Veteran Philadelphia boxing writer Bernard Fernandez is an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee who has covered the sport for several decades.

He cut his journalistic teeth back home in New Orleans. The son of a prizefighter, he loved boxing from the start and looked up to the likes of Carmen Basilio rather than basketball or baseball stars and when his career took him to Philly there was only one sport on his mind.

He would cover fights involving Meldrick Taylor, Julio Cesar Chavez, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Riddick Bowe, Arturo Gatti and countless others along the way, while forming a special relationship with another Bernard from Philadelphia, Bernard Hopkins, whose career he covered from start to finish.