The Ring was established in 1922. Since 1928, it has named a fighter as Fighter of the Year, based on the magazine's writers' criteria. This award is a gold and silver medal given to the boxer, who, during the year previous, has by his conduct and fighting qualities "earned the esteem of the sports public." The four points which originally governed the award were:
- He must be foremost in his contribution to the skill and the science of boxing and he need not be a champion.
- The recipient must combine with his high place in the ranking of fighters a similar position as a sportsman.
- He must associate with the abilities as a fighter good public relations and a reputation for clean and moral living.
- The boxer receiving the award must be recognized as an example to the growing youth.
Here is a list of Ring Magazine's Fighters of the Year:
Famous quotes containing the words ring, magazine, fighters and/or year:
“I started out very quiet and I beat Turgenev. Then I trained hard and I beat de Maupassant. I’ve fought two draws with Stendhal, and I think I had an edge in the last one. But nobody’s going to get me in any ring with Tolstoy unless I’m crazy or I keep getting better.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“No—is a term very frequently employed by the fair, when they mean everything else but a negative. Their yes is always yes; but their no is not always no.”
—Anonymous, U.S. women’s magazine contributor. M, Weekly Visitor or Ladies Miscellany, p. 203 (April 1803)
“All fighters are prostitutes and all promotors are pimps.”
—Larry Holmes (b. 1949)
“The boys dressed themselves, hid their accoutrements, and went off grieving that there were no outlaws any more, and wondering what modern civilization could claim to have done to compensate for their loss. They said they would rather be outlaws a year in Sherwood Forest than President of the United States forever.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)