R.I.P Glyn Leach

[Scottrf]

Sad news. My favourite boxing magazine and would always respond to my questions on here. Nice guy.

[reggaereggae]

A real shame. I didn't always enjoy his style of writing (I thought it was rather unprofessional and oddly political in areas) but sounds like he was an honourable man, with ethics and morals. I did used to think it was odd he rarely went to fights (correct me if I'm wrong).

I still have the first ever Boxing Monthly, and also used to buy Boxing Weekly which went colour early as I remember.

Just a real shame for the Boxing world and a shocker at that age.....

[thewarcap]

Been reading Boxing Monthly for years, wanted to be published in it. It was only a dream. I battered on Glyn's door. My ideas were poor but I wasn't going away. He gave me pointers, I took them on board. I came back with more ideas and he gave me a shot with an Andy Lee interview I did in 2012.

From that point we clicked. He appreciated my graft and I couldn't believe I was starting to become a regular in a magazine I'd read since 1995.

He opened up a bit. We became good mates. For the last year we talked every week. I could open up to him and give him my problems and by the end of the conversation he'd have solved them with his words. He was my safety net in boxing journalism. Lost without him. Time's a healer but knowing I'll never speak to him again hurts like hell.

I was always in awe of his writing. His honesty and the way he pieced it together is a rare thing these days. Something I need to learn. He gave a failed school leaver and a mouthy sod like me a shot.

I admired him, I respected him and when I heard the news I shed a tear.

A giant of boxing journalism who didn't crave the attention or limelight. He told me he would never do TV but he was beginning to enjoy working on BT Sport and allegedly. Things like that seemed to re-energise him.

As straight talking and fair a man as you'll ever likely come across.

Waffling now.

Cheers Glyn. RIP. I owe you big time.

Another lovely tribute. What is your name?

Shaun Brown

[handsofstone]

My tribute to Glyn:

http://markeortega.blogspot.com/2014/08 ... t-but.html

Great stuff again

[Loynesy]

Many lovely, lovely words.

I remember the early days of the BM forum. I was a junior lawyer often working late, and the chat was brilliant. Love to hear if any of the old guys from back in that day are still around.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Ah, so sad. They just don't make 'em like Glyn any more. And even when they did, there weren't very many of 'em.

http://news.boxrec.com/2014/glyn-leach-obituary

Fantastic, mate.

x2

Lovely stuff there Mr McNeilly - some bits in there had some particular resonance for me. As always beautifully written mate - must say was a privileged working with you on our ill fated venture, nice to know Glynn was so encouraging.

Seems like Glynn was one of those rarities in any business, a man of integrity and genuine good will - at least you got to work with him.

Must catch up for a beer one of these days feller, not sure when you're down in the smoke.

[Parson Cross]

Major shock that was TD.
One of the good guys.
I always felt I could trust him particularly when private conversations ran into areas where others would put a slant on it and put it out there.
My sympathies go to those close to him.
RIP.

[magwitch]

Very sad news. I love Boxing Monthly.

x2. Every single issue is quality and contains normally at least 3 great features. Nearly started a thread last week on the fantastic Earnie Shavers piece. Anyway I digress. RIP Glyn.

[magwitch]

I understand it was a heart attack but that's not from a direct source. Glyn's contribution to our sport was absolutely huge. It's the end of an era this.

Well said.

I thought this was a good post too.

[magwitch]

I remember a strange editorial about 3 months ago when he said he was really struggling with the pressure of producing the magazine , I hope this didn't bring on a heart attack, poor soul.

I remember about 15 years ago I opened up my Boxing Monthly and was shocked, for those times, to read Glynn's column littered with unacceptable swearing - something you just didn't see then. I felt so strongly about it that I phoned him up. I explained that I liked his magazine, I liked how he was so unbiased in his reporting, but he could express his strong views in print without that language. He took it on board, and I never saw that type of thing again. I have once or twice phoned him since but on these occasions it was to congratulate him on particular articles or formats he'd adopted. The last was very recently, with the articles on Tyson Fury. I appreciated the fact that he'd got out of his London chair and actually went North to have a look for himself.

