Boxing has long been on the ropes as a major sport. Tonight, Floyd Mayweather is taking on Manny Pacquiao in a welterweight title fight. The fight in itself has been a big draw accompanied by a lot of buzz. But, Floyd Mayweather comes with a bit of controversy. He has a history of domestic violence, even serving jail time.
Two well-respected reporters, Michell Beadle of ESPN and Rachel Nichols of CNN, have both been critical in their reporting of Mayweather’s troubles with domestic violence. After being issued press credentials to cover the fight and its ramp up, both claim that their credentials were revoked by the Mayweather camp. The Mayweather camp strongly denies this. You can read all the details in this SI article by Richard Deitsch.
In reading the article, it becomes clear to me that the sides are having some major issues in communicating. It seems as if the reporters want to cover the event and that the event wants coverage. A mediator could have been helpful to resolve this. Now, two reporters are out of town and the Mayweather camp looks misogynistic. And boxing has negative publicity it does not need. This is a lose-lose-lose.