People from the UK are probably more likely to be familiar with him, although he was inducted into the IBHOF. A greatly missed presence in the international boxing media IMO who died before his time. Not sure if any threads on him have been done before... Thoughts?
He was the most respected Boxing Journalist the United Kingdom have ever produced, his work is still used today.
I don't know that I would go that far,but he was certainly his own man ,honest and forth right,and a fine judge of fighters.I think Mcillvanney is about as good as it gets in the UK.
Possibly so, he just seemed such a nice fella! He had passion and depth to his writing and although perhaps lacking a bit in crispness, his work always seemed honest and decent. Also judging by his persona, I get the feeling if you wanted to be in Vegas for a big fight, you could have a great time with Harry!
I'm only familiar with him through his book The Illustrated History Of Boxing. The first one had Hagler and Leonard on the cover, and the second updated edition had Tyson and Bruno on the cover. I'm not sure what else he wrote.
McIlvanney's the standard bearer undoubtedly, often for WHATEVER he chooses to write about: few sports journalists pick up a Journalist of the Year award in the company of politics and world affairs writers etc. Real insight and eloquence in Mr McIvanney's prose. Mullan was great though; his opinions of Buchanan and Winstone were the chief reason that I looked into their respective careers in greater depth.
A fine writer and one of our best. I have to say I much preferred Boxing News with Graham Houston as editor though.
