Boxing Monthly on the ropes

[horndawg80]

It is a great mag but my only reservation is the release of the mag / being out of date.

Saying that, amazing articles and much betterthan internet and more convenient.

I'd love to have some region specific stuff
1) towns up and coming boxers
2) existing boxers
3) contenders in the division. I.e. Jamie Cox return at SMW
4) where are they now piece?

[dalcumly]

I will continue to buy the magazine and hope it continues.
But I buy it now out of loyalty. The problem for me, and it is only me, is that it doesn't seem to follow any sort of medium term planning. Who is the target audience? Is it a British magazine, or a worldwide magazine? Does it preview fights or report on fights.
It's difficult for Graham Houston because he's not based in the UK. I'm not sure Graham has the contacts anymore in the British boxing scene. All the diverse articles might provide a wide spread of interest, but the don't do anything for me in fact I just skip them.
The Boxing News previews fight and reports on them, the Boxing Monthly cannot and should not follow this approach, they should concentrate on in-depth articles which have not appeared elsewhere, on issues which are of current relevance to potential buyers.
In the last 3 months to be brutally frank, the content has been utter garbage, again only my opinion. The boxing figures who have featured recently would not be compulsive reading in their own living room, never mind the average British buyer if the magazine.
I spent an hour talking to Willie Warburton on Friday night about his life as a journeyman and there was enough interest there to hold the attention of any casual fan. French amateur boxing - give me a break, and if I see the names Bernard Hopkins again I'm going to a blow a gasket.

[boxingknockout]

Some good chat here guys and thanks Graham for providing an insight into the workings and challenges of running a magazine, for me I still subscribe, its my birthday present from my mother in law, so I am grateful for it both sides, like anything sometimes I devour it, other times not so much, as you say you cant please all the people all the time, the fact I have subscribed for my now 10th year shows you must be something right guys!
Equally so some valid points made and some answered...question to the fans what would you really like to see there? I get the impression Graham would take it into consideration so now is the chance....

I will kick off, perhaps a boxers of the past or a where are they now? Segment from time to time...very broad I know but then that gives plenty of choice!

Thanks Graham for your kind consideration.

Thanks so much for the kind words. Truly much appreciated. I must have read your mind because we have a Q&A with Michael Spinks in the current (June) issue. We have had pieces in the recent past on former fighters of merit: Carl Thompson, Clinton Woods, Jamie Moore come to mind. We have a couple in the pipeline that I think you might enjoy.

Looking forward to the Michael Spinks piece. I'm not sure I have read any interview or piece on him since the Tyson fight. Will be a good read.

[Graham Houston]

I will continue to buy the magazine and hope it continues.
But I buy it now out of loyalty. The problem for me, and it is only me, is that it doesn't seem to follow any sort of medium term planning. Who is the target audience? Is it a British magazine, or a worldwide magazine? Does it preview fights or report on fights.
It's difficult for Graham Houston because he's not based in the UK. I'm not sure Graham has the contacts anymore in the British boxing scene. All the diverse articles might provide a wide spread of interest, but the don't do anything for me in fact I just skip them.
The Boxing News previews fight and reports on them, the Boxing Monthly cannot and should not follow this approach, they should concentrate on in-depth articles which have not appeared elsewhere, on issues which are of current relevance to potential buyers.
In the last 3 months to be brutally frank, the content has been utter garbage, again only my opinion. The boxing figures who have featured recently would not be compulsive reading in their own living room, never mind the average British buyer if the magazine.
I spent an hour talking to Willie Warburton on Friday night about his life as a journeyman and there was enough interest there to hold the attention of any casual fan. French amateur boxing - give me a break, and if I see the names Bernard Hopkins again I'm going to a blow a gasket.

I'm going to be as straightforward here as I can. I am not into this "target audience" thing. That's just me.

I try to keep things simple.

The objective is to produce a publication each month that boxing aficionados will find interesting and informative. Glyn would say to me: "We're not exclusively a British magazine — we're a world magazine." Those were more or less Glyn's exact words. I've followed on from that.

