Where is a boxing fan without the internet?

Bard of Boxrec · Post by **Bard of Boxrec** » 07 Mar 2005, 13:51

I was just thinking, the Internet really is an essential tool for the boxing fan these days, with limited TV exposure and pretty much no other way of knowing who the relevant champs and contenders are. I suppose there aren't many die hard, knowledgeable fight fans who don't use the Internet, and those who don't, how the hell do they keep up with the sport?

I suppose it's the same with other sports, only to a lesser extent because they don't need to know as many champs and stuff.

ABA Boxing · Post by **ABA Boxing** » 07 Mar 2005, 14:02

I use to buy Boxing Monthly and Boxing News, i dont bother with any of them except when they have a Calender!

Internet is now fast and free!

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 07 Mar 2005, 14:05

Mmmm. I used to read the letters page in BN through but now most of the stuff is opinion that came out on the internet in the day or so after a fight or news story and is just plain old news by the time it hits the presses. BN gets away with it because of the granularity of its coverage though.

neil r · Post by **neil r** » 07 Mar 2005, 15:48

yep, its just the internet for me these days. never liked boxing monthly and stopped getting boxing news when my subscription ran out last november due to a variety of reasons, price, content, deliver fornicate ups and nothing actually being done about it etc.

so its really just the interscooby for me now

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 08 Mar 2005, 05:51

I have to say I stopped buying magazines regularly a while back, I think really that the print based magazines in the long run are surely going to be fighting a losing battle. There will always be a place for them, but in terms of reporting they are becoming less important

The one saving grace they have is that a lot, though certainly not all of the websites don't have good editorial control, and as a consqeuence have a lot of unadulterated bollocks published, which compromises their worth as magazines.

Print media also carries more gravitas, but in time, I think the main boxing websites will become more and more respected as equals.

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 08 Mar 2005, 06:19

I still get Boxing News each week, the internet is a great source of information , but i still find Boxing News good for reporting the British fights, that maybe don't get covered in depth on the net.

Also i read it cover to cover on a friday evening after work, whilst having a bath. nice and relaxing.

Might have been a bit to much information there.

I don't get Boxing Monthly that often, just if theres an interesting article about a certain boxer that i want to see.

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 08 Mar 2005, 08:00

I too stopped getting my BN after they took the piss with the xmas edition once again this year.
They devote too many pages to what I think is just simply padding, the adverts in the xmas edition was just a joke, yet they made a big deal on the cover of how many pages were in it.

They have got lazy and complacent, there was a thread on here on improvements that could be made and some of them were excellent things that wouldn`t cost a great deal if any.

James McDonnell recently spoke to Tyzu and put it on a web site for what I gather was free, wouldn`t it be a good idea if some of BN readers who did a similar thing published these in the paper and if they only got the price of their phone call back I`m sure all concerned would be happy.

Sadly I think BN are too stuck in their ways, after just over 20yrs I to have stopped getting it.
My local newsagent who is the only one in town who stocks it only ever gets in 4-5 copies from what I gather, what does this say then :(

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 08 Mar 2005, 08:18

I orignally tried to get it in a newspaper, but the problem is Tszyu is virtually unknown to boxing fans. With regard to the boxing magazines, they will already have people doing that sort of thing, and you need to provide something they haven't already got covered. The lone piece I got published in Boxing News was a piece on Ian Irwin, who I interviewed about Britain's olympic chances.

Sadly, sports magazines are not huge earners, and therefore unless you're a permanent staff writer, you aren't going to earn a living from it. Even then I doubt many people are getting rich off that alone.

Eventually the internet will have big and well established commercial sites with decent incomes who will pay their writers much as the magazines do, but it's taking longer than anticipated. Even when many of my articles on maxboxing were members only pieces last year, I still wasn't receiving payment for them. I do it because I enjoy it, but will continue to look for paid work here and there.

Bard of Boxrec · Post by **Bard of Boxrec** » 08 Mar 2005, 08:19

thanks for the responses, I hadn't thought about magazines, for some reason. They're always buried under a pile of waterskiing or fishing magazines whenever I look for them in newsagents. The train station remains the best place for Ring and KO.

