Athlete vs. writer:

Two sides of the interview

By TRAVIS HARTMAN

The Boxing Amusement Park

For the past couple of years I have done just that. I have been a sports journalist for two years, as well as a professional boxer since 2004.  

I gave my very first interview to KQ2 TV when I was 11 years old. I have done thousands of interviews as a boxer for TV, newspapers and some boxing websites. You would figure after giving so many interviews that I would pick up on some of the types of questions the journalist asked me, but to tell you the truth, I froze up when I was the one interviewing. I never did understand why some journalists would always be so nervous and ask the most general questions. I could never quite comprehend why some of them didn’t ask me the right question. This was before I slipped the reporter shoe on.

I now appreciate the good sports journalist and understand the not-so-polished ones because I am not so polished, myself, as a journalist. I remember interviewing a couple of college football players after a tough loss. I distinctly recall feeling like a complete fool for asking the questions that I did. I knew they were looking at each other, thinking, Wow this dude is something else, or, this dude is going to write a sucky story after this interview. It was like they purposely kept all their answers really vague and kept making me work extra hard for good answers. I finally was stumped, and gave up and ended the interview, feeling stupid and embarrassed as I walked off.

One of my sports editors gave me the simplest bit of advice when interviewing someone. He told me to just relax and have a conversation with the person, rather then making it barrage of questions. I use that simple bit of advice on both sides of the interview, and in the end I usually get the information I need by helping the other person relax and express genuine answers.  

I believe you have to learn from every situation in life. Not only do I continue to work hard at becoming a better journalist but, I feel like I have gotten so much better at giving an interview. I guess you could say I am knocking out two birds with one stone.

I don’t know very many professional boxers in the world, if any, that are writing and boxing simultaneously. (If anyone who reads this knows of any please let us know here at ringsideboxingshow.com).

Previous blogs by Travis Hartman

Auto wreck delays rematch with Teddy Atlas

Manny & Me: Six Degrees of Separation

'Better to try and fail than never try at all'

'At fight time, you're on your own'

'Pull a Buster Douglas on them'

Training (but, regrettably, not partying) with Arturo