Sender and receiver

Here, we take a look at the sender and receiver of the article “My seven-year-old son the boxer” by Susan Hughes.

Sender

The sender of the text is Susan Hughes, a London-based journalist who began her career in sports journalism. The fact that she worked for The Daily News and Sport First as a boxing correspondent and covered fights between some of the best professional boxers in the industry gives her credibility and authority.   

The article also becomes credible because it was published in The Guardian, a well-known British daily newspaper.

Hughes is very familiar with the boxing world, and she highlights some of the best moments in her career: “I sat ringside covering fights from Prince Naseem v Kevin Kelley to Lennox Lewis’s bouts with Evander Holyfield” (ll. 72-75); “Towards the end of my time covering boxing I even interviewed a female boxer, Ali’s daughter Laila” (ll. 92-95).

From Hughes’ article, readers also learn that the writer did not consider taking up boxing herself because women did not participate in boxing when her career started 25 years ago (l.66-68).

Despite being very familiar with the boxing world, the sender does not solely rely on her own opinion when discussing whether or not she should let her son box and, in a more general sense, if children and adolescents should be allowed to box. The text is full of direct quotes, and the sender often presents the point of view of the interviewed person without further comments. This helps the sender inform readers directly about the dangers and benefits of boxing.

Sometimes, however, she includes her personal observations: “ ‘I don’t think there’s any problem with starting young, ’ says Kozlowski. (…) The classes are split by age and it’s certainly true that the youngest children are having a lot of fun” (l...