This Reporter Ain't No Punching Bag

The petite and friendly Frances I. Martel ’09 appears an unlikely “Fight Chick,” the moniker bestowed on her when she began writing for the boxing news, analysis, and discussion website Ringtalk.com.

“I knew it was going to annoy people,” says Martel, adding with a hint of feistiness, “I liked that.”

She got what she wished for.

Pedro L. Fernandez, Ring Talk’s editor and self-proclaimed “undisputed King of the airwaves” says Martel’s first piece was “a breath of fresh air” among the “all-male crew in a sexist sport.”

Martel is no novelty act, however, and Fernandez was struck by her “incredible boxing acumen.”

“She knows more about boxing than some of the so-called experts,” Fernandez says.

Martel has shaken up some of Ring Talk’s regular readership. Martel’s articles received what she calls “plenty of sexist comments,” some of which were so extreme Fernandez felt compelled to delete them. Some attack her perceived lack of knowledge—she’s a comparative youngster, after all—or her writing, which is flowery and analogy-rich, in contrast to the “very simple, very pithy” writing she says is common in boxing journalism.

Cliff L. Rold, a fellow Ring Talk contributor, appreciates her departure from traditional boxing reporting, calling her a “talented writer” with a “keen insight for the sport” and the “enthusiasm of a fan.”

Martel got her start this past summer when her father, a local boxing correspondent for the Spanish-language La Voz News in Elizabeth, N.J., sent her to cover a fight for him, then pushed her to submit the piece she wrote to other outlets. Ring Talk picked it up.

Friend Amanda L. Gable ’09 says Martel is “not violent at all.” While Martel does not box competitively at Harvard, she does know how—her father taught her for self-defense.