A Message About Floyd Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao and Citing Your Sources

Greetings Boxing Community!

We have just wrapped up one of the best spring seasons ( if you will) of the sport of boxing.

There were super mega fights such as Mayweather vs Mosley and Pacquiao vs Clottey. David Haye captured a heavyweight belt, Sergio Martinez finally started to get his due with his big win over Pavlik, and Arreola vs Adamek was probably one of the most exciting heavyweight fights we have seen in a long time. 

Amir Khan made his big American debut,  Cotto bounced back with his junior middleweight win over Foreman, the Super Six Classic Tournament continued, and so on.

As the boxing community leader here at Bleacher Report I just want to remind everyone of a few things. First off, the community is doing great; we are growing and we are moving in the right direction with more and more dedicated, talented, and knowledgeable writers writing some great articles.

Obviously the hottest topic to write on is Mayweather vs Pacquiao.

If a writer chooses to write on Mayweather vs Pacquiao or Mayweather or Pacquiao, that is perfectly fine. But keep in mind that many do consider this topic to be overkill–about 10 times over. However, if you feel you have an excellent original new take on this fight or you have credible further insight, then by all means go for it.

However, as any true boxing fan knows, there are endless fighters, divisions,  and fights to write about and again, we never have an off season in the sport of boxing, so there is always plenty of things about which to write.

As the boxing community leader, I am often getting private messages in regards to extreme Pacquiao fans complaining about extreme Mayweather fans and vice versa.

Look, it is a good thing that we all have different favorite fighters who we love or do not care for. This makes the site, comment section, and articles far more interesting, for if we all loved the same fighter and disliked the same fighter, it would not be much of an interesting or balanced site.

We are, for the most part, mature professional adults here at Bleacher Report, and it goes without saying that the best writers here or anywhere are the most objective, professional, fair and balanced.

So if you decide to write any article in boxing and it is based on your opinion, then you must indicate that the article is indeed an “opinion” article.

If you are writing an article where the origin of your information is from another article, then you must indeed cite the source of that article and if possible, post the link, original author, date, etc.

If you use a direct quote in your article, you must indeed cite all sources. As a writer, you are reliable for the information you are putting out for the world to read, so you must be able to cite your sources within the article.

We do not tolerate any form of plagiarism whatsoever. It has been brought to my attention that some newer writers are simply copying and pasting from other author’s articles and claiming the article to be their own. This is not acceptable—your article will be removed and you will be banned from the site, too.

Again, each writer must properly cite their sources if they are using information obtained from another article or another source. The best writers can still manage to make the article their own with their own twist, insight, etc.

I would also like to offer some more suggestions as well, in order to be considered a great writer here on B/R. 

For the several writers who are complaining to me about extreme Mayweather fans and extreme Pacquiao fans:  rather than attack that writer, why not encourage that writer and show that you too are objective, fair, and balanced enough to write both a pro-Mayweather and pro-Pacquiao article?

Leading by example is by far the best way to win this ongoing endless war. For if you are not able to do this, then you are pretty much the same as the writers you are complaining about, don’t you think?

Also, I want to give some personal advice to the writers here in the community. The best way to gain great credibility, notoriety, and achievement as a boxing writer is to write as much as possible. Keep writing, keep sharpening your skills. Putting out good, consistent articles will definitely shape your path to greatness. 

Also, I would personally suggest to use a photo of your actual self as your avatar picture. By doing so, you are presenting yourself to be more professional and credible as a writer.

Imagine if the powers that be here at B/R,  their big-time affiliates, or even the big guys over at ESPN, Showtime, HBO, etc. decide to click on your profile and it’s a picture of something weak like a skull and cross bones? What are you, a pirate?

Also when using a  nom de plume or a moniker such as mine (KING J), I would suggest using one that is somewhat close to your actual name or that has significance to it. Obviously KING J is not my actual government name, but I have however obtained quite a recognition in many circles in the industry with my nom de plume KING J.  

And it is, believe it or not, rather close to my actual name. I would also avoid using anything that would indeed make you appear to be more of a blogger or troll, more so than a serious writer. So I would personally avoid using numbers in your name or mismatched small letters with capital letters, such as “oOwEAKtrOLL2010”.

For those of you who do not know, my role here as the boxing community leader is to encourage everyone to be the best writers they can be. Whether you just love boxing and you love to write, or you want to pursue a career in this industry full-time, the sky is the limit.

In my time here at B/R, I have had some powerful big time players contact me because they were fans of my articles. They have invited me to events and have made phone calls and e-mails for me to do some amazing things. I can personally say the sky is the limit if you truly are deserving.

So aim high and be the greatest you can be in your writing. Start attending local fights, local conferences, and events, and network and do whatever it takes to make you a better columnist. Go for the championship title belt!

“Sports is the toy department of human life.” - Howard Cosell