ARE WE HAPPY WITH THE DIRECTION OF THE BOXING NEWS ??

[Daveyswan]

In my view Boxing News is no 1! Cant wait to pick it up every Thursday. I prefered it on a Friday as was a sort of welcome to the weekend! One thing tho, the bxggers at Charing Cross WH Smiths keep trying to hide it from everyone... Bottom shelf at the very end if anyones travelling through and needs a copy.

Websites are great for gossip and breaking news but just cant beat hard copy publications for features and news.

D

[gobbles]

Boxing News is far better now than it was under Claude.

Just the news pages alone have picked up enormously and you actually feel the stories have been checked out or come from genuine sources rather than just being gossip.

[mickey1975]

We try to offer different perspectives on news stories and speak exclusively to the key players to offer something more than just breaking news. I think the ams comment was harsh, especially given how regularly Messrs Bozeat (Midlands), Donald (Scotland) and Myler (Ireland) contribute to that section.

Yes,maybe i was a little harsh.It just seems to have an update on everything Repton does.

[dbflex]

I think they just "do" a lot haha. Boys in championships, on the international squads and trips to exotic climes (currently Nigeria). but its not a conscious leaning I promise

[oliverfennell]

i don't read it religiously like i used to but I still get it most weeks. True, I generally skip over the "South African" or "Japanese" write ups.........maybe this is why so many of our fighters get billed to be World beaters and then fall short ..... bit like our national football team, cos we spend that much time just talking about ourselves it comes as a shock we some foreigner busts up a British fighter or England get beat by Ukraine etc...

I guess a lot of the Asian and African stuff seems irrelevant to the British fan since our guys rarely fight their guys, but personally I think it's valid, especially when about world titles or world-level operators. Plus, you never know when it MIGHT turn out to be relevant. For example, we'd have known less about Dunne v Poonsawat or Munroe v Nishioka without BN's coverage of the "foreigners". I very much doubt many British fans have read much about Poonsawat or Nishioka online, save for accessing their Boxrec records.

Personally, I'd rather have a page of world title action from Thailand or Japan or SA than a page on a small US club show, which BN does sometimes carry, too.

[oliverfennell]

Letter's page back then meant more to me than anything that could have appeared on the front page.

A couple of times, a letter HAS been on the front page - one from FWarren re. the above-mentioned spat, and one from Jimmy Vincent after he controversially adjudged to have lost against David Barnes.

[chinny]

My tuppence worth:

- After a slow start (partly due to v few big fights early in the year), a big improvement on where the paper was a year ago. It feels fresher. Even the letters seem to be better chosen, more thoughtful and less dumbed down.

- The back page interviews really need freshening up. Why do the questions have to be so generic. Who cares what car these guys drive or who they want to have dinner with? Surely given the audience is an educated boxing fan, lets focus on the interesting elements of the specific fighters life, either in or out of the ring. Not vacuous, generic nonsense about how good Scarface is.

- Excellent, well thought out and topical opinion columns from Mee, Scully, Atlas and Mcrae.

- The Mag 7 pull out preview left me a bit uneasy. It had 'Sky Box office (and ph no)' and 'allegedly Promotions' plastered on every page and was clearly sponsored in some form. Was it a preview or was it an 'advertorial'? I would expect a newspaper to point out any paid for content.

- For what it is worth Danny, your writing has come on leaps and bounds IMO, some excellent features so far this year

- Have to mention the horrible errors in taking the satirical Hauser WBC piece and reporting it in the news section. That was close to unforgivable.

[dbflex]

My tuppence worth:

- After a slow start (partly due to v few big fights early in the year), a big improvement on where the paper was a year ago. It feels fresher. Even the letters seem to be better chosen, more thoughtful and less dumbed down.

- The back page interviews really need freshening up. Why do the questions have to be so generic. Who cares what car these guys drive or who they want to have dinner with? Surely given the audience is an educated boxing fan, lets focus on the interesting elements of the specific fighters life, either in or out of the ring. Not vacuous, generic nonsense about how good Scarface is.

- Excellent, well thought out and topical opinion columns from Mee, Scully, Atlas and Mcrae.

- The Mag 7 pull out preview left me a bit uneasy. It had 'Sky Box office (and ph no)' and 'allegedly Promotions' plastered on every page and was clearly sponsored in some form. Was it a preview or was it an 'advertorial'? I would expect a newspaper to point out any paid for content.

- For what it is worth Danny, your writing has come on leaps and bounds IMO, some excellent features so far this year

- Have to mention the horrible errors in taking the satirical Hauser WBC piece and reporting it in the news section. That was close to unforgivable.

The pull-out WAS sponsored, the branding made that clear but it was not an advertorial. We would have carried the previews in the mag anyway but the sponsorship allowed us to do so without losing eight pages from the main magazine and gave readers eight extra pages gratis. The editorial content was, and always will be, completely free from outside influence. We were free to say the show was terrible but in fairness if we thought that we wouldn't have wanted a pull-out on it, regardless of sponsorship.

[dbflex]

We should also note that the majority of our previous pull-outs have been sponsored, by Setanta (Haye-Maccarinelli) or whoever.

[Jeff Thomas]

My view

Firstly love the mag, and think you guys do a fab job... Buy the mag mostly out of habit these days tbh but it still accompanies me during almost every crap I have during the week

Think the covers are always really good- great picture choices etc

The first few pages are always awash with small bits of info I've missed in the week. I think that there is a little bit of favouritism towards certain promoters- I understand why , I think but I still prefered the fact that BN seemed so much more objective a few years back- even if it meant reporting fights from the back of a hall.

