Ring Magazine: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

http://www.ringtv.com/blog/2626/the_ring_has_a_dynamic_new_look_and_format/

 

Just what the mag needs to regain relevance - more pretty pictures and a soft core porn section.

 

Bert Sugars Fight Game magazine featured a similar concept, scantily clad honeys called "Sindy" or some shit.

Nigel Collins is a fraud and Ring is a shite read.

They had Israel Vazquez down, in 2009, as having better prospects than certain heavyweight champions.:boring:

 

:scratcher:


Are they even aware of the history of their own publication. "The Ring" has never been a "newsletter-like publication".

From it's very inception "The Ring" has been a slick mag. I've handled hundreds of 20's era Ring Magazines and seen plenty of 1st issues. "Newsletter" is not what comes to mind. As a matter of fact, the 20's era was some of the nicest magazines they ever put out.

 

Ha, pretty much my thoughts.

Thumbing through their free online edition (their Feb issue is free, the rest will be members-only for those who don't already subscribe to the magazine), they had to reach pretty far back to fill up its "At The Fights" section. Most of the pics were from Mayweather-Mosley and Pacquiao-Hatton. Curious to see how that section fills out in the coming months.

 

The last decent boxing book I read was an autobiographical account of a bare knuckle gypsy called Bartley Gorman. It was half-lies and nonsense about fights that never came off but it was decent fare because nobody expects an old washed-up boxer to ever tell the truth about anything anyways.

With today's articles, you have this trying-too-hard nonsense with guys trying to sell you some slanted take on some narrow topic.

This isn't a new problem with Ring Magazine. They have been at it for some time now.

 

Yeah, I lost almost complete interest in the magazine after Farhood left.

His "I scored it ringside for Quartery, I scored it on the tv for DLH" article was one of the biggest pieces of shit I've ever read.

(Now I'm hoping my memory's correct on that, it's been a long time.)

 

agree... Steve Farhood kept the Ring respectable and kept it from being a fanboy mag with CLEAR prejudices

I havent bought an issue in a long time, probably two or three years, but I read through one recently at a book store and was astonished at how poor it was and how biased it was

 

Yeah, it's amazing how they were trying to be DLH's publicist way back then....their coverage of the Charpentier fight was the worst.

I can't remember the headline for the story, although I want to say it was something like "making legs quiver in and out of the ring".

 

Some DLH covers from back then:

<img src=http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/7/79/98Jan.jpg>

<img src=http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/a/a9/98Oct.jpg>

<img src=http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/f/f3/98Nov.jpg>

 

Whose that Ivan dude that writes for Ring Magazine? He wrote this piece about how Ortiz was right to quit vs Maidana.

 

Ivan Goldman, their West Coast... whatever his title is. I think he does the Magoo things.

I always thought Michael Rosenthal was just limited to their website stuff. I didn't know he wrote for the magazine itself as well.

 

Yep, Goldman, ta.

Is Santoloquito or whatever still writing for them?

I sometimes wonder if journalists dont communicate with each other, like "Hey I'll bash Ortiz for quitting and you praise him for quitting and we'll have a faux war and make the people think they are getting great diversity"

 

Do you have the one where they have Oscar after the Camacho fight and it says...."If you can't respect Oscar, you can't respect anyone"...:laugh11:

It's one thing to be a fanboy, its one thing to be a hater- but its something else to know nothing about the sport itself, which I am sure Nigel Collins does. He knows....nothing about boxing. Nothing.

Suggesting that one fighters jab will land first because he has longer arms than his opponent, was one example.

That's criminal. Its like saying so and so has faster hands and will therefore land more punches.

Desperate shit.

 

Great! Now it will look like Boxing Digest Magazine! Will they borrow the Readers Digest Pacquiao photo?

 

"the gift of peace".....:laugh11:

 

Dude, the Pacquiao article is the one that reads "More Power"...:notallthere:

 

Yes i was aware of that.:Giggle:

 

Oscar also made the cover of Time Magazine.

 

Pacquiao did for real.

 

As I was saying- there is just no way, no way, this guy will get done for PED's. There is just too much invested in him.

 

YES!!! That is it!

How can any journalist look himself in the mirror after putting up such a headline???

 

shit, I remember that one too!