He seemed a real genuine boxing fan , doing a job he really loved, and not many of us can say that. I hope he had a happy life, and he'll be sadly missed by the boxing community.

round about Feb that was, I remember reading it. Quite a poignant and interesting piece. I think he was saying something along the lines of he'd enjoyed it but had busted his balls, maybe a bit too much, and was going to be easing back a little bit. Think he was commenting on how some methods in the editing world in general had changed over the years.
Not sure if it's because they don't put pics of their people in there, like they do in BN, but I confess if I'd read something in there a month ago by Glyn or Graham or someone else, I would be unlikely to be able to tell you exactly who it was by - not been reading since the 80s or 90s like some people on here but I've never read anything I haven't enjoyed, found fascinating, illuminating or informative in the Boxing Monthly.

[fightscorecollector]

So many great tributes to a guy i wanted to turn up at his door for a square go lol

I have only spoken to Glyn through emails and twitter, I was trying to get my fightscorecollectoer blog noticed and asked Glyn for any help. I was surprised he gave me so much of his time, first pointing me in the direction in getting my words out correctly. Then when i rushed a piece he bollocked me, he was right.

The square go,

I was going around twitter collecting scores for my blog as Glyn who had already told me to wait till monday for any score as I had ruined the result of a fight for him the month or two before. We agreed that late afternoon was fine and he passed me another score. When my piece was out he sent a DM on twitter saying i had done a great job. I was chuffed. Like boxing news i had been reading boxing monthly since the early 90 so it meant a lot when Glyn said i had done a great job.

so, the next week i asked Glyn for another score at the same time. Glyn went off his head saying had ruined another fight for him. I told him abut our agreement but he wouldnt listen and wanted out, i tried to show him Glyn our pervious tweets but he wasnt interested. I couldnt ask him anymore, i was raging as i knew i was right, both of us had been quite cheeky to each other and in a rage i wanted to drive down south and confront him, yep stupid i know lol , a total heat of the moment thing.


The months went past and i would see Glyn tweet and we would exchange DMs etc, everything was back to normal although i never asked for a score again. I was surprised when he asked me to collate scores for him, a quick collection was needed for a fight from Germany. I was in the middle of a 12 hr shift but found an excuse to go away for an hour and do the collection for him.

I loved it when my name was mentioned in the magazine, how many can honestly remember spending their pocket money on any boxing mag they can get. Boxing monthly was British and i was proud to have a very small part in it.

Its funny but its only recently that i have saw what Glyn looks like as he had done some TV work, first time i saw him i said to myself "so thats what that old basta.rd looks like" as i had a chuckle to myself. Tell you what though, he didnt half know his stuff on TV.

I hope the magazine lives on, the out pouring of grief for Glyn has been emotional. So many boxing figures telling wee stories about this great boxing man.

Glyn there is no doubts you will be missed mate, RIP and thoughts to your family and friends.

[Autobarn]

i appreciated Glyn giving me a chance, after i approached him on this forum. he responded well to one of my posts so i tried to get in there, opportunistically. after i gave a really crap suggestion for a piece, he gave a pointer to something i could so - & "let's see how it goes..."

his advice was solid and he liked to print reports that covered the structure & key moves of a fight, as opposed to the "in round 1", "in round 2" repetitive stuff you see far too much of. it was important to have the skills of summary, especially writing short pieces. doing work for Glyn really sharpened my prose & i am grateful for this.

was proud both to have been published in Boxing Monthly a few years ago and to have been told by Glyn my work needed very little editing. never spoke to him or even knew what he looked like (until seeing the recent photo). i follow very little boxing now. sorry to hear of Glyn's passing because the magazine had an independent feel to it & i never saw any compromise in his work.

[gasman]

It's incredible the amount of people that have shared similar experiences that I have had with Glyn re: emails, PMs etc, Glyn's mailbox must have been overflowing with emails from dozens of people, let alone the boxing fraternity that he communicated with for the magazine.

