Boxing News

[Spud]

I have decided to reorder the Boxing News - although a lot of info is found on the net - with the demise of Setanta - ITV pulling out soon and what I feel is p*ss poor coverage on Sky TV (I do not mean the presenters - I am on about the endless predictable fights!!!) - I feel the need to get my "fix" of boxing elsewhere and in comes Boxing News!!

Lets keep to the basics here and no this thread is not an excuse for "Bennie" to have a pop:

They are doing a lot more "online" stuff and with some of their additions in the writing department I like what I see and its worth the money for the time being!!!

Any thoughts on BN for the positive of course??

[saad muhammad]

I've been getting boxing news since 1980, and it's
the best it's ever been in my humble opinion.

[doctorboxing]

I am coming to the end of my current subscription and I will most likely renew it.

Does anyone know of any discount codes? I used one last time and got the year at half price - which was great value. Full price for the year may be a bit much for news that is mostly on t'internet.

[Tommy Gunn13]

Ive been buying Boxing News since march 1988
i do read on there online site aswell
In my eyes its still the best boxing mag out there,i look forward to picking it up on friday mornings before work

[whiskey]

Funny that, as i just got my reminder through last week to renew.

In a similar fashion to porn, you cant beat a a proper mag in your hand as opposed to a screen

[Scrap]

Walter Bartleman, gave me all His Boxing News,s from 1939 onwards to 1982. Did enjoy them

[Eraserhead]

I buy it now and again when I'm travelling. Other than that, I can never see the point. It's often covering fights I've already seen (obviously) or re-wording news I've already read on the internet. 20 years ago I'd have bought it every week, no doubt.

[TheCobra]

I agree with spud, I have been thinking of starting getting this again, I went through a phase on it a couple of years ago but I agree there's a lot of poo on the internet. BN do their coverage professionally, with good pictures and cover a shedload of bouts. I think I shall be subscribing soon.

[hitman_hatton1]

been buying it for about 10 yrs now.

first issue i bought was herbie getting sparked by vitali.

been a bit more on/off with it over the last year or so though.

some weeks i forget to pick the bugger up.

[tonyevs]

I get mine most weeks .. though don`t frett half as much as I used to when I didn`t get it

Pro`s = Its good to keep as a reference to look back upon, and Zachary Levin has a great writing style.

Cons = Too many pictures, adverts and amateur scene. The readers letters seem to reflect it moving more away from the serious boxing fan ...

[oliverfennell]

Whenever I've lived in the UK I've bought it religiously since 1991. The only reason I don't get it now is because the foreign subscription costs too much, and that I wouldn't get it until a Tuesday, i.e. after the majority of the previewed fights. My favourite part was always reading the previews on a Friday lunchtime. If it was cheaper and/or could be delivered quicker, I'd subscribe here. This isn't a dig, as I know they can't really do better than that, and whenever I go back I do buy it, or ask anyone who is visiting the UK to get me a copy, and I do think any committed British boxing fan should make it their duty to support our two excellent mags. Too many people complain about the decline of boxing, but what do they expect when they won't put their hands in their pockets, preferring to read everything on free websites and watch everything on free streams.

[Deserter]

I wouldn't get it until a Tuesday, i.e. after the majority of the previewed fights.

You've hit on a key flaw in the BN publishing model Oliver, yet one that is ironically easy to rectify. If they either moved the on-sale date to earlier in the week or did previews a week in advance (the latter being more problematic presumably, due to schedules changing), it would make far more sense.
I'm convinced that BN loses a certain percentage of potential copy sales each week through those individuals who for a variety of reasons can't pick up a copy on the Friday and subsequently don't bother, as the previews will be irrelevant, so the magazine loses a significant portion of its perceived value.
It's a common guideline in publishing to try and ensure that your content remains as relevant as possible for as long as possible e.g. if you are a monthly events magazine, you don't put an event happening in the first week of the month on the cover, because the cover will then be 'dead' for the following three weeks and will impact your sales accordingly.
In the case of BN, it frequently carries content that is only relevant for one or two days of its seven-day on-sale period, which is bound to impact on copy sales.

[oliverfennell]

Quite right. Boxing Monthly, for example, will often do a preview two issues ahead if a fight is falling early in the month.

To be honest, though, I always did like the Friday afternoon read because it would set me up nicely for the immediate weekend, but I can certainly see that this model probably detracts from post-Friday sales.

