The Ring Magazine has always been known as the Bible of Boxing and was restored earlier this week and brought back.
Back into circulation in print and online through Saudi Arabia, who are preserving history in the sport with the greatest history of them all, boxing.
Speaking to BoxNation alongside Hall of Famer Frank Warren Teddy Atlas said:
“This is Omar for Box Nation. We’re back in the capital of boxing, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. I’m joined by the legend himself, Teddy Atlas. His Excellency has brought The Ring Magazine back. We’ve had an incredible dinner tonight—an incredible event. Teddy, just sum it all up for me; give me your thoughts.
History—it’s important to have history in anything. Anything of consequence has history. This sport has more history and has been around longer than any other sport, yet the history in this great sport—a sport I’ve been in for 50 years—our sport, does not have the availability of history to young people out there that other sports have. Sports like baseball, basketball, American football, and tennis—all those sports bring you a man who can make me a little smarter. No, someone I’m trying to make a comeback with—I make a comeback, you never went anywhere; you know you’ve always been here. You’ve always been a staple of boxing. Listen, the thing to me, the importance of this moment, this night with Ring Magazine, is that history is important. It’s important for younger people to learn and be taught, and the thing that always bothered me in my sport, which I’ve been around for 50 years now, is that basketball, baseball, American football—all these sports—they have the availability of history for young people at their fingertips. You could talk to a young kid, and they’ll tell you who the basketball teams were from a few years ago; they can go back even further to name football and baseball players. But this sport, which has been around longer than any other sport, its history—they don’t know it. They don’t know it, and that’s why it’s important that you have places, mediums like The Ring Magazine, to have that history, to show that history, to save that history, and make it available to the fans, to people who don’t know that history. They know the baseball players, the basketball players, some of their trials and tribulations, but they don’t know these great fighters, what they went through to get there. They have no idea, and they should. They should know about Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, and what he went through to get there. They should know about Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ, and what he went through. They should know about a guy named Sam Langford, who fought in the 20s and 30s, had over 200 fights, and fought from lightweight to heavyweight, and what he overcame to get there. They should know this, and guess what? There aren’t enough places to get that information. That’s why tonight is important; that’s why what Turki Al-Sheikh is doing is important because he is salvaging history. He is making sure that history is going to be intact for people to understand this sport, and he’s now the custodian of Ring Magazine. It couldn’t be in better hands—the love of the sport, how he feels about it. This magazine has been around for 102 years now, and it will go from strength to strength for another 100 years. Look at what he’s doing; he just loves every bit of this. And it’s not just about the boxers; I mean, the boxers are the most important, but it’s also about the trainers and some of the great managers. That’s what it’s about, you know? He’s right; he’s really right. And look, the reason why people say he’s got the money to do it—well, he does, and you don’t need Teddy Atlas to tell you that. But really, the reason he’s the right person is he has the passion; he actually has the passion for this sport and cares for the people in this sport to ensure the sport is healthy again. That, to me, that’s what gives me hope, and that’s what’s happening now—100% amazing fights, amazing shows, bringing everybody together, getting them here, all the champions from the past, important names from boxing, all in this room. What upset me four years ago was that this sport, our sport, started becoming irrelevant. Yeah, that’s right—I’ll say it because the truth is the truth. It started becoming irrelevant a few years ago where people didn’t respect it in the way it deserved, the way it was always respected. It started to become a bit of a cult sport, shrinking, and when I heard that, I said this should never be said about this sport. He has come along and made it relevant again, put it back on top. You agree with that, Frank? It was irrelevant a few years ago, I think more so in America than in the UK because we’ve got quite a healthy market here, but what Teddy’s saying is spot on. Look how it’s gone; it’s not how it used to be in France, Italy, Holland, or Germany; they had real boxing markets, and it can come back. It’s not a complicated formula; it’s about putting the fights together that the public wants—putting the best with the best, stopping with this A versus B where you’re just building records. Put competitive fights together, and they will come. Remember that movie, “Field of Dreams”? Kevin Costner heard a voice saying, “Build it, and they will come.” Well, I don’t know what voices Turki’s been hearing, but he might have heard that voice too. Build it, they will come; put competitive fights together, and they will come back. The people are coming back; the sport is getting healthy again.”
Good point by Warren too the way they have got all the former champions together in the new world capital of boxing, and soon to be the world capital for all of professional sport — Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
The IBA are also doing great things in the East bringing the boxing world together, too, moreover.
Alas, the West has become nothing more than evil garbage as the years went on and all of professional sport is experiencing huge growth in the East now, not least boxing.
Boxing is just at the beginning of a huge growth time as a sport in the years ahead.
