Boxing Magazines - A LeonMcS review

Hi all, in front of me at home I currently have as far as I know, all the boxing mags available in Australia at the moment. When I first started following the sport many years ago there was a lot more variety but the years havn't been kind, we now have two local and three imports, 2 from the US and 1 from the UK. Now to buy all five at the newsagents would cost roughly $66.85 a month, more on that later. I'll go through some plusses and cons on each and throw in some comments, all feedback invited.

We'll start with the two local efforts, The Fist and World of Boxing.

The Fist $7.95rrp, $7.50 6 month sub, $6.25 12 month sub

Originally produced by Grantlee Keiza, The Fist must be coming up to nearly 20 years old. Now a glossy mag with colour pics, its light on ads, has both pro and am coverage. Has Aus and the major Alphabet ratings. Website www.thefist.com.au

Pros: Good feature articles, lengthy reporting, June editions article on Lou Cafaro a good example. Contents page. Keeps tabs on most of our local hopes. A colour centrefold (ooh-er!) of a boxer in the news. Some great overseas foreign correspondents, Rob Mladinich, Joe Koizumi and the brilliant Gavin Evans from the UK. O/T read Evans book 'Dancing shoes is dead', more in that in another thread one day.

Cons: The Layout. Towards the back everything just seems shovelled in and in no order. The first article too seems to suffer with the setting secondary to whatever picture is featured in the background. Is pretty but not functional. The ratings; whilst its pretty well done and helpfully has the locals in bold print, continually misses some names. John Hoggs ANBF ratings...lets just say theres some glaring problems there, in my opinion, though helpfully does include the fighters records.
Also you may think you are suffering deja vu sometimes, don't worry, thats just a second or third write-up on the same fight from earlier in the mag.


World of Boxing $5.95, $4.92 12 month sub

Another thats lasted, newspaper styled mag. Lots of ads. Sky Channel Australian ratings.

Pros: Dream Fight. A regular feature that pits a top Aussie fighter against one from a different era or an overseas legend. Local names give their opinion on what would have transpired. Good local coverage with the ams well looked after, includes listing of local gyms state by state, ah thats if your in Vic or NSW.

Cons: Ads. Now this is a bit unfair as obviously the mag needs ads to survive but lets be honest, there are a lot of ads. I'm fine with it, though not sure of the wisdom of the funeral directors one. Layout is better than the fists but again a little haphazard, with local news amongst the overseas reports. Not sure also on some former detective calling out Mick Gatto for a fight is really front page news in the latest (June) edition. Suffers from the same repetive reporting as The Fist does sometimes.

Out of the two local efforts, its a pick-em fight. WoB is cheaper though subscriptions bring the cost of both down. The Fist is glossy and has more photos if your into that sort of thing. Ultimately, both are up against in todays environment vs websites but are a good resource of having most of the months news at your fingertips. It comes down to personal choice, and for me WoB just shades it, primarily just for that dream fight piece they do each month, something I always look forward to. Both mags suffer from some sloppy editing but as both are pretty cheap compared to the imports, I have no problems buying each and supporting them. While neither is great, they are both more than readable, though I think easily improved a little more. One possibly worrying development, The Fist is up for sale at the moment.

Next, the imports, The Ring (US) vs Boxing Digest (US) vs Boxing Monthly (UK)

 

Boxing Digest $16.95 rrp, $5.45 12 month sub (est)

Full glossy, formerly Boxing Illustrated, International Boxing Digest. IBO & WBO ratings, plus the mags own though only in 9 divisions. Contents page. www.boxingdigest.com

Pros: Good mix of present events but its main strength is its focus on fighters from the past. Round the world section is awesome, covering cards from all over and includes all the undercard fighters with a quick write-up on all. Jack Obermayer column, one of my all time personal favourites. Collectors corner page, good for tape trading etc. Upcoming bouts page with dates listed.

