The Ring magazine.

[plymouthskinhead]

I take it some of you have picked up a copy of this lately? I got one yesterday and the layout since they sacked Nigel Collins is gash! No Jim Bagg, its just, well, rubbish in my humble opinion. Anyone else agree/disagree?

[loaded_gloves]

It's been rubbish for a decade. Then again, so has boxing. (unless you're a fiercely nationalistic Brit who masturbates over all the Brits who've been picking up cheap meaningless paper titles)

I looked at it the other day. Except for a very good 2 page item with Sugar Ray Leonard discussing his best opponents, the rest is throwaway. Huge font, massive pics, all to try conceal the lack of content. Outside of two month old results, there's not much else. Nothing to make you pick it up again, no special features on fighters, in depth interviews or anything historical.

God I loved The Ring in the 90s. It was inferior to Boxing Illustrated and Boxing Monthly but it still good and I bought it religiously.

[plymouthskinhead]

Beg to differ there, I actually enjoyed some of the writers, I thought they were humorous and offered good insights. Really gone downhill now since they sacked Nigel Collins et al. Bloody Golden Boy, thinks the sun shines out of his arse.

[loaded_gloves]

That's fair enough mate, I bought the odd copy in 2009 and 2010 and the writing resembled the God awful internet style boxing 'writers'. Just felt amateur. I think the great old writers who penned BI in the 80s and 90s must be dead now.

[Jon Saxon]

I take it some of you have picked up a copy of this lately? I got one yesterday and the layout since they sacked Nigel Collins is gash! No Jim Bagg, its just, well, rubbish in my humble opinion. Anyone else agree/disagree?

The 'Brown' Ring.

Long live Boxing Monthly we Brits show them how it's done better on every level.

Nuff said

[Glyn Leach]

I take it some of you have picked up a copy of this lately? I got one yesterday and the layout since they sacked Nigel Collins is gash! No Jim Bagg, its just, well, rubbish in my humble opinion. Anyone else agree/disagree?

The 'Brown' Ring.
Long live Boxing Monthly we Brits show them how it's done better on every level.
Nuff said

Hopefully. Shame though, isn't it, that a nation with the boxing strength and influence of the USA hasn't produced a decent mag since Illustrated. Inexcusable really. And the GBP stewardship of Ring(piece) will not be changing that any time soon.

Bigger shame that British fighters, managers and promoters talk about Ring belts as though their credibility is totally unaffected by one promotional group, which tries to overturn any big fight it loses, owning and patently exerting biased opinion in the mag's editorial stance. I just don't get that. But then I never got the WBU or any other title of convenience.

American fighters, TV and promoters seem scared of the financial implications of dissing GBP, they have 'reason' to play along - also, there's the boring but true maxims regarding the USA's lack of worldview and history. They don't know any better. But the British trade has no excuse, it exists on British TV money and has an older, more historic publication of its own in Boxing News.

Smacks of one of my pet hates in life, parochial little Englanders - there are people out there how still look at America and get starstruck. Quite how is beyond me.

[Jon Saxon]

I take it some of you have picked up a copy of this lately? I got one yesterday and the layout since they sacked Nigel Collins is gash! No Jim Bagg, its just, well, rubbish in my humble opinion. Anyone else agree/disagree?

The 'Brown' Ring.
Long live Boxing Monthly we Brits show them how it's done better on every level.
Nuff said

Smacks of one of my pet hates in life, parochial little Englanders - there are people out there how still look at America and get starstruck. Quite how is beyond me.

Martin Fry (of ABC) from Sheffield said it best about America...
"Larger than life but twice as ugly If we have to live there you'll have to drug me"

Mate you should take it to them, your mag could beat them.
Find a US lisencor and simply repackage your work (which is far ahead of the ring timeline wise) and get your mag out there before them every month.

This can be done, the American fans deserve a ag like BM, the ring is trully shocking.

[Glyn Leach]

The 'Brown' Ring.
Long live Boxing Monthly we Brits show them how it's done better on every level.
Nuff said

Smacks of one of my pet hates in life, parochial little Englanders - there are people out there how still look at America and get starstruck. Quite how is beyond me.

Martin Fry (of ABC) from Sheffield said it best about America...
"Larger than life but twice as ugly If we have to live there you'll have to drug me"
Mate you should take it to them, your mag could beat them.
Find a US lisencor and simply repackage your work (which is far ahead of the ring timeline wise) and get your mag out there before them every month.

Kudos on the reference Jon Partial to a bit of Martin. We've tried for years mate, virtually impossible for a Brit mag. We'd need to print in the US and the cost is way too prohibitive. As is, export copies can legally be 'restickered' by any shop selling them, hiking the price to silly levels. If we had the cash we could treat it as an investment for the future but it would take way more than we've got and there's no point being half hearted about it. Bloody shame though, I'd love to do them on their own ground, that'd be an achievement

This can be done, the American fans deserve a ag like BM, the ring is trully shocking.

