Crystina Poncher: “I definitely want to stay in boxing. Boxing has my heart.”

Crystina Poncher: “I definitely want to stay in boxing. Boxing has my heart.”

It was the end of an era for Crystina Poncher in July. The end of the Top Rank/ESPN working relationship brought a somewhat premature conclusion to Poncher calling fights on that massive platform. “It’s kind of crazy, I thought we would just roll into the next thing,” Poncher told me over Zoom. “But we didn’t, and we wait.”

“I had plenty of highs,” Poncher added. “Essentially, my contract has been with Top Rank, but I also had separate contracts with ESPN. My relationship with Top Rank is still intact. But obviously, with ESPN not being our boxing partner anymore, it’s sad, but I am extremely grateful for the opportunities I have had because growing up in America and being a sports fan all of my life and getting that opportunity to work for ESPN was the top of the top. To have that opportunity to cover some of the biggest fights in the world on that platform where all my friends and family can watch was really a dream come true. I don’t think ESPN will forever not be in the boxing business. I think the next six months to a year, while things shake out, it’s maybe an unprecedented time while things adjust.”

Poncher is like many in her trade. A period of uncertainty, not quite sure what lies ahead. “We are in negotiations right now, so there is a chance that the relationship could continue. But the worst thing I can do right now is sit out and not work. So, it depends on how long things take. I would love to work again with Top Rank, and I know they want to continue working with me. I work on television, and there are no fights on television right now, which makes it difficult for me.”

Brad Jacobs, the chief operating officer of Top Rank, once said about Poncher that her appointment to the play-by-play position in 2019 had nothing to do with her being a woman. It was earned purely on merit. Poncher agrees with that assessment. “I would say coming from where I started, first as a reporter covering press conferences, to then becoming the face of Top Rank on their social and digital platforms, to hosting and then doing some color commentary. I worked my way up the ladder properly, so to speak. It wasn’t just something that was handed to me. I feel as though I earned that position. I worked in other sports as well, so it wasn’t just a case of let’s try her. Even just being a woman at that time, and everyone talking about inclusion and equality and all that stuff has been a conversation over the last few years, but that wasn’t a thing when I started. There are more women now, and I am thankful that there are, and hopefully, things will continue like that, especially in my position, where that hasn’t been another one yet. I think in the years to come that will change.”

It was initially difficult for Poncher in those early formative days in her new role. A fickle boxing fanbase. A sport at the time that was viewed primarily as a man’s world. “It was really hard in those early days,” Poncher told me. “I think anything that’s new, or a change, especially in a sport that has a storied and rich history, especially with men in one of the most machismo sports there is. Other sports have put women on the sidelines or in the booth, but boxing was a little behind at that time. What is she doing here? How did she get here? It was things like that, where my male counterparts might not have been questioned. But I think once they saw my line of questioning, my work ethic, how I present myself, how I carry myself, it didn’t take that long to earn the fans’ trust and respect.

“I feel really fortunate not to have had it too bad. But even when you move up the rankings, it’s how did she get that seat, or she never boxed; how is she sitting on the play-by-play without realising the roles of a broadcast team. Jim Lampley never boxed. Max Kellerman never boxed. Larry Merchant never boxed. That’s why we have an analyst, somebody who has boxed. They like to throw that out when it’s a female, even if it’s not really relevant to what my role is on the broadcast team.”

The entry into boxing was somewhat by chance. Daniela Bolzmann, a long-time best friend of Poncher, suggested Poncher for a position with Top Rank in 2010. Poncher, who had graduated from university with a major in journalism and a minor in communications, very quickly realised that she had found her true calling. “I was working as a sports reporter and doing things in other sports, but boxing was never my goal, as far as I want to be a play-by-play in boxing one day. That just wasn’t what my path was going to be. I will age myself, but social media started to become really popular, and they wanted a face to do the interviews, a relatable, consistent person. So, when they started up their Instagram and developed their Facebook and Twitter presence, that’s where I came along. It was something I could do on the side while I was doing my other work. But I then just got bitten by the boxing bug. I thought I was not going anywhere. This is where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do, and I put my all into it. And fifteen years later.”

“It’s still a learning curve,” Poncher added when I asked how hard learning her new craft was. “I still feel as though I am learning all the time. You are always learning strategy, the fighter’s background, new trainers, and you are learning new methods. I feel as though you are constantly learning. I learned the rules and the techniques. I didn’t need to learn how to interview someone or how to host. I had all those journalistic skills. When I started, it was learning about the fighters I was going to interview or the fighters at the press conferences. Some questions are universal, and then you can earn their trust to ask more precise or technical questions as my knowledge grew.”