Cons: Surface mail i.e its way out of date. $17 for a 3 month old mag isn't fun. Fighting Words. A regular page of four fighters hand drawn by the editors 5 year old nephew (possibly) with some quote attributed to them. Why? What is the relevance? Also why IBO & WBO ratings and not the others? I think if you have one lot you should have them all. Wouldn't be the full page ad the IBO runs surely...

This was my favourite magazine years ago. The comprehensive fight results they carried, though still good today was brilliant years ago. Cover price has just gone up $2 this month but if you go for subscription I think its $62 US, so thats my rough estimate above, just check on that though, at that price definetely worth looking at a subscription. Air mail may be extra though.

Boxing Monthly $11.50 Air frieghted, $8.50 surface, $12.91 12 month sub (includes t shirt)

Full glossy, Boxing Monthlys own world ratings with alphabet soup champs listed, British ratings, contents page. www.boxing-monthly.co.uk

Pros: Price! $11.50 for the air version which is only a few weeks old is value for money. Whilst UK-centric (strange that) has good features from round the globe. Good columnists, includes Steve Farhood. Reviews of books & DVDs, classifieds at the back for DVDs etc. This months edition (June) includes free '10 Great Fights' supplement.

Cons: Its English. Um...thats about it.

When I started collecting years ago this was the worst. When I started again I was amazed at how much its improved. The best priced import and still relatively fresh, theres not really much I can say against it. While subscription may cost a little more I'd presume you get the mag a little earlier. Otherwise with a good mix of their local and abroad, hard to find fault.

The Ring $24.50rrp, $14.25 6 month sub, $12.64 12 month sub, both airmail

Full glossy, Ring ratings (no pesky alphabets here), contents www.thering-online.com

Pros: Its the Ring...great features, columnists. New faces section, Flashback to an old Ring mag that month from the past, Hall of Fame Profile, fight results...always a lengthy read. Danny Green featured in this months (July) opening shot, also a review of Chos-Hamden.

Cons: Price...c'mon. $24.50 for a 2-3 month old mag is ridiculous. Ok, subscription brings it down but a few years ago this mag jumped from around $8 to $15 in one hit and has continued upwards ever since. Its unjustifiable, especially as its arriving via surface mail. GBP owning the mag...whilst some don't like it, am not aware of any change of editorial since the sale. Also note, here in Oz we get the US cover version, not the UK.

The Ring has easily the best, most in-depth articles. But the price is just a major stumbling block. Now luckily I'm rich/stupid enough to be able to get it each month but I can't help feeling I'm paying that much just for the name, not the content.

Summary

On value for money, its easy, Boxing Monthly by a street, cheaper than the rest and arrives much sooner. Its writing, whilst not as good as the Rings, is only a shade behind. Boxing Digest has slipped somewhat from what it was but is still a good honest toiler but the recent increase of price over the counter doesn't help. If you can afford the 12 month sub to the Ring (143.70US) then that helps but it really irks me they charge double that over the counter and still is sent via surface. Ultimately, the Ring is the best rounded of the mags and has more resources at their disposal, but I find it hard to recommend for the casual fan at that price.

At the end of the day I'd go BM, The Ring then BD. BM solely because they take the effort to send out an edition via air then don't charge an arm and a leg for it. The writings fine, layouts easy enough to get around, and they continually put out lots of little extras, a few months ago you could get 2 back editions for around $8. Whilst the Ring will always be the bible of boxing, it doesn't mean they can price it like its the holy grail.

 

Josey - Did mention that GBP owns the Ring, please don't give them any ideas about more price increases.

BoppaZoo - In the end obviuosly its a matter of taste. But factoring in everything else I can't put them of top of the list solely because of the price. The first mag I ever bought was KO (R.I.P) and to me I always found that way more enjoyable than the Ring. I'm a hoarder so I'll continue to buy each one every month but have to go with BM for speed of delivery & price. Now, if the Ring was to suddenly drop its cover price by $5-$10...

Rise Above - I fully intend to take out a sub to the Ring asap, good to hear its sent so promptly. I picked up Julys edition just today, can i ask what month yours was?

 

Full page ad in this months edition.