The New Year is just about here. She beckons us, welcomes us, taunts us, maybe, depending on what frame of mind we are in after this most interesting 2017.

Many of us will be looking toward January 1 in a mood of renewal, of looking forward to righting wrongs, be they in our habits, or in our treatment of our fellow man. It only makes sense that we focus on the first day of the new year as our starting line for this promise of personal betterment. I asked a batch of fight game folks to share with us their New Year’s resolutions, boxing and life-related. You will see a mixture of admirable optimism, good-humored cynicism, especially among those aiming to obliterate that pesky 15 pounds of padding they’ve resolved to eradicate every January since 1995, and over-all, the message to remind us all that pretty much every day, pretty much everyone you come in contact with is much of the time doing the best they can at that moment…and realizing that this is leaving much room for improvement.

Hey…Happy New Year, readers.

I do hope that for all you good souls, good tidings accrue to you.

May I also be so bold as to suggest a resolution addendum, if this one isn’t on your To Do List? Support our mission here at THE RING, by becoming a subscriber to the magazine and this website, which offers a bounty of content, from a team of passionate and talented artists.

Onward…enjoy the compilation.

RON BORGES, top drawer sports writer, Barneys (BWAA awards) collector: “Resolve to only watch matches that are actually fair matches and not glorified walkovers.”

JAY BULGER, film-maker, “Counterpunch” out now on NETFLIX: “I thought I would win an Academy Award this year. But next year is also fine. Even if it’s the year after that. It will happen.”

BRIN JONATHAN BUTLER, author, second most appearances on “Talkbox,” after Eric Kelly: “Start a kabuki theater in Central Park and name it after Teddy Atlas and donate funds to his pension. Revisit the cinematic output of John Candy, while forgiving Steve Martin for losing his funniness.”

LUCAS BROWNE, heavyweight contender: “To make up for lost time and make 2018 mine.”

ANTHONY CARDINALE, trial attorney, fight guy: “To encourage everyone connected to boxing to pressure RocNation to stop ignoring him and to help Daniel ‘Twitch’ Franco deal with his uninsured medical costs connected to the brain injury he suffered under their banner.”

CYNTHIA CONTE, RingTV video correspondent: “Some of my New Year’s resolution for 2018: Give and have more gratitude every day; learning to love myself more and learning about better letting go for inner peace; must land a FT job in boxing whether for a promotions company or network; continue to work with Ring TV; finalize my logo; increase my YouTube subs 5k-7k; Find sponsors for my channel; learn about a new or old boxer every week and really study up on them; break out of my comfort zone and do interviews that will give you audience feedback; must read more books; keep watching fights; always ask boxing colleague questions ’cause I obviously don’t know the answer; take the risk and facing certain fears that will hold me back; cut back on carbs and on red meat; get a boxing show working with Jules and Rudy.”

GERRY COONEY, ex-heavyweight contender, SIRIUS XM show co-host: “I want to continue growing as a host of Sirius XM and as a boxing trainer but really a better father and husband.”

JOE DeGUARDIA, N.Y.-BASED BOXING PROMOTER: “My 2018 New Year’s resolution: I’m thinking of making a comeback-I’d love to be throwing punches in that ring again…. Well, ok that ain’t gonna work… so I guess I’ll just stick to trying to stay in decent shape, eating better and creating opportunities for my guys.”

ROBERTO DIAZ, Golden Boy Promotions matchmaker par excellence: “Don’t really do resolutions but here you go: Boxing, really looking forward to the next stage of our young prospects, to take four and make them contenders. To have a few of our contenders fight for world titles and see some new stars born. Personal: Eat healthier, work out more and get ready for the big 5-0.”

STEPHEN “BREADMAN” EDWARDS, trainer, straight-talker: “To win a world title. To also use my platform to make boxing better and raise awareness.”

DOUG FISCHER, THE RING magazine editor: “Keep The Ring magazine alive and THRIVING in 2018. Help to re-establish and advance its profile among boxing fans worldwide, increase the number of issues a year from nine to 12, lower the cover price, and produce the kinds of covers and articles that satisfy longtime readers to but also bring in new readers. Pay less attention to (or give less of my time to) rude people on social media (especially boxing trolls on Twitter). Resume regular boxing training (after a near-20-year hiatus) and lose 10 pounds.”

GEORGE FOREMAN, heavyweight legend: “For me, I want to have the New Year, 2018, filled with earning! Boxing gives the illusion that ‘this big purse will have me set for life.’ If you’re courageous enough to keep earning you are set for life!”

CARL FRAMPTON, 2016 RING Magazine and BWAA Fighter of the Year: “To always do what’s best for my wife and kids. Also, to keep my eye on the prize which is another world title which I firmly believe I have in me!”

