Thom Loverro: “You could just wander into camp and watch Ali train.”

Press Box Access: A Sports History Podcast

Thom Loverro says boxing has the best stories, and he shares some favorites from many years inside the fight game. He takes us to Muhammad Ali’s training camp, puts us ringside for Mike Tyson’s ear chomp, and takes us behind the scenes on the day Riddick Bowe defends his heavyweight title. Hear about Las Vegas, George Foreman’s power and preaching, and the wisdom of trainer Eddie Futch. Thom also shares moments from other sports he has covered, including memorable baseball highs and lows involving Cal Ripken Jr. and Roberto Alomar.

In 2019, Loverro was honored with the Nat Fleischer Award for lifetime achievement in boxing journalism by the Boxing Writers Association of America. Three years earlier, he was inducted into the Washington, D.C. Boxing Hall of Fame. Thom has been featured on several HBO Legendary Nights programs and ESPN's Sports Classics about boxing. He has covered numerous world championship fights over the past three decades, as well as three Olympics, the World Series, the NFL, NBA, and NHL playoffs. In 2005, Thom was one of just three sportswriters to be invited to the Oval Office in The White House to interview President Bush about baseball.

Loverro has won more than 40 national, regional, and local journalism awards, including an honor from the Associated Press Sports Editors association for his 2014 article in which he revealed, through the Freedom of Information Act, that the FBI believed the first Sonny Liston-Cassius Clay fight was fixed. Thom was voted Maryland Sportswriter of the Year in 2009 by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. His other honors include first place in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and being named best sports columnist in the Virginia Press Association competition three times.

Loverro’s journalism career began in 1977. After working for a couple of small newspapers in Pennsylvania, he a joined the Baltimore Sun in 1984. There, he spent eight years as a news editor and reporter, covering crime, politics, and government. Thom moved to sports in 1992 when The Washington Times hired him to cover the then-Redskins. A year later, he switched to baseball and served three seasons as the paper’s beat writer on the Baltimore Orioles. The Washington Examiner hired Thom as a sports columnist in 2009. Four years later, he returned to The Washington Times, where he remains the lead sports columnist. He is co-host of The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.

Check out past episodes of Loverro’s “Cigars & Curveballs” podcast, which featured guests such as Ripken; Foreman, Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Leonard, Joe Theismann, Dusty Baker, and the creator of “The Wire,” David Simon.

Loverro is the author of 11 books:

· Washington Redskins: The Authorized History (1996)

· Home of the Game: The Story of Camden Yards (1999)

· Cammi Granato: Hockey Pioneer (2000)

· The Quotable Coach (2002)

· The Encyclopedia of Negro League Baseball (2003)

· The John Mackey Story, Blazing Trails: Coming of Age in Football's Golden Era (2003)

· Oriole Magic: The O's of '83 (2004)

· Hail Victory: An Oral History of the Washington Redskins (2006)

· The Rise and Fall of Extreme Championship Wrestling (2006)

· Eagles Essential (2006)

· Orioles Essential (2007)

Loverro received a Bachelor of Science degree in Liberal Studies from the University of Scranton and a master's degree in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University in Washington. He has taught journalism courses at Georgetown University, Towson State University, and American University.

Follow him on Twitter: @thomloverro

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