Talking points memo: Dan Rafael continuing to disgrace himself

Dan Rafael has received a lot of criticsm within the boxing community, and with good reason. Personally, I have given the man the benefit of the doubt. However, I can no longer do so. Quite simply put, Rafael has no journalistic integrity, is a disgrace, and he hates the sport. His scoring of fights have been atroucious, his reporting is getting sloppier, and all he does is complain about the sport and continues to call the sanctioning bodies corrupt even when they do nothing wrong. It all came to a head not too long ago.

As we all know, the Judah/Mosley fight was cancelled due to Judah injuring his arm after he fell through a shower door. Well, Rafael reported that Zab lied about the incident and that he injured his arm after punching through a shower door after getting into an argument with his father. Now I thought that story was fishy to begin with, I became more suspicious once I found out Rafael's proof was multiple "unamed sources" who didn't want to be quoted. How convienent. Wouldn't it be great if every alleged journalist could get away with breaking such stories without any sources or quotes. Here's what Zab had to say in response;

"Dan Rafael’s a piece of ****. I know him. He know me. He’s a piece of ****. **** him. Tell him I said ‘Keep writing stories. Have a good day.’ ”

As for the multiple inside sources, Judah contends it isn’t possible for inside info about how his camp was or is going to escape the confines of his inner circle.

“There was nobody there. I train in private. Only my team is in there so that’s a lie. Everybody on the outside looking in trying to find out what happened.”

Rafael has yet to respond, what a surprise. Even if Rafael's account of the story is true, he shouldn't have reported it without being able to back up his claims with credible evidence. I used to have much respect for Rafael and now I don't have any. So lets's recap; number 1, Rafael has no journalistic integrity. Number 2, his work is sloppy. And Number 3, he hates the sport.

Radicals like Rafael only serve to undermine the integrity of the sport which is desparately seeking to get back into the mainstream. He does this by spewing his constant hatred of the sanctioning bodies, even when it's unwarranted, continuing to haphazerdly score big fights and, by reporting negative stories about fighters without any solid proof. Rafael is a disgrace, and he needs to start taking his job seriously.

And that's the memo.

 

If it's so gay then don't respond.

 

Things change. Rafeal has become increasingly worse and I had to call him out on it.

 

He very well could be lying. However, Rafael shouldn't be reporting in his column that Zab is a liar without evidence to back that up. That's sloppy journalism, and it could severly damage a fighter's reputation.

 

He used anonymous sources who didn't want to be quoted. That's suspicious. And no, he couldn't sue Rafeal for slander. The remarks were in print so it's libel. Anyway, defemation of character suits are almost impossible to win when a public figure is involved.