Dan Rafael ( ; born August 25, 1970) is an American sportswriter known for his coverage of boxing and baseball.

Early life and education

Rafael was born in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. He attended

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university in Binghamton metropolitan area, Greater Binghamton, New York, United States. It is one of the four uni ...

, where he wrote for the school paper. He started as sports writer, and worked his way to managing editor. He also served an internship at the local newspaper, the ''

Press & Sun-Bulletin The ''Press & Sun-Bulletin'' is a daily newspaper serving the area around Binghamton, New York. History The newspaper was formed by the 1985 merger of ''The Evening Press'' (which was known as ''The Binghamton Press'' prior to 1960) and ''Th ...

''.

Career

Baseball

Rafael later took a part-time job at '' The Saratogian'', a community newspaper published in

Saratoga Springs, New York Saratoga Springs is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in Saratoga County, New York, United States. The population was 28,491 at the United States Census 2020, 2020 census. The name reflects the presence of mineral springs in the ...

. When a full-time job opened at the newspaper, he took it, then moved to a reporting position at the ''Press & Sun-Bulletin'', covering college sports and local auto-racing. He was later assigned to cover the Binghamton Mets.

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. ( ) is an American mass media holding company headquartered in New York City. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. It owns the national newspaper ''USA Today'', as well as several ...

, the owner of the Binghamton newspaper, fostered writers by detailing them to Virginia for four months, thoroughly grounding them in the newspaper business, working at ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''. Rafael began his course in August 1998. He covered major-league baseball. When baseball season ended, the newspaper's principal boxing reporter, Jon Saraceno, was moving up, so Rafael was asked to cover boxing. Rafael's temporary duty at ''USA Today'' ended in December 1998, and he returned to Binghamton.

Boxing

In January 2000, he was asked to return to ''USA Today'' on a permanent basis as a boxing writer. In September 2004,

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

began pursuing Rafael, desiring to strengthen its boxing coverage. He began with ESPN.com in March 2005. He writes in-depth coverage pieces, and his specialty is his weekly compilation of rankings. In January 2016, ESPN announced Rafael had been signed to a new multi-year agreement. His contract ended in April 2020. Rafael joined World Boxing News (WBN) in May 2021 following discussions with WBN editor Phil Jay. Rafael left WBN in early 2022. He joined Big Fight Weekend, a boxing podcast, in April 2022.

Awards and recognition

* In 2013, Rafael was awarded the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism from the

Boxing Writers Association of America Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing punches at each other for a ...

. * On December 8, 2012, Dead Spin's writer, Iron Mike Gallego, recognized Dan Rafael as "The Most Important Journalist in Boxing".Gallego, Mike. ''How ESPN's Dan Rafael Became The Most Important Journalist in Boxing (A Cautionary Tale)''
DeadSpin.com (August 12, 2012)

References

External links

Official BlogTwitter PageFacebook Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafael, Dan Boxing writers Living people ESPN people American male journalists 1970 births Writers from Albany, New York Binghamton University alumni