TOUGH SCRUTINY

By Michael Swann

Sports and Entertainment Publications, LLC, a subsidiary of Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions announced last week that it had acquired The Ring Magazine, KO Magazine, World Boxing Magazine, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated from the Kappa Publishing Group. In short, De La Hoya is now the official chief of the 85 year old “Bible of Boxing.”

In a press release issued by Golden Boy, Oscar said, “These magazines will be held in an editorial trust where they will be operating totally independent of any influence from me or others from the Golden Boy companies as it relates to editorial direction or content.”

Okay, fair enough. Oscar made an investment. Why not just take his word and move on, particularly since Nigel Collins, the editor-in-chief at Ring is known by all to be a man of unquestioned integrity?

The answer is that boxing is a breeding ground for skepticism, admittedly often with ample justification. But the same naïve souls that would accept as gospel the pabulum spooned out by some elected officials seem to have an ingrained cynicism when it comes to the sweet science, thinking everything is “fixed” or at best, “shady.”

And then there is the math. Reportedly, the sale price was in the neighborhood of $7 million, virtually a bargain in today’s market. But it’s quite a bit to pay for an enterprise that is hardly likely to be a profit center. So, naturally some will question the motives of the purchase.

Analyzing the situation, you can see why some might feel that a promotional company that is desirous of a print magazine in an age in which such publications are dying has an agenda other than profit. And particularly in this case the potential for a conflict of interest could be a concern to many. The Ring, led by Collins, has worked feverishly to gain acceptance of its rankings and championship belts. If even a hint of impropriety was suspected, the entire program would go out the window.

Then there is the matter of whether owning The Ring would give Golden Boy an unfair competitive advantage over rival promoters. If GBP had control of editorial content or ratings decisions, it could very well affect how others would have to run their business. Theoretically, The Ring could become a Golden Boy house organ, and it would be 100% legal. Golden Boy has been criticized in the past by rival promoters for their methods in acquiring fighters. But imagine the volley of charges that would be unleashed should favoritism be shown inside the pages of The Ring as the promotional arm of Golden Boy.

The acquisition of a print magazine by a promotional company is unprecedented. A Ring ratings scandal is not. In 1977 Don King and ABC launched the United States Boxing Championships, a tournament to establish an American champion in every weight division. The Ring rated the worthiness of the competition.

Then ABC discovered the Ring ratings had been doctored to establish eligibility for the tournament. The records of 11 fighters were found to be falsified in the Ring ratings, and ABC eventually cancelled the tournament amidst charges that the King fighters were receiving preferential treatment.

Nat Loubet, The Ring editor at the time, further lost credibility when he attempted to explain it by saying that the magazine was dependent on unverifiable information supplied by managers of the fighters.

Now 30 years later, The Ring has rebuilt its reputation, in large part because of Nigel Collins. But even now, every time a discussion of the validity of rankings is brought up, the scandal of 1977 is brought back to life.

Many of us in the working world have experienced that dreadful feeling that comes with a difference of opinion with your boss. I can recall in a previous life being up for a promotion against the son of the executive who headed up the committee.

When I was called in to hear the decision and receive feedback, the executive told me that, “(His son) shouldn’t get special favoritism because he’s my son.”

I thought that the session was off to a good start until he completed his thought by adding, “But he shouldn’t be punished for it either.”

The son had been with the company for about 20 minutes when he received that promotion; I had about 15 years of experience at that time.

The point is that future promotions were forthcoming that might not have been available had I protested that day. (The son was later fired for embezzlement.)

Not everyone has the stones to tell the boss that he is wrong. It’s like telling a mother that her baby’s ugly. You can say it--once.

In the early 1980’s, the media mogul Rupert Murdoch acquired the London Times and promised that there would be no changes and he would not interfere. Within a year, he fired the editor-in-chief. Today, Murdoch’s editorial views permeate Fox News, which is seemingly a direct pipeline to and from the White House. Just recently, some 200 Wall Street Journal journalists failed to report to work to protest his impending acquisition of the Dow Jones Company, concerned that Murdoch would compromise the publication’s editorial independence.

A colleague wrote me that in time Oscar’s $$$ would grease the editors at The Ring. I strongly disagree. That’s not going to happen under Nigel Collins’ watch. On the other hand, sooner or later he will have a successor and he/she may or may not be as honest as Collins.

Collins was contacted for the purpose of giving him a voice in this debate. He replied back offering to answer any questions by email or phone. I submitted an email consisting of the concerns of this article and also whether he would resign if he felt compromised.

He replied in minutes. After initial greetings he went straight to my concerns:

“Both Oscar and Richard Schaeffer have given me their personal guarantees that there will be no interference whatsoever regarding the editorial content of The Ring, and I have no reason to doubt their word. If I did, I would not have stayed on as editor-in-chief. If the occasion arises when I feel it is necessary to criticize Golden Boy, its fights or its fighters, I will not hesitate to do so.

“I honestly don’t think that I will be put in a situation where I have to resign in order to protect the integrity of The Ring. Hypothetically, it could happen, but I consider it an extremely remote possibility. It would be foolish to invest so much money in The Ring and the turn around and destroy its value by compromising its principles. These are intelligent people we are dealing with, and I expect them to act accordingly.

“As far as my successor is concerned, all I can say is that I enjoy good health and plan to be here for a long time, so that is the last of my worries.

“However, the bottom line here is not what anybody says, it is what we do, and I believe that the proof of the sincerity of all involved will be found on the pages of upcoming issues of The Ring.

“If there are more specific questions you want answered, please forward them and I’ll be happy to reply.

“Thank you for giving me this opportunity.”

Several promotional companies were also contacted for their opinion, with the assurance that they would not be identified unless they chose to be. Only two replied, with one no comment and one non answer.

After reviewing all the facts, while this might appear on the surface to be an obvious conflict of interest, this reporter has a great deal of respect for Nigel Collins and is hopeful that it becomes merely a tempest in a teapot.

Cynics will be checking upcoming issues of The Ring from cover to cover in an attempt to find some evidence of partisanship. Perhaps it is premature to cast a cloud of suspicion over the magazine without any supporting evidence of wrongdoing. In fact, it would be just as wrong to fail to report Golden Boy’s achievements accurately, and there are many of those.

So let’s give Golden Boy a fair shot with their new enterprise before we assume the worst, while we extend our best wishes for Nigel’s continued good health.