[plymouthskinhead]

[quote="loaded_gloves"] Outside of two month old results, there's not much else. Nothing to make you pick it up again, no special features on fighters, in depth interviews or anything historical.
[quote]

Wot he said, I agree there, its crap! :x

[Dan Dares]

Martin Fry (of ABC) from Sheffield said it best about America...
"Larger than life but twice as ugly If we have to live there you'll have to drug me

[fightscorecollector]

i used to love the american mags , illustrated , ko , boxing 96 , 97 , the ring etc etc , i know most have went out of business but i still buy the odd ring magazine

regarding boxing monthly and boxing news , these 2 by far have been the best mags for years , the list of writers especially on monthly is excellent.

[Deserter]

Smacks of one of my pet hates in life, parochial little Englanders - there are people out there how still look at America and get starstruck. Quite how is beyond me.

Martin Fry (of ABC) from Sheffield said it best about America...
"Larger than life but twice as ugly If we have to live there you'll have to drug me"
Mate you should take it to them, your mag could beat them.
Find a US lisencor and simply repackage your work (which is far ahead of the ring timeline wise) and get your mag out there before them every month.

Kudos on the reference Jon Partial to a bit of Martin. We've tried for years mate, virtually impossible for a Brit mag. We'd need to print in the US and the cost is way too prohibitive. As is, export copies can legally be 'restickered' by any shop selling them, hiking the price to silly levels. If we had the cash we could treat it as an investment for the future but it would take way more than we've got and there's no point being half hearted about it. Bloody shame though, I'd love to do them on their own ground, that'd be an achievement

This can be done, the American fans deserve a ag like BM, the ring is trully shocking.

Further to Glyn's comments, the other massive barrier to entry in the US market is the cost of distribution as it's such a large landmass. Makes it incredibly challenging to make anything profitable on the newsstand, which is why US publishers push subscriptions so heavily.

[Jeff Thomas]

Genuinely- bm and bn are the best boxing magazines in the world.

[Jon Saxon]

Martin Fry (of ABC) from Sheffield said it best about America...
"Larger than life but twice as ugly If we have to live there you'll have to drug me"
Mate you should take it to them, your mag could beat them.
Find a US lisencor and simply repackage your work (which is far ahead of the ring timeline wise) and get your mag out there before them every month.

Kudos on the reference Jon Partial to a bit of Martin. We've tried for years mate, virtually impossible for a Brit mag. We'd need to print in the US and the cost is way too prohibitive. As is, export copies can legally be 'restickered' by any shop selling them, hiking the price to silly levels. If we had the cash we could treat it as an investment for the future but it would take way more than we've got and there's no point being half hearted about it. Bloody shame though, I'd love to do them on their own ground, that'd be an achievement

This can be done, the American fans deserve a ag like BM, the ring is trully shocking.

Further to Glyn's comments, the other massive barrier to entry in the US market is the cost of distribution as it's such a large landmass. Makes it incredibly challenging to make anything profitable on the newsstand, which is why US publishers push subscriptions so heavily.

Yes Jeff I hove heard some horror stories, recently
A friend of mine does graphic novels and they (disrtributers) force you to advertise in their industry magazine at huge cost with no guarentee that the shops will actually stock your books/mags.

I mean WTF is that all about?

[milpool]

I used to get the Ring every month, and I even defended it on here last year. However I stopped getting it about four months ago because it was getting pretty boring and I was sick of it being so out of date. I've got it this month though, but on first flick it doesn't look much to get excited about. Most of it is given to 'the Ring 100', and even that's all out of date. It has Ricky Burns at 89 and discusses his November 5th date with Katsidis. It's criminal that it's so behind the times.

Dare I say that Boxing needs a good Ring? (Insert your own joke!)

[crusader]

I used to get the Ring every month, and I even defended it on here last year. However I stopped getting it about four months ago because it was getting pretty boring and I was sick of it being so out of date. I've got it this month though, but on first flick it doesn't look much to get excited about. Most of it is given to 'the Ring 100', and even that's all out of date. It has Ricky Burns at 89 and discusses his November 5th date with Katsidis. It's criminal that it's so behind the times.

Dare I say that Boxing needs a good Ring? (Insert your own joke!)

Some of their rankings are puzzling. For example, in his most recent bout Hozumi Hasegawa was knocked out by Johnny Gonzalez, yet he is ranked 16 spots ahead of Gonzalez and 6 spots ahead of Nishioka, who is undefeated over the past 7 years with victories over Gonzalez, Rafael Marquez, Munroe, and other solid opponents.