I no longer live in the UK, true, but in the internet age, with a much smaller world, I don't think that is such a big deal any more. I feel I can delegate. We have a number of team members I feel are reliable and well-connected.

I was on the front line for a huge number of years (God help me). I was ringside at venues you wouldn't believe, from Cluses in the French Alpine region to Nanaimo, British Columbia, to Pompano Beach, Florida, to Monterrey, Mexico.

In my "other life" in Britain I went everywhere, from Dublin (OK, that's Ireland), to Leeds, to the old Liverpool Stadium, to Usk in Wales, to Glasgow, to — Paris, Monte Carlo, Hamburg, Milan, you name it. I'm not bigging myself up: whatever else you may think of me, that honestly, from the heart, is not me, I'm just saying.

Now, however, I see myself more in an administrative role.

Do you get where I'm coming from? I'm just trying, in a reasoned manner, to give you an outline of my way of thinking.

I feel if I phoned Eddie H. or FW they would pick up the phone. (Or maybe not, but I think they would.)

I am pretty sure in saying that when the celebrated columnist Dick Young was writing for the New York Post, in his latter years with the newspaper he was submitting his columns from Colorado. When I was covering the North American scene for Glyn, for quite long stretches of time I was living in South East Asia. As Michael Caine might say: "Not a lot of people know that." Glyn knew.

The point is, in this internet age and shrinking world you are able to submit features/edit from "remote locations". It's actually not all that unusual any more — or so it seems to me.

In many ways I wished I was living back in the UK, but life dealt me certain cards that I felt I had to play.

I don't wish to mention other boxing publications currently in existence but, of course, I go back a long way, and I will say that when the old Boxing & Wrestling magazine was still going I used to love that magazine. I still remember getting on the bus to Kingston Market in Surrey (wonder if that is still there?) and asking the guy at the magazine stall: "Has Boxing & Wrestling come in yet?" And if it hadn't I'd feel, well, deflated.

I'd like people to feel that way about Boxing Monthly.

It really is as simple and as elemental as that.

I'm being as open and, as we now say, "transparent", as I can possibly be here.

I wish Glyn hadn't passed away. I miss my long phone conversations with Glyn. Some things in life money can't buy. Glyn's passing was sudden and I was asked if I would take over the editorship and of course I agreed.

If you don't enjoy the magazine any more, or dislike me personally (wonder if we've ever met?), that is unfortunate. However, at the end of the day, all I can do is to give it my best effort, each and every month.

And, yes, I am glad to hear that you still buy the magazine even if you no longer enjoy it. Reader-loyalty can never be over valued.

[Graham Houston]

I will continue to buy the magazine and hope it continues.
But I buy it now out of loyalty. The problem for me, and it is only me, is that it doesn't seem to follow any sort of medium term planning. Who is the target audience? Is it a British magazine, or a worldwide magazine? Does it preview fights or report on fights.
It's difficult for Graham Houston because he's not based in the UK. I'm not sure Graham has the contacts anymore in the British boxing scene. All the diverse articles might provide a wide spread of interest, but the don't do anything for me in fact I just skip them.
The Boxing News previews fight and reports on them, the Boxing Monthly cannot and should not follow this approach, they should concentrate on in-depth articles which have not appeared elsewhere, on issues which are of current relevance to potential buyers.
In the last 3 months to be brutally frank, the content has been utter garbage, again only my opinion. The boxing figures who have featured recently would not be compulsive reading in their own living room, never mind the average British buyer if the magazine.
I spent an hour talking to Willie Warburton on Friday night about his life as a journeyman and there was enough interest there to hold the attention of any casual fan. French amateur boxing - give me a break, and if I see the names Bernard Hopkins again I'm going to a blow a gasket.

I'm going to be as straightforward here as I can. I am not into this "target audience" thing. That's just me.

I try to keep things simple.

The objective is to produce a publication each month that boxing aficionados will find interesting and informative. Glyn would say to me: "We're not exclusively a British magazine — we're a world magazine." Those were more or less Glyn's exact words. I've followed on from that.