Not that I ever buy them, just leaf through while I'm waiting.

Hows the Uppercut magazine going james? is it still around?

tonyevs · Post by **tonyevs** » 08 Mar 2005, 08:35

Does anybody know what BN subscription numbers are and how many they sell?
The boxing magazine are like I`ve said before,for the occasional enthusiast.
BN was for the real follower of the game, but with the internet getting more popular its losing ground quickly.

dondada · Post by **dondada** » 08 Mar 2005, 08:46

I subscribe to both BN and BM.

I would also pick up the occasional copy of the Yankee mags...if I ever saw them on a news stand, which I simply don't anymore.

I don't give a monkeys what anyone says - it's nice to have a hard copy and really helps when you need to look things up.

The Internet is getting more respected and it will continue to do so. It might be the way of the future and is still only in its infancy. I hope it doesn't take over from printed publications though and don't think it ever will.

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 08 Mar 2005, 08:51

In defence of Boxing News, I have to say that reading a copy on public transport normally keeps the seat next to me clear.

Foggy · Post by **Foggy** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:02

Coconut wrote:In defence of Boxing News, I have to say that reading a copy on public transport normally keeps the seat next to me clear.

Foggy · Post by **Foggy** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:07

I get all my info from the net, mainly Secondsout & Boxrec, sometimes also look on teletext but i dont really rate that to be honest, the nets the place to go, i know i'd be lost without it anyway. Also the web got me back into boxing, if the net wasnt around i doubt i would have got back into watching or following boxing.

chris s · Post by **chris s** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:17

I don't have the same enthisiasm for BN that I carried when Harry Mullan's was the editor.

However, I still can't imagine being without it even though a lot of the editorial cotent is dire. For fornicate sake Jim Brady's stuff is awful. Think I still get it out of loyalty and haven't missed an issue for 26 years. I know I've had a dig at BN but fair play to them for surviving in a ever growing interweb world.

Boxing Monthly, I never bother with and if I'm travelling and a Yank mag looks good I get that.

Fair play to the inetrnet reporters who work for nothing but some of the stuff on Brit Boxing and Doghouse is so long winded, you lose your way 200 words in and it takes about ten minutes to get to the gist of the story.
If I want to read 1000 word articles I buy a Sunday newspaper that is well written. Dave Payne's stuff is about the best on the web

Slapsie Maxie · Post by **Slapsie Maxie** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:25

I buy BN every week. The writing is pedestrian to say the least and often shabby, but I guess I have been in the habit of buying it since 1987, so can't stop.

BM is BS.

I get most of my info from the net

if I want to get serious writing on boxing, I go back to my old books by McIlveny(sp?) Liebling and Plimpton. I am afraid there are no writers around today who even come with in a country mile of these three

Slapsie

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:34

I would agree with you there, but there's a reason for that. Those guys cut their teeth as sports reporters, travelling all over the place to cover fights in the days when national newspapers had at least one main boxing writer and often more than one.

Boxing was big back then, and there was a lot more scope to write about the sport in more than just bald reportage and newspaper writers could wax lyrical on their subject matter, no longer.

Nowadays the newspapers coverage of boxing is generally atrophic, it amounts to little more than a couple of columns.

It's horses for courses, but the internet allows for far more indepth examination of the sport, which is precisely what McIlvanney and the like excelled at. The style of writing they employed simply isn't desirable for the newspapers these days, generally speaking they just want a simple fight report/interview etc.

I've been a bit of a long winded bastard in the past, though these days I've managed to temper my natural gassiness, but I still like to write more than just a simple fight report or interview, as the internet is one of the few places where you have an audience who are interested is some of the more obscure facts and details surrounding a fight.

The fact is, the internet offers far more scope for writers and readers alike, there are varying styles and approaches on offer, and the readers pick the site which suits them best.

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:38

I recall starting a similar thread a couple of years back, might have been on the old ESB forum. The point of me saying that is that I've been using the internet for boxing news exclusively for probably going on 4 years.

In a way I do feel bad, Boxing News love them or hate them are a boxing institution in my opinion and I feel that in some way, by not buying it, I'm not helping the sport? The truth is I probably help the sport more by shelling £500 a year to Sky Sports (+ PPV).

