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AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE
FROM OUR EDITOR
By Nigel Collins
It turns out Oscar De La Hoya and I have more in common than I thought. And I’m not talking about our bank balances or reflections in the mirror.
Oscar recently said that as a kid he was “always waiting with anticipation to get the new issue of The Ring.” Sounds a lot like me when I was in junior high, constantly popping into Kroll’s luncheonette to see if the new issue was on the rack.
Oscar also said that owning The Ring was “a dream come true.” And while not even my subconscious could imagine ever having enough money to own the magazine, contributing to it in some fashion was a fantasy I entertained from boyhood. Years later, when I became an unpaid stringer, I allowed that fantasy to morph into an aspiration that eventually became my life’s work.
Our journeys have been dissimilar in both direction and duration, but today Oscar and I have both fulfilled our youthful fantasy, and now share the bond of responsibility. As owner and editor, our mission is to guide the publication to greater prosperity, while preserving the integrity and tradition that has been its hallmark since Nat Fleischer launched The Ring in 1922.
It is, of course, its history of integrity and independence that has allowed The Ring to become more that just a periodical. Since Fleischer’s pioneering campaign to eradicate boxing’s so-called “color bar” during the early years of his stewardship, The Ring has been a guiding light for a sport that has a proclivity for controversy.
Therefore, I both understand and respect those who are concerned about the current situation and its potential for conflict of interest. Having an active fighter, who is also one of the sport’s foremost promoters, own the magazine could conceivably mean the end of the autonomous impartiality that has made The Ring the Bible of Boxing. It’s a natural fear, but one that I firmly believe will prove unfounded.
Many of you have probably read the reassuring statements made by De La Hoya and Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer, but for those who have not, they are well worth repeating:
“The magazine will be held in an editorial trust where it will be operating totally independent of any influence from me or others from Golden Boy companies as it relates to the editorial direction or content,” said De La Hoya.
“We won’t attempt to influence the editorial content. If we did that, it would achieve exactly the opposite of what we want … if we turned The Ring into an in-house publication for Golden Boy, it would lose its reputation and we would destroy our investment,” said Schaefer.
While keeping the editorial content entirely independent makes good business sense, it was Oscar’s boyhood love of The Ring that persuaded me more than anything of his sincerity. It struck a cord that reverberated down through the years to my own early infatuation with the magazine and convinced me Oscar would never do anything to bring dishonor to an institution we’ve both cherished throughout most of our lives.
Although you have my word of honor, along with those of Oscar and Richard, the proof of our sincerity will be found on the pages of this and upcoming issues of The Ring.
Rather than a dark day, the new ownership is the dawning of a bright, new era, one that will bring many positive changes, changes that I will be telling you about in the coming months.
Just thought people might find this interesting, that's all.
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