THE sound of the latest Donald McRae long-form offering dropping through my letterbox is always incredibly welcomed. When his latest book on the Noble Art, surely a moniker that has more than a touch of irony, arrived at my fixed abode, the joy was still there.
But this time, the euphoria came with a great degree of sadness. The Last Bell: Life, Death, and Boxing will be his final book on a sport that has tested many things for perhaps one of the finest writers of his generation. And almost certainly, one of the last of a dying breed.
While the modern digital age has reduced journalism to pressing record and asking ‘soft’ enough questions to protect access and accreditation, McRae is old-school. The Last Bell continues McRae’s impeccable and often untouched standards.
The heavy criticism of the way the initial Conor Benn-Chris Eubank Jr. fight fell by the wayside in 2022, because of those now-infamous failed drug tests, is beyond refreshing.
Eddie Hearn especially gets the McRae treatment, calling out the varying methods of hypocrisy that Hearn sometimes tries to weave to follow a particular narrative on a given day.
Rare words of criticism of a promoter that very few of McRae’s contemporaries dare go, certainly not the new kids on the block. That exclusive gold standard access is too precious to lose. Credibility is a far easier currency to let go of.
For balance, some of the boxing YouTube outlets do a decent enough job, and they give coverage to a sport that the old-school media have largely turned their backs on. But far too often, when we need scrutiny, we get shameless cheerleading.
McRae shares his conflicted views on the recent Saudi investment in boxing. Raising awareness of the many human rights violations on that side of the world. You shudder when McRae recounts his visits to Riyadh, warnings from his fellow members of the press pack, not to cause ‘trouble’ and especially when he is pulled into a side room when he was trying to enter the country and his passport is temporarily taken from him.
The situation eventually resolved itself, but those minutes in that isolated room must have been tremendously unsettling when you know people are locked up, or worse, for daring to speak out against the Saudi regime.
Compare the critical words of McRae to many, if not all, from the YouTube world who would quite happily post content that is more akin to a ‘Jolly Boys Outing’ than any serious attempt at journalism. They may well argue that they are not journalists, merely content creators.
A convenient get-out-of-jail card. Quite literally in some regards. But when media outlets have been denied credentials for simply doing their job, you can kind of understand the reluctance for others to do the same. Why bite the hand that feeds? There lies the problem.
One famed American writer puts boxing somewhere between showbiz and organised crime. A comparison which has much credence. The truth is hard to find in boxing. Many want the truth hidden. In truth, they do an incredibly good job.
The likes of McRae, you’d suspect, become a nuisance and more in a world where scrutiny is all too rare. And far from welcomed. But that’s why the sport needs Donald McRae.
Thankfully, while The Last Bell will be the last extended piece of work on boxing, he will stay involved in a sport that he has a very much love-hate relationship with. Unlike some, McRae writes free from the shackles of protecting their seat at the table.
The Last Bell is a more than worthy sequel to The Dark Trade. The tone of his words can’t hide his growing disillusionment with boxing, not that he ever tries to. It is a terribly hard sport to like at times, let alone love. But in the middle of that aforementioned reference lie the fighters.
The innocent victims of a sport that treats its all too willing workers so poorly in the vast majority of cases. They are sold a dream in the hope that they never wake up to the brutal reality of an unforgiving sport that takes so much and gives so little back. McRae demonstrates this perfectly with his words on Isaac Chamberlain in The Last Bell.
With every disappointment, Chamberlain still sees hope. Don’t we all?
It can be a difficult read at times, as McRae opens up on his deeply personal family grief. The deep pain in his words is obvious. McRae is fighting many things. A struggle to justify staying actively involved in a sport that, in many ways, tests your loyalty and more.
In simple terms, McRae has had enough of the bullshit. Haven’t we all? His involvement going forward will be somewhat limited. Which is a crying shame. But it might also open up a freedom and a hope that his best work is still to come.
He could make himself an even bigger nuisance. Boxing might not deserve his talent. But it sure as hell needs it. Some in the media world just care about clicks and little else. McRae just cares.
Donald McRae is the author of some of the finest ever books on boxing. If you compile a top ten, McRae will likely have multiple entries on that list. In Sunshine or in Shadow: How Boxing Brought Hope in the Troubles and A Man’s World: The Double Life of Emile Griffith are far more than just books about boxing.
McRae is a true master of his craft. If The Last Bell is indeed the final chapter, McRae has gone out in some style.
