Stanley Weston

Stanley Weston (September 25, 1919, The Bronx, New York – April 11, 2002, Long Island, New York) was a prolific sportswriter and sports photographer. He promoted the sport of boxing in innumerable ways throughout his career. Weston was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2006.

Early career - boxing publications

Weston's love affair with boxing started in 1937 when he landed a summer job as a stock boy at "The Ring" magazine where he worked for his neighbor and founder of "The Ring", Nat Fleischer. Learning from Fleischer, Weston immersed himself in nearly every facet of the boxing magazine business. He was a writer, photographer, graphic designer, artist and eventually a publisher. In 1953 Weston launched a magazine whose title was "Boxing & Wrestling", a competitor to "The Ring". His office, art studio and typewriter were all located on his kitchen table. It was a tough time for Weston. He was competing against his old boss and one of the most popular magazines of the time – yet he persevered.

Magazine publisher

Over the years he launched numerous publications. In addition to "The Ring", the impressive roster of magazines Weston published included "Boxing & Wrestling", "Boxing Illustrated", "Boxing International", "World Boxing", "Boxing", "The Boxing Almanac", "Big Book of Boxing", "KO", "Pro Wrestling Illustrated", "The Wrestler", "Inside Wrestling" and "Sports Review Wrestling". Over his 65 year career, Weston published approximately 2,000 magazines devoted to pugilism.

Artist, photographer, author

But for those who knew Mr. Weston, as he was affectionately referred to by his employees, his expertise was not limited to just one aspect of boxing. Instead, he had expertise in many areas. He was a talented boxing artist who painted 57 covers for "The Ring" – with his first cover – a painting of Billy Conn, for the December 1939 issue.

He was an author who penned several of the definitive books on boxing history, including "History of the Heavyweights", "The Best of The Ring", and with Steve Farhood, he authored "The Ring: Boxing the 20th Century", which, according to Amazon.com, ranks as one of the top 15 “must-have” boxing books of all time.

Stanley Weston was also a photographer, who, according to his own estimate, shot over 100,000 boxing photos – the majority of which are housed in the archives of "The Ring" magazine.

Collector of boxing memorabilia

While Stanley Weston used the pages of his magazines to tell many stories, he preferred to keep his own story to himself. Never a self-promoter or one to seek the spotlight, instead he preferred to let others get the credit. And he used his low-profile and boxing knowledge to his advantage. Throughout his 7 decades long career in boxing, he amassed one of the largest collections of boxing memorabilia in the world.

Philanthropist and sentimentalist

Stanley Weston also gave back generously to the sport he loved and to the fighters he respected. As fellow enshrinee Hank Kaplan can attest, when fighters Weston knew and admired were destitute and in need of financial assistance, Stanley Weston provided aid, but he did so under one condition, that the source of the contribution remain anonymous.

Finally, Stanley Weston was a sentimentalist. 52 years after joining "The Ring" as a stock boy, Weston purchased the magazine that gave him his first job. He not only resurrected the magazine from its imminent death, he re-established the publication as the definitive source for boxing news and views.

He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame: Class of 2006.

Championships and accomplishments

*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI Stanley Weston Award (1992)