I no longer live in the UK, true, but in the internet age, with a much smaller world, I don't think that is such a big deal any more. I feel I can delegate. We have a number of team members I feel are reliable and well-connected.

I was on the front line for a huge number of years (God help me). I was ringside at venues you wouldn't believe, from Cluses in the French Alpine region to Nanaimo, British Columbia, to Pompano Beach, Florida, to Monterrey, Mexico.

In my "other life" in Britain I went just about everywhere to cover fights, from Dublin (OK, that's Ireland), to Leeds, to the old Liverpool Stadium, to Usk in Wales, to Glasgow, to — Paris, Monte Carlo, Hamburg, Milan, you name it. I'm not bigging myself up: whatever else you may think of me, that honestly, from the heart, is not me, I'm just saying.

Now, however, I feel I can delegate to others.

Do you get where I'm coming from? I'm just trying, in a reasoned manner, to give you an outline of my way of thinking.

I feel if I phoned Eddie H. or FW they would pick up the phone. (Or maybe not, but I think they would.)

I am pretty sure in saying that when the celebrated columnist Dick Young was writing for the New York Post, in his latter years with the newspaper he was submitting his columns from Colorado. When I was covering the North American scene for Glyn, for quite long stretches of time I was living in South East Asia. As Michael Caine might say: "Not a lot of people know that." Glyn knew.

The point is, in this internet age and shrinking world you are able to submit features/edit from "remote locations". It's actually not all that unusual any more — or so it seems to me.

In many ways I wished I was living back in the UK, but life dealt me certain cards that I felt I had to play.

I don't wish to mention other boxing publications currently in existence but, of course, I go back a long way, and I will say that when the old Boxing & Wrestling magazine was still going I used to love that magazine. I still remember getting on the bus to Kingston Market in Surrey (wonder if that is still there?) and asking the guy at the magazine stall: "Has Boxing & Wrestling come in yet?" And if it hadn't I'd feel, well, deflated.

I'd like people to feel that way about Boxing Monthly.

It really is as simple and as elemental as that.

I'm being as open and, as we now say, "transparent", as I can possibly be here.

I wish Glyn hadn't passed away. I miss my long phone conversations with Glyn. Some things in life money can't buy. Glyn's passing was sudden and I was asked if I would take over the editorship and of course I agreed.

If you don't enjoy the magazine any more, or dislike me personally (wonder if we've ever met?), that is unfortunate. However, at the end of the day, all I can do is to give it my best effort, each and every month.

And, yes, I am glad to hear that you still buy the magazine even if you no longer enjoy it. Reader-loyalty can never be over valued.

[Bodyshot3]

@Graham Houston...keep at it Graham, your work is appreciated and the mag is still more than decent

I also like the stories and features from around the world and have always enjoyed the fact that a South African, Aussie, Russian, Argentine or Canadian fighter gets featured and often they are good picks....spotting an interesting fighter earlier than the mainstream press.

Glyn spread the net pretty far and wide to find interestng fighters and trainers and I think it has always been a strength of the magazine.

[crusader]

I feel honoured to be living in the same city as Graham

Vancouver represent

[Loynesy]

I personally feel that this thread has reached a natural end. People have posted their criticisms, and the editor of the magazine has posted a couple of thoughtful, geniune posts.

Some agree, others disagree.

It's now up to the free market. Commerce will dictate if the magazine continues.

I will merely repeat what I think: I've bought the magazine from issue 1, and probably always will. It normally makes me think about something I hadn't thought about,and there a often things in there I find are not for me.

It's like dinner with an old friend.

[Tuan_Jim]

If you're only interested in results then the toilet of the internet contains all the sustenance you need. If it's something more you seek - writing, analysis, reliable information, genuine insight - then magazines are still the obvious choice. That their readership is dwindling says plenty about the general IQ.

Being an avid reader of BM in the 90s, and one who still relishes perusing my back issues, I would like to point out how good Houston's reading of a fight was. His success rate in predicting results was astonishing. So often he had the right guy, by roughly the right method, in the right window of rounds. If he's a gambler then he must be living in a Holyfield-esque 300 room castle right now.