I've requested several times a profile of the top ten fighters in each division- I think it would provide those new to boxing with a bit more understanding but it always seems to fall on def ears. I'm in the process of putting a top ten list together for FMP.

I don't mind the foreign stuff- but it needs to be made relevant to its effects on UK boxing a little more. Also Youtube clips should be referenced where possible.

Could think of more stuff but just at my mums having a brew

[dbflex]

Thanks Jeff, it's hard to discuss this perceived bias without specific examples but I can promise you, on a general level, that it's certainly not conscious. Bear in mind I was banned from a Warren show just last year.

[orbtastic]

BM is known to make my legs go numb while reading on the bog, this has yet to happen with BN, maybe it's because I skip the letters and ama section.

[doctorboxing]

- The back page interviews really need freshening up. Why do the questions have to be so generic. Who cares what car these guys drive or who they want to have dinner with? Surely given the audience is an educated boxing fan, lets focus on the interesting elements of the specific fighters life, either in or out of the ring. Not vacuous, generic nonsense about how good Scarface is.

Agree with this, although the best question is always "what non-boxing publication do you read?". 99 times out of 100 the answer seems to be "I don't read anything apart from BN". I remember one (I can't remember who it was) where the answer was "I sometimes read my wifes magazines like OK and that, when they are scattered about the house" You would think, at least some of them would read books???

[doctorboxing]

I am happy with BN and happy with the majority of the changes since Tris took over. The guest columnist and the panel are great additions to the magazine and some of the features recently have been great, particularly the Jason Booth one.

Last week though had some guy from America writing up the Mosley-Mora card that seemed to want to use an analogy for everything, which was a bit irritating. However that was all fine, until he said something unforgivable like "The kids are alright (if you don't mind another Rolling Stones reference)". The Kids are alright was by the best band of all time, The Who not the Stones!

If thats the only comments I can think to criticize then you are doing a good job! (Apart from the BBC campaign ;;-) )

[chinny]

We would have carried the previews in the mag anyway but the sponsorship allowed us to do so without losing eight pages from the main magazine and gave readers eight extra pages gratis.

Makes sense I guess, thanks for clarifying.

[reggaereggae]

I think the direction BN is going in is very good - it looks more polished, slick, the artwork is very much improved - good graphics.

I didn't think Claude was a very good writer...but he was sincere without being fan-like.

I can't pretend to enjoy Tris Dixon's writing. I find it rather jejune. However with John Dennen (?) and DOnald Macrae I feel they have brought on better writers.

Overall - I think Dixon has done a good job from an editorial perspective - I think the magazine has improved under him...BUT he should go on a writing course.

So...... in answer - yes, I do like the direction BN is taking; and I prefer the longer write ups for international fights, especially European fights - I WANT ringside reporst from the big European shows, esp as GErmany is a bit of a powerhouse these days.

[dondada]

I find it rather jejune.

Literally the first time this word has ever been used on this forum.

[orbtastic]

I find it rather jejune.

Literally the first time this word has ever been used on this forum.

I had exactly the same thought. I like it.

[reggaereggae]

I find it rather jejune.

Literally the first time this word has ever been used on this forum.

I had exactly the same thought. I like it.

um thank you! I'm not sure Tris will be as pleased at its use!

[Bricks]

Look most of you , I expect , I am an avid reader of the BOXING NEWS . I look forward to getting my copy each week ( sad , I know ) and have done for many years . But , I'm just a little bit concerned about the direction it is taking . Tris Dixon , the new editor , had a hard act to follow in Claude Abrams , and I wish him well , but the significant shift to coverage of foreign fight bills ,and foreign fighters I feel is more to do with profits and marketing than providing the traditional service to the BRITISH boxing public .
Not so long ago Eric Armit had a half page column in which he reported on the results of fights from around the world . This was stopped , apparently , because there was insufficient interest from readers . Now we have full page reports on obscure fights in obscure parts of the world and I'm sue I'm not the only British reader who quickly passes over them . Another issue I have is the last page feature on specific boxers . Last week it was on the washed up and pretty average Vivian Harris . How many readers were particulalrly interested in who Vivian Harris would like to invite to a party - unless of course you were one of the invitees and he was providing the free drink !!
I've read many interesting articles written by Tris Dixon when touring America meeting old time fighters , but I'm afraid he's fast running out of interesting characters worthy of large articles.
Maybe if I was a shareholder in Newsquest ( who I think are the owners ) I would be encouraging the team to set out the magazine to encourage overseas interest , but I am sorry to say , I'm beginning to think the British boxing fan is starting to be short changed .
Am I well off the mark ?

I hated BN undeer Claude, Tris is a breath of fresh air, hes a much better writer and there is more to read these days. Its a learning curve he will get the balance right soon enouh

[markinmidd]

I still look forwards to my boxing news.Like the new additions such as atlas scully roach putting there bits in.Great action shots on page 2 and 3.Loved the piece on boothy, top writing that.Like all dannys work,supurb writer at such a yougish! age haha.Keep it up.i like the featuers on boxers favourite fights in there careers,features on retired fighters.yeah, as you can see....love it!!!!

[chinny]

Surely given the audience is an educated boxing fan, lets focus on the interesting elements of the specific fighters life, either in or out of the ring. Not vacuous, generic nonsense about how good Scarface is.

I was interested to read this morning that Craig Lyon doesn't read books and his favourite film is Scarface.

[15829]

couldnt get mine anywhere today :(

[telboy66]

couldnt get mine anywhere today :(

Get yourself a subscription mate I'm sitting reading mine now

[15829]

i really should buy it every week