Well Ive finally managed to track down a copy in sunny Edinburgh. The mag looks good, decnt pics and a good strong knowlegable writing team. However I was put of buying it for a couple of reasons..
1) Im not an expert in these things by any stretch of the imagination but the typeset of the articles all seemed double spaced which gave it a rather lightweight feel. It looked as though the whole magazine could be read in around half an hour which made the £3.20 cover price seem a bit hefty.
2) The ringcard girls section seemd a bit of a space filler really. whilst the pics looked very nice
it seemed the kind of thing that would be likely found in FHM rather than a boxing magazine.
3) Whilst it looks impressive, with its glossy pages, colour pictures etc I think Id prefer substance over style.
Its good that its done from a British viewpoint, as opposed to Boxing Monthly which is way too American based for my tastes, though.
I dont know about others, but something that would interest me would be a regular feature on the unsing fighters who in reality keep the game ticking in this country. Whilst I can see why you need the (predictable) articles about Froch and Hatton to grab the more casual reader, what about the guys who never really get the recognition but continually feature on the SN cards as the good ols S/O's? Im thinking about guys like Nigel Rafferty, who someone menioned previously or the Peter Buckleys of this world.
If someone buys the mag because of say a Hatton or Danny Williams piece and reads about guys like this who have other jobs but still train 6-7 days a week without the glamour or the money, then who knows, maybe they will discover there is a genuine side to our sport. There are guys who will fight whoever is put infront of them, often for little reward, financial recompense or a chance of winning, but do it for a genuine love of the game and that its not all big time prima donnas who will only fight for certain belts against hand picked opposition on conditions that suit them.
I dont know what the deal is with the distribution comapany but after weeks of looking I could only it in a WH Smiths at one of those edge of town shopping complexes in Edinburgh. If the deal is that the only major chain that sells it is Smiths then I cant see many copies of it being sold in this neck of the woods Im afraid. We have loads of John Menzies in Edinburgh and many RS McColls, but WH Smiths are few and far between.
I say this because whilst Im not buying the current issue I will keep an eye on future issues and buy one if something appeals. This is very difficult when theres only a couple of branches of Smiths and only one Borders I think.
However the mag defenitaly has potential. Good Luck