[Finch]

I have decided to reorder the Boxing News - although a lot of info is found on the net - with the demise of Setanta - ITV pulling out soon and what I feel is p*ss poor coverage on Sky TV (I do not mean the presenters - I am on about the endless predictable fights!!!) - I feel the need to get my "fix" of boxing elsewhere and in comes Boxing News!!

Lets keep to the basics here and no this thread is not an excuse for "Bennie" to have a pop:

They are doing a lot more "online" stuff and with some of their additions in the writing department I like what I see and its worth the money for the time being!!!

Any thoughts on BN for the positive of course??

The presenters on Sky are pudenda. Especcially that Dave Clark who knows jack shit, and adopts the Sly Sports policy of speculation, shit stirring, and bullshit hypoethical inneuendo's before letting things like facts get in the way.

[chris s]

I still think the Harry M days cannot be beaten and when I was a kid I liked Tim Mo's stuff, but over the last 12-18 months I think it has improved so much and isn't so stale.

They seem to have enthusiastic writers with passion, and with boxing getting so little coverage we should embrace the trade papers.

[Carbo]

Whenever I've lived in the UK I've bought it religiously since 1991. The only reason I don't get it now is because the foreign subscription costs too much, and that I wouldn't get it until a Tuesday, i.e. after the majority of the previewed fights. My favourite part was always reading the previews on a Friday lunchtime. If it was cheaper and/or could be delivered quicker, I'd subscribe here. This isn't a dig, as I know they can't really do better than that, and whenever I go back I do buy it, or ask anyone who is visiting the UK to get me a copy, and I do think any committed British boxing fan should make it their duty to support our two excellent mags. Too many people complain about the decline of boxing, but what do they expect when they won't put their hands in their pockets, preferring to read everything on free websites and watch everything on free streams.

What a brilliant post, Oliver.

I agree wholeheartedly, and thinking about Boxing News brings back great memories of scouring it on a Friday lunchtime at work, and then flicking through it in the pub when waiting for friends to arrive. One of life's true pleasures -- something along the lines of ice cold bone dry cider in a beer garden on a hot day, or a warm mug of your mother's mutton and barley soup in the dead of winter. Something comforting and quite wonderful.

It's a brilliant, brilliant magazine, by a long way the best boxing magazine in the world, and I include the Ring in that.

One thing of the subscription abroad. I subscribe to The Economist from here in Russia, and it's delivered pretty close to it's print time. I think that it comes on the same Monday as it does in the UK. I may be wrong with that, and I have no idea how they do it, but there you go. Perhaps they have a printer/distributer here?

Anyway: Boxing News is awesome. An institution. Of course, I'm not saying it's perfect, and there's room for improvement, but I think it's a pretty darn good effort.

A special word for Claude Abrams, who is a brilliant journalist and an underrated writer.

Holy shit! I really blew some sunshine on that post, didn't I?

[bennie]

Some writing talent would be nice, some professional headlining and captioning. The mag was a hundred times better under Gilbert Odd and Graham Houston, and with Harry Mullan in the early 1980s. Right now, I've been informed by the old Fleet Street pros that is it harmless, dull and not worth the money.

[csmith]

I have been buying it religiously for more than 20 years now though oddly I have never thought to subscribe.
When I first started buying it,it was a bugger to find in any newsagents and it was a real buzz on a Friday morning to try to locate a copy.
To a lesser extent Friday is still "Boxing News Day" although my wife usually buys it in Asda for me nowadays

[banjo]

I have decided to reorder the Boxing News - although a lot of info is found on the net - with the demise of Setanta - ITV pulling out soon and what I feel is p*ss poor coverage on Sky TV (I do not mean the presenters - I am on about the endless predictable fights!!!) - I feel the need to get my "fix" of boxing elsewhere and in comes Boxing News!!

Lets keep to the basics here and no this thread is not an excuse for "Bennie" to have a pop:

They are doing a lot more "online" stuff and with some of their additions in the writing department I like what I see and its worth the money for the time being!!!

Any thoughts on BN for the positive of course??

The presenters on Sky are pudenda. Especcially that Dave Clark who knows jack poop, and adopts the Sly Sports policy of speculation, poop stirring, and bullshit hypoethical inneuendo's before letting things like facts get in the way.

I think you'll find that is the policy of journalism in general.

[Old bones Ian]

One of the highlights of my week is reading Boxing News whilst laid in the bath on a friday evening.

It also shows how sad my life is if thats a highlight!!

[dbflex]

Quite right. Boxing Monthly, for example, will often do a preview two issues ahead if a fight is falling early in the month.

To be honest, though, I always did like the Friday afternoon read because it would set me up nicely for the immediate weekend, but I can certainly see that this model probably detracts from post-Friday sales.

