people who have contributed before. You might recognize some of them as regular writers for the recently, sadly departed (and excellent) Boxing Bulletin. This new staff consists of the most frequent past contributors and the people who have told me they want to write more regularly. If you’ve been paying attention the last week, you’ll see that their posts already have become yet more voluminous.
But it’s not just “more” that they’ll be giving us collectively, but also, in some ways, “different.” They’ll still provide the features you’ve come to enjoy when they’ve written here before, but some of them will be doing more original reporting, too. They’ll be adding dimensions and voices to the site that it didn’t have before – so far, early on, they’ve been a great source of energy and ideas. That will make the site better.
I’ve included their bios, after the jump, so you can get to know them.
Their existence helps the site grow and gives me a little more room to do my own reporting, if I so choose. I don’t anticipate a major change in the volume of my own posts – it’s just that maybe I’ll take a day off or two if I need to dig into some story, or take a break on occasion when I get run-down.
There will be some other changes. We’ll still have contributors who have said they’ll drop in from time to time, some of them new, such as The Boxing Bulletin’s Anthony Wilson. We’ll have another item in the sidebar giving these new, official staff dudes their just due. (Maybe the staff list will grow in the coming weeks; we’ll see.) I’ll be bringing the news feed back. And TQBR Prediction Game has run its course, so it won’t be coming back.
So just to summarize: More, better, different, but also almost all of the same old stuff you always liked. What’s not to like?
Ladies and gentleman, I proudly give you the new, improved TQBR. Introductions are in order:
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Mike Coppinger, 24, started writing about boxing during the summer of 2008 for SecondsOut.com, while studying journalism at George Mason University outside Washington D.C. Since graduating in the summer of 2010, he has occasionally covered fights for USA Today, his first one being Jean Pascal-Chad Dawson in Montreal, where he made the acquaintance of one Tim Starks.
Since moving to the Northern New Jersey/NYC area in August, he has been a regular contributor to The Ring magazine, authoring “Ringside Reports” and “New Faces” profiles for “The Bible of Boxing.” When he’s not writing about boxing or being called a Zab Judah or David Haye homer, Mike sometimes covers the New York Knicks of the NBA for USA Today. Mike has avidly followed the sport since 2002. He can be reached at mike.coppinger@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikeCoppinger.
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Corey Erdman is a freelance boxing writer and television commentator, and radio host on SIRIUS 98. Erdman was a staff writer for The Sporting News’ boxing portal “The Rumble” prior to its closure. On a freelance basis, his work has appeared in dozens of newspapers across North America.
He can be found regularly as an in-ring interviewer for Super Channel Fights in Canada and as the blow-by-blow commentator for WCP Boxing in Toronto. He has also provided commentary for Groupe Yvon Michel and SecondsOutTV.
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Andrew Harrison is the British-based creator of boxing blog Safe Side of the Ropes, which he formed in 2008. After shamelessly badgering a selection of the sport’s more respected scribes for work in 2009 he was very kindly advised that he should earn his spurs by making contributions to some of the better boxing sites on the web. This he duly set about doing and in 2010 he began writing for The Queensberry Rules, The Boxing Bulletin and the website of Boxing News Magazine. Andrew trained as an illustrator before switching to accountancy and so naturally he finds himself pursuing a career as a fight scribe.
Hailing from the North East of England, Andrew grew up thinking that Bruce Woodcock was the greatest fighter who ever lived thanks to his father’s storytelling prowess and continues to live in hope that a Geordie will once again lift a world title. He also once informed his better half that he loved boxing more than her, and lived to tell the tale. Andrew can be contacted at: harrison-andy@hotmail.co.uk.
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Paul Kelly is a longtime boxing fan who became gripped by the sport during the famous “Rumble in the Jungle” between Ali and Foreman in 1974 and never has left its sweet clutches. He worked as a newspaper reporter and editor from 1987-93, covering sports marketing, high school and college sports and professional hockey at two publications, before moving to motorsports public relations in 1993. After working for the National Hot Rod Association from 1993-97, Paul has worked for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and INDYCAR since 1998.
A former high school and college distance runner, the first digit in Paul’s weight ashamedly is now a 2, but he enjoys a feeble attempt to stay fit by hitting the heavy bag and double-ended reflex bag in his basement version of the Wild Card Gym, skiing, cycling and playing hockey. He also enjoys reading, music, motorsports, PC racing simulations, the NFL, the NBA, Syracuse football and basketball, drinking scotch and watching as many fights as possible. Paul has a wife and three school-age children who think he is an insane kid who refused to grow up.
Paul’s favorite fighters include Joe Louis, Carmen Basilio, Muhammad Ali, Livingstone Bramble, Ray Mancini, Thomas Hearns, Mike Tyson, Marvin Hagler, Michael Katsidis, Micky Ward, Manny Pacquiao, Israel Vasquez, Rafael Marquez, Juan Manuel Marquez, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Sergio Martinez, Vic Darchinyan and some guy named Pacquiao. He can be reached at kellycny@gmail.com or on Twitter @pk500.
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Alex McClintock started writing about boxing on this very blog. Since then he’s been a regular contributor and has written about boxing for the Ring magazine website, The Sweet Science and Mens Fitness. When not writing about boxing, Alex is a sometime employee of, and contributor to, Sydney, Australia’s The Sun Herald. Alex started boxing after he became a fan, is 4-1 as an amateur. He’s documenting his move from white collar Aussie gym to blue collar Mexican gym on his blog holacompinche.com.
When not punching people in the head, being punched in the head and writing about other people punching one another in the head, Alex also follows the gentlemanly sports of rugby and cricket. Maybe that’s why he really gets annoyed by boxing’s trash talkers and poor sportsmen, guys like David Haye, Floyd Mayweather, Carl Froch and Joan Guzman. He can be reached at mcclintock.alex@gmail.com.
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Gautham Nagesh is the editor of Stiff Jab and a veteran reporter whose writing on technology, politics and his home state of Michigan has been featured by The Hill, The Atlantic and National Journal among others. He covers fights around the East coast and upper Midwest and hopes to open a boxing gym near his alma mater Jackson High School.
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Tim Starks is the founder of The Queensberry Rules. He started a boxing blog called Seven Punch Combo in 2007 before joining MVN that same year. He joined Bloguin in 2009. He also has contributed to Ring magazine, The Sweet Science and other publications, and his boxing writing has been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The Village Voice, Deadspin and more. When not writing about boxing, Tim reports on intelligence agencies for Congressional Quarterly.
Tim has been called a “crack head” on national television for no apparent reason and a “baby killer” by commenters on this very blog who disagreed with an April, 2008 decision to bump Manny Pacquiao down from #2 to #3 on his list of today’s best fighters. His 10 favorite boxers include, in no particular order, the Marquez brothers, Miguel Cotto, Glen Johnson, Andre Ward, Yuriorkis Gamboa, Paul Williams, Juan Manuel Lopez, Devon Alexander, Sergio Martinez and… Manny Pacquiao. (Yes, that’s technically 11, but he’s counting the Marquez brothers as one.)
He can be reached at tstarks2@gmail.com.
