Thread: How credible is Ring Magazine and it's ratings?

The thread on the p4p rankings from Ring Magazine has me asking this question and also that it's owned by Golden Boy Enterprises which promotes boxers.

First off the thread on the latest p4p rankings also has me questioning the selections like Donaire in it and guys like Dawson and Williams are left out, especially Williams who has fought and won all of his fights at 3 weight classes, with only 1 defeat which he avenged.

But I think that the magazine is owned by GBP which promotes boxers is a major conflict of interest. I really don't think a company that promotes fights/boxers should be owning the Ring Magazine which has so called credible ratings and is considered to be an authoritative source within the boxing community. How do we know things like ratings/rankings won't be manipulated?

Your thoughts?

What does it matter if the ratings are manipulated? It's just a magazine. Who would that favour?

Their ratings/rankings are just as rubbish as every other. They poll the OPINION of so-called experts, but all rankings are flawed and hypocritical.

IF their ratings guarantee title shots, and therefore big money oppotunities, then I guess it would be important.

Ring rating has always been corrupt even before they got associated with GBP. They say they're the bible in boxing. But which bible?

There are only 3 GBP boxers in the Ring Top 10, Juan Manuel Marquez, Bernard Hopkins & Shane Mosley, all of whom get in to almost all fans' top 10. There's a lot to criticize about GBP but manipulating Ring Magazine is not one of them.

However, in truth their rankings are just as open to being abused by idiotic choices as our own are

Originally Posted by JazMerkin

There are only 3 GBP boxers in the Ring Top 10, Juan Manuel Marquez, Bernard Hopkins & Shane Mosley, all of whom get in to almost all fans' top 10. There's a lot to criticize about GBP but manipulating Ring Magazine is not one of them.

However, in truth their rankings are just as open to being abused by idiotic choices as our own are

I guess that's a good way of looking at it. It's still a big conflict of interest for me with it being own by GBP, since Ring magazine is seen as an "authoritative" publication in the boxing world with it's Ring titles and that sort of stuff and p4p rankings and being quoted by lots of people for credibility.

Ratings are personal opinions....

Think of it like this:

There are perhaps 100 Junior Welterweights in Britain alone, so maybe there are at least 1500 active 140lbers in the World?

And somehow a panel of experts have watched all these fighters, discussed and come to a consensus on the ten best, and placed them from one though to ten.....

Pound for pound there must be at least 12,000 active pro's weighing between what 100 and 400lbs? Yet every month this panel can come to an opinion on the ten best if they all weighed the same?

Even the best ratings are opinions, and the best ratings are your opinions!

Originally Posted by generalbulldog

Originally Posted by JazMerkin

There are only 3 GBP boxers in the Ring Top 10, Juan Manuel Marquez, Bernard Hopkins & Shane Mosley, all of whom get in to almost all fans' top 10. There's a lot to criticize about GBP but manipulating Ring Magazine is not one of them.

However, in truth their rankings are just as open to being abused by idiotic choices as our own are

I guess that's a good way of looking at it. It's still a big conflict of interest for me with it being own by GBP, since Ring magazine is seen as an "authoritative" publication in the boxing world with it's Ring titles and that sort of stuff and p4p rankings and being quoted by lots of people for credibility.

My understanding was ODLH bought it as part of a plan to use it to revive public interest in boxing. The way that GBP fighters have come to monopolize HBO schedules is far more of a concern to me than the Ring thing, which as far as I can tell they have stuck to their word & stayed out of editorial decisions.

Well The Ring Champions are as follows:

Heavyweight: the winner of Wladimir Klitschko (IBF, WBO) vs Ruslan Chagaev (WBA)
Cruiserweight: Tomaz Adamek
Light Heavyweight: Joe Calzaghe/VACANT
Super Middleweight: Joe Calzaghe/VACANT
Middleweight: Kelly Pavlik
Jr. Middleweight: VACANT
Welterweight: Floyd Mayweather Jr./VACANT
Jr. Welterweight: Manny Pacquiao
Lightweight: Juan Manuel Marquez

You guys have issues with any of those

Originally Posted by Lyle

Well The Ring Champions are as follows:

Heavyweight: the winner of Wladimir Klitschko (IBF, WBO) vs Ruslan Chagaev (WBA)

Light Heavyweight: Joe Calzaghe/VACANT


You guys have issues with any of those

Wlad or Chagaev also have to beat Vitali before they can claim the Championship.

Erdei may not be able to clean Calzaghe's boots, but he is champion in my eyes, bacause of being the man who beat the man etc, who won the Hill/Maske/Michalczweski fights.

