LeonMcS
06-11-2008, 07:02 AM
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 [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
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)
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 [Only registered and activated users can see links] ([Only registered and activated users can see links])
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)