Norm Frauenheim (born 1949) is a sports

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

from

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. Frauenheim had a weekly

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

column at ''

The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...

''. Apart from his duties as boxing writer, he also reports on

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

games, going to every Suns' game throughout the NBA season, and he works on

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

basketball games. One of his NCAA basketball game reports earned him an award. His work has also appeared in USA Today, Los Angeles Times and New York Times. He covered Canelo Alvarez' victory over Sergey Kovalev in November 2019 and Tyson Fury's win over Deontay Wilder in February 2020 for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He covered Timothy Bradley's controversial decision over Manny Pacquiao in June 2012 for ''The New York Times''. Frauenheim is best known for his boxing articles. With his column, he helped Arizona boxing fans familiarize themselves with boxers such as

Johnny Tapia John Lee Anthony Tapia (February 13, 1967 – May 27, 2012) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2011. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the unified IBF and WBO super flyweight title ...

Fernando Vargas Fernando Javier Vargas (born December 7, 1977) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2007. He was a two-time light middleweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 1998 to 2000, and the WBA title from 2 ...

, Danny Romero and many other non-Arizona residents. He was also important in developing a fan base for local fighters including the then amateur

Michael Carbajal Michael Carbajal (born September 17, 1967) is an American five-time world boxing champion of Mexican descent. His nickname was "Little Hands of Stone" after his favorite boxer, "Hands of Stone" Roberto Durán. Amateur career Carbajal had an amat ...

and Yvonne Trevino. He has also written columns on the careers of Phoenix residents Jesús González,

Vassiliy Jirov Vassiliy Valeryevich Jirov (; born 4 April 1974), sometimes known as Vasily Zhirov, is a Kazakhstani former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2009, and held the IBF cruiserweight title from 1999 to 2003. As an amateur he won a gold ...

, and

José Miguel Cotto José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

, who is Puerto Rican. In 1998, Frauenheim was one of the first boxing writers in Arizona to announce that

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1985 and 2024. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "the Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson i ...

had moved there. Frauenheim was one of the first writers to note that

Julio César Chávez Julio César Chávez González (; born July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. A multiple-time world champion in three weight divisions, Chávez was liste ...

allegedly left Phoenix without taking a

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and many other animals. In placental mammals, urine flows from the Kidney (vertebrates), kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder and exits the urethra through the penile meatus (mal ...

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

test for the Arizona State Boxing Commission after his 2000 bout with

Kostya Tszyu Konstantin Borisovich "Kostya" Tszyu ( ; rus, Константин Борисович «Костя» Цзю, , kənstɐnʲˈtʲin bɐˈrisəvʲɪtɕ ˈkosʲtʲə ˈdzːʲu; born 19 September 1969) is a Russian-Australian former professional b ...

. In another of his columns, published on February 1, 2005, he described local trainer Joe Diaz as "volatile". Frauenheim won the first place award in 2000 from the Arizona Press Club in the category "Sports Deadline Reporting" and the second place award in the same category. Both awards were related to his work as a special reporter for the ''Republic'' at the 2000

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

. In 2008, Frauenheim won the Boxing Writers Association of America's Fleischer Award for excellence in boxing journalism. In 2003, he won the second place award from the Arizona Press Club for his article titled "

humiliated by

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

". He also earned the third place on the "Sports enterprise reporting under 1,000 words" category for his article named " de la Hoya set for defining fight". That same year, he was named, alongside 35 other boxing reporters from across the US, to vote on a proposition by

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008 after a prostitution scandal. A member of the Democratic Party, he was also ...

. The proposition would have introduced a series of measures protecting boxers fighting in the United States. The panel also included

Larry Merchant Larry Merchant (born Larry Kaufman; February 11, 1931) is an American sportswriter, a longtime commentator for HBO sports presentations of ''HBO World Championship Boxing'', '' Boxing After Dark'' and HBO pay-per-view telecasts, called "the gre ...

, Wallace Matthews and

International Boxing Hall of Fame The International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, right next to exit 34 of the New York State Thruway, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected on ballots cre ...

member, writer Bill Gallo. Frauenheim is frequently seen at press conferences held before fights in Arizona. He informs his readers when a press conference is free for the public to attend, or when a boxer will have a public workout, so that fans can meet their favorite boxers. He is also sent frequently to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

to cover large boxing events for ''The Arizona Republic''.

References

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/196700-boxing-writers-to-present-awards-live-on-internet-friday-night {{DEFAULTSORT:Frauenheim, Norm 1950 births Living people Writers from Arizona American sports journalists Place of birth missing (living people)