Originally Posted by Lyle

Well The Ring Champions are as follows:

Heavyweight: the winner of Wladimir Klitschko (IBF, WBO) vs Ruslan Chagaev (WBA)
Cruiserweight: Tomaz Adamek
Light Heavyweight: Joe Calzaghe/VACANT
Super Middleweight: Joe Calzaghe/VACANT
Middleweight: Kelly Pavlik
Jr. Middleweight: VACANT
Welterweight: Floyd Mayweather Jr./VACANT
Jr. Welterweight: Manny Pacquiao
Lightweight: Juan Manuel Marquez

You guys have issues with any of those

Yeah, Ring Magazine should give up any pretensions they have about a Ring "belt", or a Ring "title", they are a magazine and that is all. They should just rank active fighters from one to ten and be done with it. None of this vacant crap for me.

Originally Posted by Britkid

Originally Posted by Lyle

Well The Ring Champions are as follows:

Heavyweight: the winner of Wladimir Klitschko (IBF, WBO) vs Ruslan Chagaev (WBA)

Light Heavyweight: Joe Calzaghe/VACANT


You guys have issues with any of those

Wlad or Chagaev also have to beat Vitali before they can claim the Championship.

Erdei may not be able to clean Calzaghe's boots, but he is champion in my eyes, bacause of being the man who beat the man etc, who won the Hill/Maske/Michalczweski fights.

Though I believe Vitaly would beat either of them fact is he has only been back for 2 fights, Wlad has been the dominate HW of the division like him or not he is the man to beat

Great question. I do monthly ranking for another venue and it's a grueling job (but I love doing it). However, I benchmark against a number of sources including Fightnews.com, WBO, IBF, WBA, WBC, and Ring. I also use what I see on Saddo and my own reserach.

My bottom line is that Ring Magazine is not one of the better ones to bench mark against. I like Fightnews probably the best plus I depend on my own reserach when it comes to the lighter weights. I follow, South Korea, Japan Aand Thailand as closley as anyone I know. Most of the rankers are guessing when it comes to the real small guys and that's wrong.

Here is an example of my Flyweight Rankins for June. They will change on July 1:

Flyweight (112 lbs)

1. Nonito Donaire
2. Denkaosan Kaowichit
3. Daisuke Naito
4. Omar Narváez
5. Koki Kameda
6. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
7. Omar Andres Narvaez
8. Brahim Asloum
9. Luis Concepcion
10. Julio Cesar Miranda
11. Ponomrunglek Kratingdaeng
12. Bernard Inom
13. Takahisa Masuda
14. Moruti Mthalane
15. Omar Salado

BTW, Here is the Ring's latest ranking re Flyweights:

CHAMPION: Vacant


1. Nonito Donaire
2. Daisuke Naito
3. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
4. Denkaosan Kaovichit
5. Omar Narvaez
6. Takefumi Sakata
7. Koki Kameda
8. Moruti Mthalane
9. Julio Cesar Miranda
10. Bernard Inom

The Ring Rating Panel
Mark Abrams
Carlos Arias
Eric Armit
Bill Calogero
Nick Charles
Brian Doogan
Coyote Duran
J. Michael Falgoust
Steve Farhood
Doug Fischer
Margaret Goodman, M.D.
Lee Groves
Jack Hirsch
Michael Hirsley
Keith Idec
Carlos Irusta
Ted Lerner
Marc Lichtenfeld
Jessi Losado
Scott Mallon
Rich Marotta
David Mayo
Barry McGuigan
Marty Mulcahey
Bernard Osuna
Vittorio Parisi
Matt Richardson
Cliff Rold
Michael Rosenthal
Rick Scharmberg
Don Steinberg
Joe Tessitore
Paul Upham
Claude Vesque
Calvin Watkins
John Whistler
Phil Woolever
Kurt Wolfheimer

Originally Posted by holmcall

Great question. I do monthly ranking for another venue and it's a grueling job (but I love doing it). However, I benchmark against a number of sources including Fightnews.com, WBO, IBF, WBA, WBC, and Ring. I also use what I see on Saddo and my own reserach.

My bottom line is that Ring Magazine is not one of the better ones to bench mark against. I like Fightnews probably the best plus I depend on my own reserach when it comes to the lighter weights. I follow, South Korea, Japan Aand Thailand as closley as anyone I know. Most of the rankers are guessing when it comes to the real small guys and that's wrong.

Here is an example of my Flyweight Rankins for June. They will change on July 1:

Flyweight (112 lbs)

1. Nonito Donaire
2. Denkaosan Kaowichit
3. Daisuke Naito
4. Omar Narváez
5. Koki Kameda
6. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam
7. Omar Andres Narvaez
8. Brahim Asloum
9. Luis Concepcion
10. Julio Cesar Miranda
11. Ponomrunglek Kratingdaeng
12. Bernard Inom
13. Takahisa Masuda
14. Moruti Mthalane
15. Omar Salado

Your list looks good... Appreciate the hardwork and headaches you had in putting such credible ranking...

BTW, I'm also a fan of FightNews rankings...
.