Born on January 3, 1957 in New York City.
A former New York Golden Gloves boxer, Matthews attended C.W. Post and began his career as a boxing journalist in 1983, covering fights at Madison Square Garden’s Felt Forum while working part-time for Newsday. Over the next four decades he was ringside reporting on such iconic fights as Hagler vs. Hearns, Hagler vs. Leonard, Spinks vs. Holmes I & II and all the major Mike Tyson fights. In addition to Newsday, his byline appeared in such notable outlets as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Sport Magazine, Yahoo Sports and ESPN.com. The multi-talented journalist has also served as the ringside reporter for NBC-TV at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics and worked as a ringside analyst for Showtime, CBS-TV, SportsChannel America, Versus and ESPN. Matthews also hosted the SiriusXM boxing show “Going the Distance’’ with Teddy Atlas and Nabate Isles. He also hosted a drive-time sports talk show “Wally and the Keeg” on ESPN radio. From 1989-1993 he served as president of the Boxing Writers Association of America and, in 1994, was awarded the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism by the BWAA.
Matthews currently runs a boxing program at the YMCA in Huntington, NY.
Born: Jan. 3, 1957
Induction: 2024
Wallace Matthews
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