There were only a tiny handful of dissenting opinions ever in that magazine in those days (and up until I gave up reading it a few years ago) ... William Detloff was one... I didnt always agree with him, for sure, but he never seemed to me to have a real fanboy agenda, he had a genuine appreciation for the art itself and you could tell the guy loved the history of the sport... but 95% of that magazine was shit

 

That's the first cover jpg I posted on page one (from Januiary 1998).

<img src=http://static.boxrec.com/wiki/7/79/98Jan.jpg>

I must say, looking at that page of old Ring covers certainly brought back some memories.

http://boxrec.com/media/index.php/The_Ring_Magazine

I remember that cover came around the time there was growing criticism of DLH match-making. I'm trying to remember which fight that was after, I think it was the Camacho ppv.

 

I think you are right because that fight happened at the end of 1997 if memory serves

 

Online magazines have always failed. What a stupid waste of money by the ring.

 

By June 1998, Boxing Monthly were certainly on his case....




[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman][SIZE=+3]The big Oscar De La Hoya fights that the boxing public most wants to see are still, at time of writing, as far away as ever.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]The fans and the writers want to see the Golden Boy face welterweight champions Felix Trinidad and Ike Quartey. Instead, De La Hoya defends his World Boxing Council title against Frenchman Patrick Charpentier at El Paso, Texas on 13 June, then gives ageing legend Julio Cesar Chavez a rematch at Las Vegas on 18 September.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Charpentier, sure, we can understand that. The Frenchman is the WBC's mandatory challenger and therefore has to be accommodated. But Chavez? Two years ago, De La Hoya had Chavez bloody and bemused in four rounds at Las Vegas when they were fighting for the super lightweight (10st., or 140 lbs) championship.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Both are two years older but De La Hoya, 25, has grown bigger and stronger. Chavez, who will be 36 in July, has simply got slower.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Michael Katz of the New York Daily News says that De La Hoya's promoter, Bob Arum, has "his star in the loser's bracket" with his choice of opponents. Katz wrote in an April column that Arum's "only interest is most money for least risk and the public be damned".[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]A Los Angeles-area sports columnist, the veteran Doug Krikorian, wrote that De La Hoya has "turned his version of the welterweight title into a total joke" with recent and forthcoming matches.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Krikorian describes Chavez as "totally, ravaged, totally over-the-hill, totally pathetic".[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Arum explained his position in a telephone conference call earlier this year. He said: "I pick opponents based on their economic value, not on how good or bad the opponent is vis-a-vis another opponent."[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]It is Arum's view that Chavez is the most marketable opponent. And also, it goes without saying, less dangerous than younger, unbeaten fighters, Trinidad and Quartey.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]But it is not solely up to Arum who decides De La Hoya's opponents. It is a team decision, with De La Hoya's father, his trainer and a businessman adviser all having their say. De La Hoya himself, it is believed, makes the final decision.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]He has wanted Chavez again ever since the older man's sore-loser comments after the last fight. A cut over the eye that caused the ending in 1996 lent an air of inconclusiveness. There seems genuine animosity between the two men. Because of this, and, of course, of Chavez's big-name appeal, the rematch, whether we like it or not, will be a major event and a pay-per-view television success in the United States.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Yes, a fight between De La Hoya and either Trinidad or Quartey would be far more intriguing to those who really understand boxing than what is seen as a foregone conclusion with Chavez. De La Hoya versus Trinidad would be the most compelling welterweight match since the Sugar Ray Leonard-Thomas Hearns fight in 1981. It would match two young, good-looking, undefeated champions, each capable of knocking out the other.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]However, the obvious sticking point here is that De La Hoya is linked to American premium cable TV giant Home Box Office and its pay-per-view arm, TVKO, while Trinidad, through his promoter, Don King, is tied to HBO's rival, the Showtime TV network and its PPV offshoot, Showtime Event Television.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Making the match is far more difficult than it was to get Leonard and Hearns into the ring in 1981, when closed-circuit TV - with fans watching on big screens in arenas across America - was still the dominant medium.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]De La Hoya versus Quartey, or De La Hoya against Jose Luis Lopez, the Mexican who fought a draw with Quartey, would be excellent matches but neither of these opponents is widely known outside the boxing fraternity. Which brings us back to Chavez and the matter of marketability.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]When Michael Katz talks about matches being made with a view to most money for least risk, he is absolutely right. But there are those who might say that this is what good promotion and efficient management is all about.[/FONT]
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How much does it really cost to upload a magazine that you have put together for the newsstands anyway?