I shared quite a few PMs and, also emails - when I arranged with Glyn and his very friendly colleague, Sue, to buy a large backorder of Boxing Monthly magazines.

In the course of some of our discussions, the subject moved to the two people that have the most respect for, for their respective roles in boxing, Budd Schulberg and Teddy Atlas. I remember saying to Glyn that I was so excited to meet Atlas and that he had been so friendly and generous with his time, also introducing me to all of his team - by far the best person that I have met in boxing. Glyn was equally impressed with Atlas "Still rank Teddy as the most impressive man I've ever met, hard as eff but so intelligent and eloquent".

As for Schulberg, I was shocked that Glyn felt the opposite way to Schulberg that I did. Whilst acknowledging that his was a minority opinion, he felt it unforgivable what Schulberg had done in the Nuremburg Trials, the bones of which was there is basic right or wrong, and what Schulberg did was totally wrong. I respected his forthright honesty, even if I did not share his overall opinion on Schulberg.

[Sklar]

It's incredible the amount of people that have shared similar experiences that I have had with Glyn re: emails, PMs etc, Glyn's mailbox must have been overflowing with emails from dozens of people, let alone the boxing fraternity that he communicated with for the magazine.

I shared quite a few PMs and, also emails - when I arranged with Glyn and his very friendly colleague, Sue, to buy a large backorder of Boxing Monthly magazines.

In the course of some of our discussions, the subject moved to the two people that have the most respect for, for their respective roles in boxing, Budd Schulberg and Teddy Atlas. I remember saying to Glyn that I was so excited to meet Atlas and that he had been so friendly and generous with his time, also introducing me to all of his team - by far the best person that I have met in boxing. Glyn was equally impressed with Atlas "Still rank Teddy as the most impressive man I've ever met, hard as eff but so intelligent and eloquent".

As for Schulberg, I was shocked that Glyn felt the opposite way to Schulberg that I did. Whilst acknowledging that his was a minority opinion, he felt it unforgivable what Schulberg had done in the Nuremburg Trials, the bones of which was there is basic right or wrong, and what Schulberg did was totally wrong. I respected his forthright honesty, even if I did not share his overall opinion on Schulberg.

It's probably for a different day but I can see both kinds of the coin re: Schulberg. I'm assuming Glyn was against the detention and exploitation of Leni Riefenstahl, right?

[Autobarn]

schulberg was also an informer for the HUAC, "naming names" of left leaning filmmakers in the 1950s.

[Terminator666]

Sad news he came across as a nice guy and I enjoyed reading his articles. Will this affect Boxing Monthly magazine in terms of it continuing?

[Battlingsiki]

Sad news he came across as a nice guy and I enjoyed reading his articles. Will this affect Boxing Monthly magazine in terms of it continuing?

The magazine and Glyn's legacy will continue. New issue out next week.

[gasman]

Sad news he came across as a nice guy and I enjoyed reading his articles. Will this affect Boxing Monthly magazine in terms of it continuing?

The magazine and Glyn's legacy will continue. New issue out next week.

I am so pleased to know this and long may it continue with their strong cast of writers.
I had let my subs lapse (nothing to do with the mag, just a general dip in enjoyment of current boxing landscape & other interests) but I am going to renew next week.

[dondada]

I am going to renew next week.

I can assure you that this is the tribute Glyn would appreciate the most.

His quest for an increase in subs without compromising the integrity of the mag has finally succeeded! An extreme tactic though, Glyn...(by the way, Glyn did like a bit of black humour from time to time...).

Oh, and thanks for all the kind words re the obituary. For a better one (by G Houston, Esq.) buy the mag!

[elephant man]

I interviewed Glyn a couple of years ago now. Saw him posting on here and sent him a PM. I had been knocked back by others, with many not even bothering to reply back. Glyn was different, he was happy to answer my questions.