DANIEL FRANCO, fighter: “My New Year’s resolution is to affect as many people as possible in a positive manner that I can with my life story and to help people find a way through struggle with will and self preservation.”

MARK FRATTO, ring announcer/emcee, Facebook FIGHTNIGHT Live creator: “I’d like to see more fights and fighters on Facebook FIGHTNIGHT LIVE. We have a proven concept and a great, interactive platform that’s served almost a million fans, but the best part is we’ve given opportunities for more than one hundred fighters to showcase their skills while starting their careers and climbing the ranks.”

JOHN GATLING, NYFIGHTS senior correspondent: “For me, New Year’s is a rebirth. A chance to be reborn over the course of another 365 day journey. It’s all about reaching that summit. I do look to become a better writer next year; to continue to grow from what fighters in every walk of life go through and to help make NY Fights the best boxing site in the world.”

ERIC GOMEZ, Golden Boy President: “To make the fights the fans want to see, to be a better role model for my children, family.”

ABRAHAM GONZALEZ, Twitter boss, NYFIGHTS West Coast correspondent: “In 2018, I want to continue to build relationships within the boxing community and connect people with each other. As far as life goals, I want to continue to explore new places with my wife and start a family. I’m not a manger nor a promoter but that is something that I may pursue later on in life. I would love to see Wilder vs Joshua, Linares vs Garcia and Spence vs Thurman (more like 2019 for that but it’s wishful thinking).”

LEE GROVES, RING writer: “I’m not one to make resolutions because they often fizzle out within a couple of weeks. Because of that, I try to make my goals reachable and fairly simple..For boxing: Doing my best to maintain, if not elevate, the bars I’ve set in terms of my work in the various jobs I have. That’s not the easiest thing because I set those bars pretty high and it’s not entirely up to me to decide whether I’ve reached them. That determination belongs to my various bosses, and the test is whether I’m still employed at the end of the year. So far, so good. For life.. To get in better shape (I’ve gotten a one-month head start on that, and am progressing nicely) and to continue making sure I offer daily thanks for the many blessings I’ve been given by God.”

GORDON HALL, Showtime boxing lifer, “ShoBox” show-runner: “I don’t make them. Never have and never will. If I have to make a change or set goal, I EITHER realize it and change at that time OR am told I need to change and do it then.”

HEATHER HARDY, dual sport threat, eff-bomb specialist: “2018 resolutions: no more stitches in my face!”

BRIAN HARTY, THE RING magazine managing editor: “Learn to speak Finnish.”

THOMAS HAUSER, dean of fightwriters: “To do my part in breaking the hold that greedy, bigoted, ignorant people have over the electoral process in this country.”

MARK JACOBSON, magazine writer, I dare you to find me one better from the 70s to today: “I resolve to feel bad when Bob Arum and Don King die on the same day, at the same hour. They both provided many happy hours here and there between much mendacity. I resolve not to be too overtly celebratory when the current President eats that last fatal hamburger and falls head over heels down in a pool of blood at the bottom of staircase at Trump Tower from whence he came. I believe it is bad karma to wish for such things. I resolve not to listen to one more of Keith Thurman’s conspiracy theories until he fights, and beats, Errol Spence. I resolve to listen to more Thelonious Monk records because he is the only one who can happily harmonize with the harsh backbeat of the times.”

DERRICK JAMES, THE RING 2017 Trainer of the Year, contender for BWAA 2017 Trainer of the Year: “What can we do in boxing to make 2018 better than 2017? And take a deeper look into several of the top division of boxers.”

RON KATZ, Hall of Fame talent matchmaker: “To bat in between Judge and Stanton.”

ERIC KELLY, trainer, commentator, analyst, YouTube sensation, s__t-stirrer: “My New Year’s resolution is to be consistent and stay on the same road that I’ve paved from the years prior. I will remain a loving parent and I want to continue to grow, and build the SouthBox Gym brand. I love helping people and am blessed to have an institution where I can do that on a daily basis. I want to continue to serve any community that I’m in and inspire the people for the better. As a parent, and I have four lives who are depending on my life for survival. So my New Years resolution is to continue to be a man!”

MATT KOROBOV, middleweight contender: “My resolutions are to be more vocal. Minimum three fights this year. Call out Al’s duckers in my weight division. Belts!”

ADAM LEE, videographer for “Tha Boxing Voice:” “Prolong a positive attitude, no matter the circumstance, to propagate the sport we love so much.”

BRENDAN LONG, Long Island correspondent, NYFights: “My life resolution and boxing resolution are intertwined into one resolution. I’d like to get myself involved in the sport. I’d like to make a positive impact on boxing. It’s something I had planned anyway. Finding the medium in which to do so is the challenge. I’m passionate about boxing and have been for my whole life. I might as well try and make a positive impact on something I’m so passionate about.”