 

By that time, there were plenty of people on his case...including Larry Merchant, as I recall.

 

[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]De La Hoya is so charismatic a figure, with his film-star looks and easy charm, that he can generate millions even against fairly ordinary opposition. His opponents have been chosen with great care and matches have been made with perfect timing, often against quality fighters who were either smaller men or in decline but, to be fair, neither of these descriptions applied when De La Hoya met Los Angeles rival Rafael Ruelas in a clash of lightweight champions. It looked like being a testing fight but De La Hoya took care of business in two rounds.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Despite the barbs of critics De La Hoya is doing what he and those around him feel is best for De La Hoya. He is making millions with little risk, true, but he is also honing his skills, maturing and gaining experience, to give himself the best possible chance of winning when, and if, a fight with a Trinidad or a Quartey can be made.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]When De La Hoya says he wants to meet these fighters, he sounds believable. But they are in his future. So is Keith Mullings, the super welter champ who was profiled in this magazine last month.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]For the foreseeable future, De La Hoya will fight opponents whom he is likely to defeat convincingly in bouts that will see him enter the ring a massive favourite in the betting. After Charpentier (De La Hoya was 12-1 on favourite at time of writing) and Chavez, the next two opponents being considered are Mexico's Yory Boy Campas (stopped by Trinidad and Jose Luis Lopez, but who has since won a light-middle world title) and veteran contender Oba Carr (stopped by Trinidad, outpointed by Quartey and more recently held to a gruelling draw by veteran Detroit rival Anthony Jones).[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]The fact is that De La Hoya does not need a Trinidad or a Quartey to make major money. He is in the fortunate position of being the sort of fighter whom the public wants to see, almost regardless of whom he meets. He brings a sense of occasion to the ring, a touch of Hollywood that is backed by ability and punching power. The crowds at De La Hoya fights, and the TV millions keeping them distant company, do not seem to care too much if the other man is outclassed: the sheer star-power of De La Hoya, the feeling that they are witnessing a dramatic entertainment event, is enough.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Promoter Arum has announced that 34,000 tickets generating $2.1 million in revenue were sold the first day of going on sale for De La Hoya's bout with Charpentier, which will be outdoors at the 50,000-seat Sun Bowl arena in El Paso, the west Texas town those of us of a certain age will associate with a 1950s hit song by Marty Robbins. Every ringside seat, apparently, was sold in 10 minutes. "I've never seen anything like it in all my years in boxing," Arum said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]So, from a purely business perspective, De La Hoya is doing very nicely indeed. Yes, we would love to see him in the sort of fight where there was a sense of danger. But boxing today is not conducted the way it was in times past, when there was only one world title in each of eight weight divisions, when the best fighters fought the best to reach the top and when Sugar Ray Robinson fought Jake La Motta twice in 21 days. Those days have gone forever.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Our hope is that there will come a time when De La Hoya feels the need within himself, and not simply because he has been goaded by critics' unkind comments, to demand matches with the toughest opponents available. That time will come only when De La Hoya's professional pride and ego demands it. This is a man, or so it seems to me, who is taking his time about facing the ultimate challenges but who, nevertheless, will not want to leave the game with the accusation that he never faced the fighters who truly stood a chance of beating him. There is toughness behind the GQ image.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]And so we make do with what is at hand, starting with Charpentier, the official No. 1 challenger.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]It is a sad fact of boxing today that the mandatory challengers of the various organisations are not always, maybe hardly ever, the best fighters in the division. Charpentier seems a case in point.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]True, the Frenchman is a former European champion who never lost that title in the ring (choosing to vacate it so he could concentrate on the world title challenge) but he has not beaten one opponent who could be considered a top world-class boxer.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Charpentier, 27, brings a record of 26 wins, four losses and a technical draw (when he was cut after a clash of heads in an undercard bout at Atlantic City, his only previous U.S. appearance). He has stopped 21 opponents, so clearly he can punch somewhat.[/FONT]
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, times new roman]Probably his most significant win - and certainly the most vivid - was in France two years ago when, behind on points and in danger of being stopped due to a cut over the eye, he landed a big right to save the day in the seventh round against Scot Gary Jacobs. But Jacobs said afterwards that he had struggled to make weight and subsequently moved up to the light-middle division.[/FONT]