I sent him an email of questions, apologising in the process for how many I had asked lol. I knew he was a busy man and didn't want to take the piss or anything. He replied back saying he had no problems answering them all and would get back to me.

I was expecting short replies but when he emailed again I was shocked. He had apologised to me for writing too much and said he would totally understand if I would want to cut a lot of it out. I never took a single word out and told him I wouldn't be. I thanked him because not only had he bothered to do this but he took time out of his day to write a few pages to someone he didn't know just because I had asked.

I last spoke to him on Twitter on Friday night, I believe. He was talking about Edwin Valero. After a few tweets I told him I would love to see him do an article on Valero. His final tweet to me : Ask and you shall receive

He inspired me, someone who would love to have work published, when he sent me back his answers. He called himself a waster at school who had no background at all in journalism, yet he went on to be a part of the best boxing mag in the world for years and years.

RIP Glyn and thanks for the advice and time you gave.

[Counter-puncher]

I can assure you that this is the tribute Glyn would appreciate the most.

His quest for an increase in subs without compromising the integrity of the mag has finally succeeded! An extreme tactic though, Glyn...(by the way, Glyn did like a bit of black humour from time to time...).

very good, Ian, very good

[gasman]

I am going to renew next week.

I can assure you that this is the tribute Glyn would appreciate the most.

His quest for an increase in subs without compromising the integrity of the mag has finally succeeded! An extreme tactic though, Glyn...(by the way, Glyn did like a bit of black humour from time to time...).

Oh, and thanks for all the kind words re the obituary. For a better one (by G Houston, Esq.) buy the mag!

Spot on Ian, I am sorry I let my subs lapse I am going to back order what I missed out on.
Look forward to reading G Houston's words in BM, btw when I was telling Glyn about the enjoyment I had going through a database of old newspaper articles from the old timers circa 1930s-1980s he mentioned that G Houston 'almost lives in the newspaper library, loves researching the old stories'. I can appreciate the attraction, and, as Tris noted in his classy post earlier, Glyn and BM has left
a fine body of work, I certainly enjoyed reading through quite a lot of it last year.

[Yes We Can]

I interviewed Glyn a couple of years ago now. Saw him posting on here and sent him a PM. I had been knocked back by others, with many not even bothering to reply back. Glyn was different, he was happy to answer my questions.

I sent him an email of questions, apologising in the process for how many I had asked lol. I knew he was a busy man and didn't want to take the piss or anything. He replied back saying he had no problems answering them all and would get back to me.

I was expecting short replies but when he emailed again I was shocked. He had apologised to me for writing too much and said he would totally understand if I would want to cut a lot of it out. I never took a single word out and told him I wouldn't be. I thanked him because not only had he bothered to do this but he took time out of his day to write a few pages to someone he didn't know just because I had asked.

I last spoke to him on Twitter on Friday night, I believe. He was talking about Edwin Valero. After a few tweets I told him I would love to see him do an article on Valero. His final tweet to me : Ask and you shall receive ;-)

He inspired me, someone who would love to have work published, when he sent me back his answers. He called himself a waster at school who had no background at all in journalism, yet he went on to be a part of the best boxing mag in the world for years and years.

RIP Glyn and thanks for the advice and time you gave.

I followed that conversation myself, and it would be lovely if somebody at BM could take up the mantle and have it completed.

[Boxerbeetle]

Nice tribute to Glyn on the most recent BN podcast, good work as ever.

[Boxingnut]

Found this out whilst on holiday, truly stunned and shocked.

Whilst I didn't know Glyn personally, I had "chatted" to him on Twitter and he was a very personable guy and always polite and always made time to reply to me which he didn't have to do to be fair.

I remember asking Glyn why the W H Smith in Liverpool City Centre no longer sold BM on the shelves and that you had to ask for it at the counter? He said he didn't know but would find out. As busy as he was Glyn did find out and his reply was priceless "It's you Scousers, ripping me off, stealing the bloody mag!". I didn't know whether to laugh or apologise.

RIP Glyn.