COMMISSIONER’S CORNER LINEAGE OF A LEGACY By Randy Gordon
magazine that featured fiction stories written by some of the day’s top writers, and knew his name as being an editor of the magazine. Sugar, an avid boxing enthusiast, collector and historian, had also been the publisher of Boxing Illustrated from 1969-1973. His phone call was about to change my life. “Randy, I have a business proposition for you,” said Sugar. I listened. “I have just purchased Ring Magazine, and I’d like you to be a part of my new journey,” he continued. I was all ears. My job at World and International Boxing and Big Book of Boxing paid the bills, but our publisher,
Stanley Weston, had no interest in trying to purchase The Ring, which was at the lowest point in its 57-year history. “When it’s your money, YOU purchase The Ring,” Weston said to me. I wished I could have. Rather than tell me his plan over the phone, Sugar set up a lunch meeting with me the following Saturday at O’Reilly’s Pub in New York City. It was Sugar’s favorite “watering hole,” a place where both Bert and I wrote and edited nearly five years of Ring Magazine. When I walked into O’Reilly’s, I saw him sitting at a far table. He was holding court with several patrons. A cigar was in his mouth and a drink in his hand. A black fedora was on his head. His sports jacket looked like it was made of colorful quilts, and it didn’t match his salmon-colored
I was hired by HBO as their boxing consultant and by NBC as their statistical producer. On the frequent boxing telecasts of SportsWorld , NBC’s blow-by- blow announcer, Marv Albert, made sure to mention The Ring in every telecast, telling viewers where each fighter they covered was rated – or not – by The Ring. No mention was made of any of the sanctioning bodies. It was only The Ring that was mentioned. Nobody else! Soon, CBS began doing the same thing. ABC, which had been burned so badly by the implosion of the United States Boxing Championships, sadly began to withdraw from its coverage of boxing. Now, 46 years removed from that first meeting with Bert Sugar and reaching for our dream of making The Ring ratings the sport’s most accepted and respected ratings and The
I n the weeks of watching the buildup to the Canelo Alvarez- Terence Crawford fight and the terrific card itself, I found myself full of wonderful memories and drenched by a tsunami of pride. It was a feeling probably only I – and perhaps Nigel Collins and Steve Farhood – could feel. The three of us once sat at the helm of Ring Magazine and poured every ounce of ourselves into this fantastic “Bible of Boxing.” I began thinking of the inimitable, incomparable Bert Randolph Sugar, whose genius, vision and open- mindedness resurrected a lifeless publication that was already on its way to the “Magazine Graveyard.” It was May 1979. It was early evening. With my wife, a clothing buyer, working late, I had just made dinner for my 2-year-old daughter Ali, gave her a bath, read her a bedtime story, then tucked her in for the night, kissing her and saying, “I love you and I’m crazy about you.” Soon after she fell asleep, I began typing a story about up-and-coming heavyweight Gerry Cooney (I never dreamed that, 46 years later, we’d be doing a national radio show together!) on my old Remington Rand(y) typewriter. The story was for World and International Boxing Magazines, of which I was the editor. I was just about finished with the story when my phone rang. It was from publisher, author, writer, fedora-wearing, cigar-smoking Bert Randolph Sugar.
When I answered, he began, “Hello, Randolph, this is another Randolph – Bert Randolph Sugar.” I recognized the name, but not from boxing. I had been a reader of Argosy, a prestigious pulp
F rom our first issue, The Ring was back. It had a great new look. Top writers returned. What Bert and I now wanted, as much as readership, was respect from everyone who picked up the magazine. That respect came almost instantly, as the magazine looked incredible and its stories were what every boxing fan wanted. As for the Ring ratings, we needed to rebuild them. They had become worthless after the “United States Boxing Championships” in 1977, in which the magazine’s ratings were shown to be as phony as a three-dollar bill. Bert and I sent out ballots to 100 boxing writers and announcers around the world. I compiled them by hand (remember, there were no home computers in 1979), working seven days a week on them. As respect returned, Gordon made his debut as editor with the October 1979 issue of The Ring.
pants. His tie didn’t match any part of his outfit, either, but I liked it, because it bore the likenesses of Joe Louis, Henry Armstrong, Sugar Ray Robinson and Jack Dempsey. As I approached his table, he noticed me. Our eyes locked. It was the first time we had ever officially seen each other. I simply knew of his reputation. He knew of my growing status in boxing. “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,” roared Bert. “SAY HELLO TO THE NEW EDITOR OF THE RING. HIS NAME IS RANDY GORDON.” He shook my hand and hugged me. “You mean I’m hired?” I asked, almost in a whisper. “You mean you’ll accept?” he replied. I said “I do,” almost feeling like I was getting married again. To the 30 or so patrons in the restaurant, Bert shouted, “HE ACCEPTS! RANDY ACCEPTS! DRINKS ARE ON ME!” The 30 or so patrons in O’Reilly’s stood and cheered. The resurrection of The Ring had begun!
Ring championship belt the one world title a fighter wants strapped around his/ her waist, that day has arrived. It’s been given to us by TKO Boxing. And Zuffa Boxing. And Riyadh Season. I know Bert Randolph Sugar is smiling. Thank you, Nat Fleischer, for starting The Ring. I know you are smiling, too. Thank you, Bert, for your vision to revive it and believing in me. Thank you, Doug Fischer, for bringing me back to The Ring.
And to Dana White. And to Nick Khan.
And to His Excellency, whose ownership and enthusiasm for the sport has turned The Ring into everything a boxing aficionado could want, a very special thank you. Boxing is in great hands with these guys. I am not the only one who thanks them. The entire boxing world thanks you!
The inimitable Bert Sugar was editor and publisher of The Ring for four years.
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