For me, two interviews of Poncher really stand out. One with Mikaela Mayer in the moments after her defeat to her most heated rival, Alycia Bumgardner, in 2022, and more recently, that hard-hitting sit-down interview with Seniesa Estrada after her shock retirement in 2024.

“Mikaela’s was really difficult,” Poncher says of that interview in London. “There was so much build-up and so much going on in the lead-up to that fight. I knew from a personal perspective, having worked with Mikaela since she signed with Top Rank, just how much those moments matter to her. So, as a friend, you want to see her do well, and you want to see her succeed. But all that goes out of the window when you are having conversations with her or if I am calling the fight. You still have that compassion because they risk their lives, and they are disappointed that the fight didn’t go their way; that’s universal, whether you know the person or not. I am empathetic to those feelings because I know how much it means to her. So you tap into that a little bit, but also realising that if you have built up a bit of a trust between you, they are going to be open to answering your questions, even the tough ones because they know you are coming from a place where you are not trying to insult them or trying to get them to say something incriminating or controversial. My intentions are just to tell their story or their immediate reactions.”

The interview with Estrada was a hard watch. Details of Estrada battling her demons throughout much of her boxing career were beyond eye-opening. But Poncher judged the tone of that conversation perfectly. “Half of the stuff Seniesa said, and I know her pretty well, going into that interview, she had not alluded to me prior. That was the first time I had heard her say some of those things, and it was on camera and a live interview. So, I am taken aback. I was thinking I wish you had told me all this beforehand, so I could have prepared for it. But at the same time, that’s what makes it so real and so raw. My instant reaction and her feelings. Maybe she didn’t go in intending to go into such detail about her battles and struggles. I knew some of the injury stuff but not the other stuff, and that was just Seniesa being in the moment. I think she wanted to get it off her chest, but she also trusted me in that space. Maybe like a therapeutic release, to finally put all that stuff out there. I feel fortunate to have that trust with her so I could tell her story. I hope to do more of that.”

There have been many highlights for Crystina Poncher during her time calling fights and more for Top Rank on ESPN.

“My first time interviewing Vasiliy Lomachenko for ESPN in the ring after he fought Anthony Crolla at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles,” is one stand-out moment for Poncher. “That was a big moment for me. I was the first person to interview him after he stepped off the plane when he first signed his promotional deal with Top Rank. So, to see him from that to then handling big fight night responsibilities in a big venue in my backyard, where I grew up in Southern California. So that was a big moment for me.

“The interview with Lomachenko after the Devin Haney fight, when he was in tears. That went viral because everyone wanted to know why he was crying, and I was able to get him to open up and say it was because he felt he had disappointed his son, and he knew he had to call his son back without the belts. That was a moment where, if someone else were in the room, he might not have been as candid in that emotional moment after such a devastating loss.

“One of my dreams was to have an interview show on ESPN, and that is still one of my dreams to this point, maybe with a platform change. To have time with Seniesa and Yokasta Valle on the network when they were side-by-side. We did the same with Teofimo Lopez, where we looked back on his greatest moments, which was a 30-minute special. Even those moments, away from the fights, where I am talking to the fighters about their journeys, really stand out for me. That’s also what I am passionate about.”

The future might be uncertain right now. But Poncher is confident that her future will include boxing in some way, shape, or form. “I definitely want to stay in boxing,” Poncher said. “Boxing has my heart, and I don’t ever see myself not being involved in the sport in some capacity. My goal would be to continue to do play-by-play in the number one seat on a network here in the United States. Those seats are so few and far between, especially now with no television networks. So, I hope that it can come to fruition, and if that is with Top Rank’s new broadcaster, that would be ideal. But we don’t know who that is right now, so in the meantime, I have to see what else is out there.

“I feel fortunate to know that I am still a great reporter, a great host, and I can do play-by-play, so even if I have to do a different role for now, I feel comfortable I can do any role on a broadcast team. If I have to do that temporarily, either with Top Rank or another broadcaster, I am confident that eventually I can get back to where I am best suited. Personally, my goal to have my own show hasn’t changed. I have long been asked when am I going to start a podcast, so even in a space where everyone has a podcast, I probably need to get that going.”