You make a valid point but let's remember there are pitfalls to this approach. The Monthly went with Haye-Klitschko on the cover but the fight had fallen through by the time they hit the shelves. We have to balance getting the mag out earlier enough so people can read it pre-Friday but also late enough to include breaking news and to change stuff around if fights get called off or opponents changed – just this week Chris John pulled out then Juarez fell off the bill entirely. If we'd gone to press a day or two early, that would have been missed and we'd be stuck with an irrelevant preview. So it's a delicate balance not an easy solution.

[Deserter]

Quite right. Boxing Monthly, for example, will often do a preview two issues ahead if a fight is falling early in the month.

To be honest, though, I always did like the Friday afternoon read because it would set me up nicely for the immediate weekend, but I can certainly see that this model probably detracts from post-Friday sales.

You make a valid point but let's remember there are pitfalls to this approach. The Monthly went with Haye-Klitschko on the cover but the fight had fallen through by the time they hit the shelves. We have to balance getting the mag out earlier enough so people can read it pre-Friday but also late enough to include breaking news and to change stuff around if fights get called off or opponents changed – just this week Chris John pulled out then Juarez fell off the bill entirely. If we'd gone to press a day or two early, that would have been missed and we'd be stuck with an irrelevant preview. So it's a delicate balance not an easy solution.

It is a delicate balance, but I'd be willing to bet significant sums that if you moved the on-sale time back to a Tuesday, for example, the only time a preview of a fight that falls through will cost you copy sales is if it's the cover story.
It's also worth bearing in mind that most copies of mags shift from the newsstand from Wednesday-Friday, so BN's current schedule doesn't allow it to capitalise on that.

[dbflex]

Quite right. Boxing Monthly, for example, will often do a preview two issues ahead if a fight is falling early in the month.

To be honest, though, I always did like the Friday afternoon read because it would set me up nicely for the immediate weekend, but I can certainly see that this model probably detracts from post-Friday sales.

You make a valid point but let's remember there are pitfalls to this approach. The Monthly went with Haye-Klitschko on the cover but the fight had fallen through by the time they hit the shelves. We have to balance getting the mag out earlier enough so people can read it pre-Friday but also late enough to include breaking news and to change stuff around if fights get called off or opponents changed – just this week Chris John pulled out then Juarez fell off the bill entirely. If we'd gone to press a day or two early, that would have been missed and we'd be stuck with an irrelevant preview. So it's a delicate balance not an easy solution.

It is a delicate balance, but I'd be willing to bet significant sums that if you moved the on-sale time back to a Tuesday, for example, the only time a preview of a fight that falls through will cost you copy sales is if it's the cover story.
It's also worth bearing in mind that most copies of mags shift from the newsstand from Wednesday-Friday, so BN's current schedule doesn't allow it to capitalise on that.

We have to go to press two days before the mag is in stores. If we were in stores on a Tuesday, press day would be Friday, due to the weekend. For argument's sake let's say press day was Monday and in-store day was Wednesday. That would mean collating, editing and laying out all the weekend reports in one day. It's not really practical. Some US reports do not reach us until Wednesday. Trust me, we have thought of all these things and there are plans in the works for an online version for foreign subscribers (this is already available in the US). But what would be the perfect day to include all the ringside reports and relevant previews? I don't think there is a 'perfect' day.

[Deserter]

We have to go to press two days before the mag is in stores. If we were in stores on a Tuesday, press day would be Friday, due to the weekend. For argument's sake let's say press day was Monday and in-store day was Wednesday. That would mean collating, editing and laying out all the weekend reports in one day. It's not really practical. Some US reports do not reach us until Wednesday. Trust me, we have thought of all these things and there are plans in the works for an online version for foreign subscribers (this is already available in the US). But what would be the perfect day to include all the ringside reports and relevant previews? I don't think there is a 'perfect' day.

I don't think there is a 'perfect' day, but the huge difference between previews and reviews is that the former are time-sensitive, the latter far less so. You haven't got any print competition in terms of frequency and you can't compete with digital in terms of frequency, so if some of your US reports, for example, are held over to the following week, it's hard to see how it would detrimentally impact on the mag - fans would have already read immediate reviews/results on the net, and you'd still be first to report compared to BM. Virtually all fans already know results etc but choose to read mags on the basis of getting the 'expert/insider' view, which is exactly why BM is still able to justify a significant fight report section even though it's frequently more than a month out of date.
However, previews undoubtedly do date, for obvious reasons.

[bennie]

This thread has become as dull as the rag itself.