I stopped buying BM in the early 2000s not because of the magazine but because of the sport. The great American characters were no longer being produced because they were off doing something else, drab Eastern Euros were in their absence taking over in their efficient, methodical, tedious way, the Roy Jones model of subscription channel-sponsored intimating Greatness rather than proving it had become the norm, baubles were plenty, quality rare, shilling had infected broadcast, and generally there was an odd cultural shift taking place, with an amplified WWF wrestling-style atmosphere being introduced to events. Leach himself said to me on this board that it was a tough sell nowadays, without interesting, sellable fights or fighters to slap on the cover, compared to the 90s. There was a definite coarsening in the tone of the magazine, especially with the introduction of Buncey. I could listen to such oafish voices in the pub. I'm not paying to read them. That sort of finished me off. But mainly it was the sport. I love Leach and I love Houston. I do still buy the odd issue. But the glorious covers, tone, humour and subject that made me leg it to the news agent is now but a memory (albeit a physical memory stacked up under my bookshelf).

There's things that Mr H could probably do to improve the look and content of BM but then again who the heck am I to critique a bloke whose been in the magazine writing & selling business for decades? The fact that so many people's first thought is "the results are already on the internet" is probably the kernel of the issue; certainly not the writing of Graham Houston.

[J]

Some good chat here guys and thanks Graham for providing an insight into the workings and challenges of running a magazine, for me I still subscribe, its my birthday present from my mother in law, so I am grateful for it both sides, like anything sometimes I devour it, other times not so much, as you say you cant please all the people all the time, the fact I have subscribed for my now 10th year shows you must be something right guys!
Equally so some valid points made and some answered...question to the fans what would you really like to see there? I get the impression Graham would take it into consideration so now is the chance....

I will kick off, perhaps a boxers of the past or a where are they now? Segment from time to time...very broad I know but then that gives plenty of choice!

Thanks Graham for your kind consideration.

Thanks so much for the kind words. Truly much appreciated. I must have read your mind because we have a Q&A with Michael Spinks in the current (June) issue. We have had pieces in the recent past on former fighters of merit: Carl Thompson, Clinton Woods, Jamie Moore come to mind. We have a couple in the pipeline that I think you might enjoy.

Brilliant I won't be changing my birthday present for sometime to come then! And I have had it from the times I live din Holland and Barbados, aaah those were the days floating round the pool, reggae gently playing in the background, bloody Mary in hand and boxing monthly in the other...


Just on a personal reflection I'm not sure how fickle the average punter realises the boxing business is, I did some writing for a couple of years but jacked in it due to the bullshit that goes on behind the scenes, one for daring to laugh about a joke about the then predominant promoter in the land - press passes quashed no discussion for writing "hahaha".
Then a tribute piece in boxers of the past segment of the now defunct British boxing net (where Terry started off)...where I made the mistake of writing that Barry Mcguigan was rumoured to be carrying an injury into the Stevie Cruz fight, next thing I know Barney Eastwood is threatening to sue. Jesus H Christ it was a tribute piece by a rookie journo talk about precious!

At that point I lost interest in it, couldn't be doing with the small mindedness of it all. Point being god knows how you run a magazine and stay sane Graham, after writing articles for so many years, you have my complete and utter admiration, you must have the patience of a Saint. I salute you sir!

[Graham Houston]

Some good chat here guys and thanks Graham for providing an insight into the workings and challenges of running a magazine, for me I still subscribe, its my birthday present from my mother in law, so I am grateful for it both sides, like anything sometimes I devour it, other times not so much, as you say you cant please all the people all the time, the fact I have subscribed for my now 10th year shows you must be something right guys!
Equally so some valid points made and some answered...question to the fans what would you really like to see there? I get the impression Graham would take it into consideration so now is the chance....

I will kick off, perhaps a boxers of the past or a where are they now? Segment from time to time...very broad I know but then that gives plenty of choice!

Thanks Graham for your kind consideration.

