BoxRec

Top bloke. Not your usual boxing writer type as he's very softly spoken and introverted, but a cracking fella.

disagree, met him at a show once and he was a knob, weird lad no craic at all

Wake up call wrote:Very softly spoken and introverted, but a cracking fella.

donal wrote:Weird lad no craic at all

Somewhat differing opinions of Mr. Herbert.

Imagine not having any 'craic' ... the ignominy.

Think he's been a great boxing journalist over the years and sadly suspect his departure will be linked to the cost-cutting that's symptomatic across the industry in these times. Wish him well.

Palimpsest. wrote:Imagine not having any 'craic' ... the ignominy.

He didn't have any 'craic' on him when I've sat ringside with him either. He did give me an extra strong mint once though.

Too often people confuse introverted and quiet with rude. He's a nice bloke. I hope he continues to write about boxing.

Dan Dares wrote:He did give me an extra strong mint once though.

Any pics?

Daniel Herbert was the main link to the past for older readers of Boxing News and it brings a certain era to an end, I'm sorry to say.
The current staff are boxing enthusiasts and are a likeable lot. Yes , there is a 'but' coming.
There is an 'Americanisation ' of our magazine over the last few years, with increased articles, profiles and snippets from across the pond to the exclusion of our own boxers and gyms on these shores. It might be the case that the owners want to increase their profile in America and thereby increase sales, and that's business !! Good luck to them . Or it might be that the editor simply has strong connections and an affinity to America and I remember reading many articles written by him on relatively obscure American fighters long before he became the Editor.
However , and its just my opinion, this slide across the Atlantic is not to my taste because it reduces the exposure of our own boxing people. The increasing number of pen pictures on the second last page to foreign journeymen sums this up I think.

If I was Glyn Leach I'd snap up Daniel Herbert and Claude Abrams ( if he's back from a round the world tour) plus Bob Mee and seriously consider creating a 'Boxing Fortnightly ' magazine !!! It might work ??

Don't see how fortnightly would work. Even weekly isn't really up to date enough in the internet age...fights take place on a fri or sat, then boxing news reports results in print on the following Thurs. Already out of date, with much online analysis and discussion taken place already. However BN still a good read.

Monthly works as they have the time to craft more discussion and analysis pieces. The results sections are less relevant.

Fortnightly just falls between the two stools IMO.

Never been a huge fan of Herbert's writing. Often saw s fight differently to him. I think the 3 or 4 that remain are all good - big fan of how Matt Christie reports on a fight

He could set up a boxing preview/prediction pay website like Graham Houston?

BN has definitely gone too american, I want to see profiles/interviews with domestic fighters and big write ups on small hall shows - Instead of basically just a weekely version of Boxing Monthly.

saturday_kid wrote:BN has definitely gone too american, I want to see profiles/interviews with domestic fighters and big write ups on small hall shows - Instead of basically just a weekely version of Boxing Monthly.

Nah, it's still the best boxing writing in the world.

saturday_kid wrote:BN has definitely gone too american, I want to see profiles/interviews with domestic fighters and big write ups on small hall shows - Instead of basically just a weekely version of Boxing Monthly.

Maybe people are more interested in hearing from the big names in america rather than domestic level fighters though? It's harsh but there's a strong chance it's true.

dalcumly wrote:Daniel Herbert was the main link to the past for older readers of Boxing News and it brings a certain era to an end, I'm sorry to say.
The current staff are boxing enthusiasts and are a likeable lot. Yes , there is a 'but' coming.
There is an 'Americanisation ' of our magazine over the last few years, with increased articles, profiles and snippets from across the pond to the exclusion of our own boxers and gyms on these shores. It might be the case that the owners want to increase their profile in America and thereby increase sales, and that's business !! Good luck to them . Or it might be that the editor simply has strong connections and an affinity to America and I remember reading many articles written by him on relatively obscure American fighters long before he became the Editor.
However , and its just my opinion, this slide across the Atlantic is not to my taste because it reduces the exposure of our own boxing people. The increasing number of pen pictures on the second last page to foreign journeymen sums this up I think.

If I was Glyn Leach I'd snap up Daniel Herbert and

Claude Abrams ( if he's back from a round the world tour)

plus Bob Mee and seriously consider creating a 'Boxing Fortnightly ' magazine !!! It might work ??

Business or pleasure?

dalcumly wrote:Daniel Herbert was the main link to the past for older readers of Boxing News and it brings a certain era to an end, I'm sorry to say.
The current staff are boxing enthusiasts and are a likeable lot. Yes , there is a 'but' coming.
There is an 'Americanisation ' of our magazine over the last few years, with increased articles, profiles and snippets from across the pond to the exclusion of our own boxers and gyms on these shores. It might be the case that the owners want to increase their profile in America and thereby increase sales, and that's business !! Good luck to them . Or it might be that the editor simply has strong connections and an affinity to America and I remember reading many articles written by him on relatively obscure American fighters long before he became the Editor.
However , and its just my opinion, this slide across the Atlantic is not to my taste because it reduces the exposure of our own boxing people. The increasing number of pen pictures on the second last page to foreign journeymen sums this up I think.

If I was Glyn Leach I'd snap up Daniel Herbert and Claude Abrams ( if he's back from a round the world tour) plus Bob Mee and seriously consider creating a 'Boxing Fortnightly ' magazine !!! It might work ??

what a brilliant idea

dapug wrote:

dalcumly wrote:Daniel Herbert was the main link to the past for older readers of Boxing News and it brings a certain era to an end, I'm sorry to say.
The current staff are boxing enthusiasts and are a likeable lot. Yes , there is a 'but' coming.
There is an 'Americanisation ' of our magazine over the last few years, with increased articles, profiles and snippets from across the pond to the exclusion of our own boxers and gyms on these shores. It might be the case that the owners want to increase their profile in America and thereby increase sales, and that's business !! Good luck to them . Or it might be that the editor simply has strong connections and an affinity to America and I remember reading many articles written by him on relatively obscure American fighters long before he became the Editor.
However , and its just my opinion, this slide across the Atlantic is not to my taste because it reduces the exposure of our own boxing people. The increasing number of pen pictures on the second last page to foreign journeymen sums this up I think.