VLADIMIR LIK, fightwriter: “To be the best father and husband I can be and to lose 20 pounds!!! As for boxing, I hope we see GGG-Canelo II and it’s another barn burner with the decision up for grabs going into the late rounds. I hope we see Joshua-Wilder and it has that big time event feel we used to get from heavyweight championship fights. Finally, I hope we get to see Spence-Thurman inside a soldout Barclays Center and it becomes the highest grossing bout in the arena history.”

TOM LOEFFLER, promoter of GGG, Superfly series and a new club series: “To continue the momentum for boxing that was created in 2017, like the rematch of GGG vs Canelo, Superfly2 and many more great fights that should be possible.”

DR. JOHNNY LOPS, NY-based psychiatrist, “TALKBOX” guest: “Boxing-wise, two things; the first to work on decreasing my personal bias for certain fighters when scoring fights to be more objective and when at home getting into the habit of watching on mute to decrease network bias and dream fight for 2018 – Spence vs Thurman. My personal resolution, to be mindful and make efforts to work on friendships (especially with the NY Fights family!) because as I get older I learn all the money and fame ain’t worth a nickel without people taking their valuable time to spend with you because they want to be there not because they want something from you.”

SERGIO MARTINEZ, Texas based fightwriter, back in the ring for another swing, with NYFIGHTS.com: “I resolve to gain weight, not exercise and shorten my lifespan!”

WALLACE MATTHEWS, formerly combustible boxing scribe, now seasoned sage: “I resolve to write more boxing stories in 2018.”

HOLT MCCALLANNY, actor, lead in “MINDHUNTER,” and fight guy: “To listen more than I talk.”

SEAN MONAGHAN, light heavyweight contender from Long Island, NY: “To get Joe Smith in the ring in 2018.”

COLIN MORRISON, Scottish sage, contributor to NYFIGHTS.com: “For boxing – less belts. The WBA in particular. Having more than one ‘world champion’ in each weight class is just ridiculous. For life – try to get back into better shape and perhaps challenge myself to a white collar boxing match during the year. Of course, it would be interesting to write about!”

JASON QUIGLEY, amiable Irishman, ascending middleweight prospect/contender signed to Golden Boy: “It is to break my opponents’ bones and not mine this year!”

DMITRIY SALITA, promoter of Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller and Claressa Shields, promoting Jan. 12 “ShoBox:” “I wish for health, happiness and many reasons for joy and happiness inside and outside the ring.”

ABEL SANCHEZ, trainer of Gennady Golovkin, Murat Gassiev: “I want to have the opportunity to give fans the marquee fights of the highest level.”

JOE SANTOLIQUITO, aka Philly Joe on “FightFacts” RING podcast, BWAA prez: “Lose weight-as always. I’m getting a bit chubby in my older age. Work out more. More discipline, which I suppose losing weight would fall under, too. Every year I vow to lay off the Friday night pepperoni pizzas–and each year I succumb rather quickly and the resolution is shot to hell. Those are my annual resolutions my friends. To everyone, have a safe and happy New Years!”

GARY SHAW, promoter emeritus…or is he looking to get back into the scene in 2018?: “Let’s all cooperate to make boxing a better sport!”

BRUCE SILVERGLADE, owner of Gleason’s Gym in Brooklyn: “My personal resolution has not changed over the years. I want to drop ten pounds and to eat healthier. Business-wise I want Gleason’s Gym to continue to set up branches around the world. And to have my foundation, Give A Kid A Dream, get bigger and help more kids.”

RYAN SONGALIA, RING writer: “My New Year’s resolution is all the ones from the years before that I didn’t do then. And for writing, to sit down and focus on stories with a shelf life of more than 36 hours.”

FRED STERNBURG, top of the heap publicist: “To walk more Fitbit steps and find a flu vaccine that works!”

CALEB TRUAX, IBF 168-pound champ, fighting pride of Minnesota: “To drink less zero sugar Monster and defend my title three times.”

BRETT YORMARK, CEO, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment: “For Brooklyn boxing, I want to continue to reaffirm Barclays Center as the premier boxing destination in the country. Jan 20th will be a great start on Showtime. More announcements coming soon regarding our 2018 calendar, which will be our best yet! As I think about the sport of boxing, we have a real chance to grow the fanbase and to take a big step forward in relevance. The general sports landscape is changing and boxing can be a big part of the conversation.”

ANSON WAINWRIGHT, RING fixture: “I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions but for boxing I would say to continue staying busy, hopefully shine light on the smaller weight classes and fighters who aren’t well known but deserve their spotlight. For life, to be happy and hopefully healthy!”

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