Thanks so much for the kind words. Truly much appreciated. I must have read your mind because we have a Q&A with Michael Spinks in the current (June) issue. We have had pieces in the recent past on former fighters of merit: Carl Thompson, Clinton Woods, Jamie Moore come to mind. We have a couple in the pipeline that I think you might enjoy.

Brilliant I won't be changing my birthday present for sometime to come then! And I have had it from the times I live din Holland and Barbados, aaah those were the days floating round the pool, reggae gently playing in the background, bloody Mary in hand and boxing monthly in the other...


Just on a personal reflection I'm not sure how fickle the average punter realises the boxing business is, I did some writing for a couple of years but jacked in it due to the bullshit that goes on behind the scenes, one for daring to laugh about a joke about the then predominant promoter in the land - press passes quashed no discussion for writing "hahaha".
Then a tribute piece in boxers of the past segment of the now defunct British boxing net (where Terry started off)...where I made the mistake of writing that Barry Mcguigan was rumoured to be carrying an injury into the Stevie Cruz fight, next thing I know Barney Eastwood is threatening to sue. Jesus H Christ it was a tribute piece by a rookie journo talk about precious!

At that point I lost interest in it, couldn't be doing with the small mindedness of it all. Point being god knows how you run a magazine and stay sane Graham, after writing articles for so many years, you have my complete and utter admiration, you must have the patience of a Saint. I salute you sir!

Ha ha! On that topic, when one of the "forgotten editors", Jack Wilson, resigned from the editorship of Boxing News to take up a (much better paid) position as a sub-editor on a national newspaper in the 1950s, he told a very young GH: "At least I won't have Harry Levene screaming down the phone at me any more!" (For those who don't know who Harry Levene was, he was a leading British boxing promoter who didn't spend huge amounts of time making himself agreeable.)

[boxingknockout]

Thanks so much for the kind words. Truly much appreciated. I must have read your mind because we have a Q&A with Michael Spinks in the current (June) issue. We have had pieces in the recent past on former fighters of merit: Carl Thompson, Clinton Woods, Jamie Moore come to mind. We have a couple in the pipeline that I think you might enjoy.

Brilliant I won't be changing my birthday present for sometime to come then! And I have had it from the times I live din Holland and Barbados, aaah those were the days floating round the pool, reggae gently playing in the background, bloody Mary in hand and boxing monthly in the other...


Just on a personal reflection I'm not sure how fickle the average punter realises the boxing business is, I did some writing for a couple of years but jacked in it due to the bullshit that goes on behind the scenes, one for daring to laugh about a joke about the then predominant promoter in the land - press passes quashed no discussion for writing "hahaha".
Then a tribute piece in boxers of the past segment of the now defunct British boxing net (where Terry started off)...where I made the mistake of writing that Barry Mcguigan was rumoured to be carrying an injury into the Stevie Cruz fight, next thing I know Barney Eastwood is threatening to sue. Jesus H Christ it was a tribute piece by a rookie journo talk about precious!

At that point I lost interest in it, couldn't be doing with the small mindedness of it all. Point being god knows how you run a magazine and stay sane Graham, after writing articles for so many years, you have my complete and utter admiration, you must have the patience of a Saint. I salute you sir!

Ha ha! On that topic, when one of the "forgotten editors", Jack Wilson, resigned from the editorship of Boxing News to take up a (much better paid) position as a sub-editor on a national newspaper in the 1950s, he told a very young GH: "At least I won't have Harry Levene screaming down the phone at me any more!" (For those who don't know who Harry Levene was, he was a leading British boxing promoter who didn't spend huge amounts of time making himself agreeable.)

A well known part of the mafia (some would say Ashkenazi) that used to run British boxing

[Bricks]

double post

[Bricks]

I used to love it but no longer by it. It suffers because social media covers news instantly so by the time you get BM the stuff it covers is out of date, or fights have fallen through.

Fair point that magazines can't compete with social media / the internet for news coverage - I don't even think they should try.

My favourite pieces in BM are usually the ones where they get a few experts together to provide detailed analysis of a fight/event which has recently happened (think they starting calling it 'The Inquest' for a while, although not sure they still do?). I'd certainly like to see more of those types of articles.