If I was Glyn Leach I'd snap up Daniel Herbert and Claude Abrams ( if he's back from a round the world tour) plus Bob Mee and seriously consider creating a 'Boxing Fortnightly ' magazine !!! It might work ??

what a brilliant idea

Sadly not from a business perspective...

The thing that gets overlooked when people talk about changing magazine formats, recruiting new people etc is the fact that print is dying out.

Yes, you can spend money improving it but for what? The market is decreasing because the internet has changed the way people consume news so it could be good money after bad.

It might sound hard to believe, but tablet computers have barely been around for three years and they've massively changed the way people access stories. In a decade from now most news consumption will be digital and print will be almost extinct.

I wish Daniel all the best and with his experience he should be snapped up, but I fear he won't be because he's old school in an increasingly digital age.

Wake up call wrote:The thing that gets overlooked when people talk about changing magazine formats, recruiting new people etc is the fact that print is dying out.

Yes, you can spend money improving it but for what? The market is decreasing because the internet has changed the way people consume news so it could be good money after bad.

It might sound hard to believe, but tablet computers have barely been around for three years and they've massively changed the way people access stories.

In a decade from now most news consumption will be digital and print will be almost extinct.

I wish Daniel all the best and with his experience he should be snapped up, but I fear he won't be because he's old school in an increasingly digital age.

Very true. God knows what could be around in 10 years though! Tablets and the like could be long gone.

columbo wrote: Very true. God knows what could be around in 10 years though! Tablets and the like could be long gone.

It'll be digital though won't it, no matter what you use to access it. I think it is safe to say that print won't be making any major comeback.

DMA1987 wrote:

columbo wrote: Very true. God knows what could be around in 10 years though! Tablets and the like could be long gone.

It'll be digital though won't it, no matter what you use to access it. I think it is safe to say that print won't be making any major comeback.

Yeah obviously it should be digital unless they create some other format which is hard to fathom at the moment. Also within 10 years its extra hard to imagine something new coming along.

he just jumped off a sinking ship, how long is boxing news going to go on as a print mag? they already moved into apps, tablets, podcasts and all that they are dying out as a print mag

The publishers of BN done away with Fighting Fit a couple of months back.

Very limited potential to secure new advertisers on specialist magazines with such a niche market, particularly when the big spenders are promoters...........who may be preaching to the converted and are unlikely to persuade enough new ticket buyers to make the ads pay......and equipment retailers who have many ways to grab the younger customers that buy the stuff but do not make up a large percentage of BN's readership.

Whilst in recession paying for a weekly magazine is often the first luxury to go.

dalcumly wrote:Daniel Herbert was the main link to the past for older readers of Boxing News and it brings a certain era to an end, I'm sorry to say.
The current staff are boxing enthusiasts and are a likeable lot. Yes , there is a 'but' coming.
There is an 'Americanisation ' of our magazine over the last few years, with increased articles, profiles and snippets from across the pond to the exclusion of our own boxers and gyms on these shores. It might be the case that the owners want to increase their profile in America and thereby increase sales, and that's business !! Good luck to them . Or it might be that the editor simply has strong connections and an affinity to America and I remember reading many articles written by him on relatively obscure American fighters long before he became the Editor.
However , and its just my opinion, this slide across the Atlantic is not to my taste because it reduces the exposure of our own boxing people. The increasing number of pen pictures on the second last page to foreign journeymen sums this up I think.

If I was Glyn Leach I'd snap up Daniel Herbert and Claude Abrams ( if he's back from a round the world tour) plus Bob Mee and seriously consider creating a 'Boxing Fortnightly ' magazine !!! It might work ??

different styles of writing, especially with the fight reports. i like BN but never warmed to their slightly plodding and repetitive fight reports - in round 1, in round 2, then in the third, there was a momentum change in the fourth...yet by the fifth etc. - which i know is not leach's cup of tea.

a style of writing, which you get digital reams and reams of, online - sadly.

Interesting speculation about the 'death' of the printed word. But I see newspapers flying out the door of shops every morning, and my super technical daughter will not use a Kindle because she's far happier with a book in her hand.
Do you not find it more comfortable reading the written word for a lengthy period, rather than looking at a screen ?? I don't know - but I couldn't read the BN or BM on a computer screen or on an iPAD. I think those media are mostly for a quick glance at something as opposed to a 'real' read.

dalcumly wrote:Interesting speculation about the 'death' of the printed word. But I see newspapers flying out the door of shops every morning, and my super technical daughter will not use a Kindle because she's far happier with a book in her hand.
Do you not find it more comfortable reading the written word for a lengthy period, rather than looking at a screen ?? I don't know - but I couldn't read the BN or BM on a computer screen or on an iPAD. I think those media are mostly for a quick glance at something as opposed to a 'real' read.

Sadly the stats are far more rigorous than your anecdotal evidence. For example, digital book sales have now overtaken print book sales on Amazon:
http://news.techworld.com/personal-tech ... in-the-uk/
You've also got to think about the ferocious pace of change. Current 'first generation' e-readers etc will soon be surpassed and within a few years you'll have devices that are easier on the eye and just as portable (as light and flexible as paper).