They also rank Andy Lee ahead of Proska and Pirog, even though Lee is not in their divisonal top ten and the others are 4th and 7th respectively.

[marcianofan]

Wow I had no idea Nigel got fired. I guess that explains why he didn't write me back the last time I e-mailed him. Looks like Mike Rosenthal is in charge now, which explains a lot. He's the same guy who characterized undefeated British Champion Dereck Chisora as a "journeyman" leading up to the abortive Wlad fight, and then defended that ludicrous characterization endlessly on the story's comment board thereafter. I don't trust him to do his homework or write sensibly, much less run the magazine.

That also explains all the puff pieces popping up on the website lately (like a full-length feature on Deontay Wilder's last easy win over a tomato can or a story about Devon Alexander meeting Barack Obama followed by an exciting full-length follow-up entirely about Alexander's reaction specifically to Obama saying hello and shaking his hand). The ratings decisions have been suffering recently, as well. I mean they've got Gilberto Keb Baas rated #1, seven spots ahead of the guy who stopped him in his last fight. Some of these ratings aren't just bad judgment calls- they're downright logically impossible.

[Glyn Leach]

The ratings decisions have been suffering recently, as well. I mean they've got Gilberto Keb Baas rated #1, seven spots ahead of the guy who stopped him in his last fight. Some of these ratings aren't just bad judgment calls- they're downright logically impossible.

Expect worse to come, sadly, and shake your heads in disbelief the next time you hear a British fight figure talk about a Ring belt as though it were some sort of Holy Grail. It's so naive.

[marcianofan]

The ratings decisions have been suffering recently, as well. I mean they've got Gilberto Keb Baas rated #1, seven spots ahead of the guy who stopped him in his last fight. Some of these ratings aren't just bad judgment calls- they're downright logically impossible.

Expect worse to come, sadly, and shake your heads in disbelief the next time you hear a British fight figure talk about a Ring belt as though it were some sort of Holy Grail. It's so naive.

Well I can't say I disagree with any of their current champions, though that will obviously change real quick if Keb Baas fights Archie Solis anytime soon....

[marcianofan]

Alexander's reaction specifically to Obama saying hello and shaking his hand).

Did he drop to the deck, roll over about 15 times, clutch his hand and cry for a DQ before saying, “Where am I? Who am I?!”

Actually, if I remember correctly, he tried to prove he had a stronger grip than Obama, and then when it turned out he didn't, he declared victory anyway and held up a t-shirt that said "Romney U Next." Or maybe I'm getting my incidents confused.

[oliverfennell]

He's the same guy who characterized undefeated British Champion Dereck Chisora as a "journeyman" leading up to the abortive Wlad fight.

That's insane. Even allowing for varied interpretations of the word, Chisora was undefeated at the time!

[orbtastic]

When was this golden age for Boxing Illustrated? It was always pretty dull, even in the 70s. It got worse when Sugar sold out to Goldman, and I've never been a Sugar fan by any stretch.

[marcianofan]

He's the same guy who characterized undefeated British Champion Dereck Chisora as a "journeyman" leading up to the abortive Wlad fight.

That's insane. Even allowing for varied interpretations of the word, Chisora was undefeated at the time!

Yeah I mean it's one thing if, as a writer, he didn't follow the British scene close enough to know much about Chisora or his record and made the mistake, but to continue insisting on the comment board that he's a journeyman even after several commenters pointed out the undefeated record and (as I pointed out to him) the good wins over Sexton which made him clearly a prospect or perhaps as much a contender. He was very stubborn about the whole thing, and I have no idea why.

[Glyn Leach]

Labelling an undefeated fighter as a "journeyman" or a "club fighter" is not necessarily incorrect, in my view. What's more, I'd say Rosenthal's judgement of Chisora has subsequently been proven valid.

Seems he was talking present tense though Macho, not pulling a Mystic Meg. Some people are too fragile to accept they have been wrong and will argue and argue until they look plain silly, which is what the fella appears to have done here. Personally I'd term Chisora a fringe contender at the moment, journeyman is too harsh IMO. Michael Sprott is a journeyman in my book, if that helps as a reference point.

[Jeff Thomas]

The ratings decisions have been suffering recently, as well. I mean they've got Gilberto Keb Baas rated #1, seven spots ahead of the guy who stopped him in his last fight. Some of these ratings aren't just bad judgment calls- they're downright logically impossible.

Expect worse to come, sadly, and shake your heads in disbelief the next time you hear a British fight figure talk about a Ring belt as though it were some sort of Holy Grail. It's so naive.

Make a boxing monthly belt glyn then we can have a boxing news belt too it will be so cool.

Also I enjoyed hatton haven't the nuts to challenge for the pound for pound title.