Imo, the internet still has a long, long way to go before it can match BM in terms of proper fight analysis. Most of the boxing websites are terribly written and put together - I get the feeling that many of them only exist so the 'writers' can pass themselves off as journalists and get press passes to shows.

Anyway, I'm a long-standing and proud subscriber to Boxing Monthly, and hope that more boxing fans join me in this. If it fails, I can almost guarantee that it will never be replaced, and we'll all lament its passing.

That and more interviews with retired fighters form the 80s and 90s would provide something the internet sites cant.

We don't neccesarily need BM for post fight coverage. But the previews are good as we respect their opinion over some rentagob elie secchbach type.

Also the columns with farhood, bunce and marley are very good....again something different

[afcpaul]

I've just read and enjoyed the last issue.
Can anyone help me ?. Does anyone have a list of publication dates ?.
I can never find it in the issue or online ?.

[Graham Houston]

I've just read and enjoyed the last issue.
Can anyone help me ?. Does anyone have a list of publication dates ?.
I can never find it in the issue or online ?.

Target publication dates for forthcoming issues:

July issue: June 29
August issue: July 27
September: Aug. 24
October: Sept. 28
November: Oct. 26
December: Nov. 30
Jan. 2018: Dec. 14

(Rapid turn-around for Dec./Jan. issues due to the festive season/New Year holidays in UK.)

[afcpaul]

I've just read and enjoyed the last issue.
Can anyone help me ?. Does anyone have a list of publication dates ?.
I can never find it in the issue or online ?.

Target publication dates for forthcoming issues:

July issue: June 29
August issue: July 27
September: Aug. 24
October: Sept. 28
November: Oct. 26
December: Nov. 30
Jan. 2018: Dec. 14

(Rapid turn-around for Dec./Jan. issues due to the festive season/New Year holidays in UK.)

Noted, thanks Graham.

[veriton]

some really good articles in this month: thurman, canelo, spinks, bellew and furys. well worth a copy. was expecting a bit more on bunce's book, hopefully it gets an in-depth look next time.

[Boxerbeetle]

I've also really enjoyed this month's edition. When BM gets delivered I usually initially flick through it quickly and just read one or two articles which take my fancy, then read all the fight reports and come back to the mag later. But I ended up pretty much reading this issue from cover to cover without putting it down once. Good stuff

[afcpaul]

some really good articles in this month: thurman, canelo, spinks, bellew and furys. well worth a copy. was expecting a bit more on bunce's book, hopefully it gets an in-depth look next time.

I thought the same !!!.

[Bricks]

You have to hand it to graham and glyn god rest his souls.these guys kept the magazine going and flourishing for almost 30 years half of them during the most difficult period commercially for the written press...theres still a real space for in depth lengthy news articles.....twitter,fb,social media,hell even forums half the time have reduced the scope for a good read....its why novels and the sunday paper bundles continue to flourish....ill carry on buying..graham is a legend

[Cazelo]

Hi Graham,

I for one really enjoyed the piece about UKAD. Really informative and interesting.

Some things I would like to see articles on are the way nutritionists have changed the sport or something in depth on that?
An article on how strength and conditioning has changed over the years.
RIse & fall of MBC
Matchmakers such as pegg, mcclory and neil bowers
and stuff with the up and coming promoters like tommy owens, steffy bull etc.

[Tuan_Jim]

I remember asking Glynn if he would be interested in having one of his US journos track down the mysterious pair of Jeff Merritt and Roy 'Tiger' Williams, both of whom have assumed legendary status on the internet. He seemed very interested in the idea but was probably humouring me as it never happened. I'd snatch up an issue of any boxing mag with those two in it.

I remember long after The Ring had gone down hill, circa 2002, they had an extended interview with Billy Joiner, a true have gloves will travel journeyman who boxed everybody, including Sonny Liston twice, while working a day job. He had all of his marbles and it made for absolutely fascinating reading. Rare content like that trumps anything on the internet any day.