Boxing magazines problem to me are clear, they are out of date.

I also think Boxing News have been extremely naive and old-fashioned in ignoring the internet, I don't believe they have a site etc. From there they should be looking at subscription based on-line news services and even streaming content etc.

Possibly already too late for them because others have appeared and done what they should have years ago, Boxing News already had the name and reputation on which they could have launched such a service...

Neri · Post by **Neri** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:45

I get BN every week but most of the news i have already read on boxing sites. Still wouldnt miss it

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:48

I wondered that myself, but my guess is this. The staff writers there already work their bollocks off to get each edition produced on time. When you consider the amount of material which ahs to be produced, edited and then turned into page format for printing, there isn't really time for

Considering that some of the magazine format sites, like maxboxing and fightnews probably have a total combined staff of around 30-50 writers each, compared to what, maybe 10 on a good week for boxing news, and you see what I mean.

I agree though, they should have got on-line a couple of years back, but it would require the support of their publishing company and a budget to do so, I'm sure Bennie knows more about this, but I can imagine the problems would be numerous. From my scant involvement in a disastrous magazine, I know how much work is involved.

Coconut · Post by **Coconut** » 08 Mar 2005, 09:52

chris s wrote:I still get it out of loyalty and haven't missed an issue for 26 years.

Mate, if you'd saved your money you could have had a holiday by now...

chris s wrote:if I'm travelling and a Yank mag looks good I get that

I steer clear of the top shelf when I'm travelling

I'm sorry, Chris...

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 08 Mar 2005, 10:12

jamesmcdonnell wrote:I wondered that myself, but my guess is this. The staff writers there already work their bollocks off to get each edition produced on time. When you consider the amount of material which ahs to be produced, edited and then turned into page format for printing, there isn't really time for

Considering that some of the magazine format sites, like maxboxing and fightnews probably have a total combined staff of around 30-50 writers each, compared to what, maybe 10 on a good week for boxing news, and you see what I mean.

I agree though, they should have got on-line a couple of years back, but it would require the support of their publishing company and a budget to do so, I'm sure Bennie knows more about this, but I can imagine the problems would be numerous. From my scant involvement in a disastrous magazine, I know how much work is involved.

All good points James and good for Boxing News, if they too are happy to go out of business within a decade then they should just carry on as they are…

I know when I spent a few weeks there 15 years ago they had this old (Greek?) bloke as an owner who I gathered back then wasn’t very forward thinking. But now I think they are part of a bigger group who might have been more receptive to such ideas?

It's not Boxing News's fault, just the way I see things going....

Goz · Post by **Goz** » 08 Mar 2005, 10:14

Boxing Monthly have a reasonable website on which you can order back issues etc, read samples from the latest edition. Their forum however is an embarrassment to the publication (or should be) some of the things allowed to pass on it are astounding.

jamesmcdonnell · Post by **jamesmcdonnell** » 08 Mar 2005, 10:19

Goz wrote:
jamesmcdonnell wrote:I wondered that myself, but my guess is this. The staff writers there already work their bollocks off to get each edition produced on time. When you consider the amount of material which ahs to be produced, edited and then turned into page format for printing, there isn't really time for much else

Considering that some of the magazine format sites, like maxboxing and fightnews probably have a total combined staff of around 30-50 writers each, compared to what, maybe 10 on a good week for boxing news, and you see what I mean.

I agree though, they should have got on-line a couple of years back, but it would require the support of their publishing company and a budget to do so, I'm sure Bennie knows more about this, but I can imagine the problems would be numerous. From my scant involvement in a disastrous magazine, I know how much work is involved.
All good points James and good for Boxing News, if they too are happy to go out of business within a decade then they should just carry on as they are…

I know when I spent a few weeks there 15 years ago they had this old (Greek?) bloke as an owner who I gathered back then wasn’t very forward thinking. But now I think they are part of a bigger group who might have been more receptive to such ideas?

It's not Boxing News's fault, just the way I see things going....

They are owned by a big scottish company who own shed loads of other titles. I dare say, no disrespect to Boxing News at all, that they are pretty low down on their list of priorities. Boxing magazines are up against it because it's a fringe sport.