The Downfall of Boxing

[warrior-scholar]

Did anyone just see a short segment on ESPN concerning the possible downfall of boxing? I know people have been saying this for years, but they are running the spot in light of the upcoming De La Hoya - Mayweather fight. They asked the two fighters about the rise in popularity of MMA. While De La Hoya basically said it was like apples and oranges...they do their thing and we do ours, Mayweather mocked MMA fighters and said they were guys who couldn't make it in boxing that only fought for about 12 minutes.

I have encountered a few people with this same attitude towards kickboxing and MMA, but never heard it from a top level boxer before. Hey, if it helps him cope great. Seriously though, I love a good boxing match. On the other hand, I find myself egging guys on to use spinning backfists etc. (just illegal hand strikes usually). The old school boxing of the 1800s is some serious stuff!!!

So, do you think boxing as we have known it for the last 100 years or so will be ultimately killed or evolve into something different as a result of the uprising of MMA? It's funny that full contact karate and kickboxing didn't make near the dent in boxing that MMA has.
Thoughts

[profesormental]

Greetings.

Good promotion and marketing and saavy business strategies and tactics have put MMA where it is today. There has been much more cash and investors in MMA than there ever was for kickboxing and full contact karate.[citation needed]

Also, MMA fighters have similar conditioning than that of boxers and clearly they can kick the boxers asses in an MMA match... so the advantage is there.

Add to that the eloquency and the health of MMA athletes. It is obviously safer than boxing in terms of longevity of the fighters and their mental well being.

The acceptable taboo factor plays also... the illusion that everything goes and there are no rules like gladiator fights is appealing to our nature.

Much fun!!

Now the Sweet Science has evolved. Note that it is still useful for successful MMA players.

Sicnerely,

Juan M. Mercado

[Xperience]

Did anyone just see a short segment on ESPN concerning the possible downfall of boxing? I know people have been saying this for years, but they are running the spot in light of the upcoming De La Hoya - Mayweather fight. They asked the two fighters about the rise in popularity of MMA. While De La Hoya basically said it was like apples and oranges...they do their thing and we do ours, Mayweather mocked MMA fighters and said they were guys who couldn't make it in boxing that only fought for about 12 minutes.

I have encountered a few people with this same attitude towards kickboxing and MMA, but never heard it from a top level boxer before. Hey, if it helps him cope great. Seriously though, I love a good boxing match. On the other hand, I find myself egging guys on to use spinning backfists etc. (just illegal hand strikes usually). The old school boxing of the 1800s is some serious stuff!!!

So, do you think boxing as we have known it for the last 100 years or so will be ultimately killed or evolve into something different as a result of the uprising of MMA? It's funny that full contact karate and kickboxing didn't make near the dent in boxing that MMA has.
Thoughts

Hiya w-s ~
Personally, I'd say that De La Hoya is tracking. The world is probably big enough for more than one popular, combat-based sport. Just to get a fair appraisal, maybe Mayweather aught to go a few rounds in the MMA ring, you know, just to test his theory; whacha think?
;) X

[warrior-scholar]

I agree that MMA fighting is attractive to the street brawler type and perhaps some guys who were 2nd rate boxers. However, there are some guys in there with loads of talent who may have never considered boxing because they grew up in a dojo or wrestling ring. I don't criticize guys who grew up boxing and know little about other areas of fighting either.

It seems that everyone is putting a lot of pressure on tonight's fight...whether it will make or break the future of boxing. I think De La Hoya said it best, we just need to have BETTER fights more frequently. However, the nature of the sport makes it very difficult to pair guys up too often.

BTW I guess Mayweather has never spent 12 minutes being kicked, elbowed and slammed to the mat, otherwise he would say, "Man, they do that for 12-15 minutes!!!"

[Lance C]

From what I have been seeing and reading on the MMA is that T.V. Shows like UFC (70) are not making enough money to perpetuate itself. That is with all the popularity and entertainment pressures they are not doing all that great. Even after watching UFC 70, and hearing the crowd in attendance in Gr.Britain constantly booing at the lack of action, it makes one wonder the future of the show.

One problem is that MMA and TNA or WWE wrestling are starting to share showmanship and the soap opera part is just kinda dumb.

I think much like the problem with boxing, they need to showcase fighters who actually want to fight whether win or lose, not two guys who spend most of the time testing the water. And not have fighters actually apologize to the audience for lack of action.

My dad grew up prior to WWII before liability and legislations and boxing then meant getting hurt 100% of the time. It is sad to see two grown men fighting 15 minutes and neither one gets visibly hurt. When you hit someone, things break, open up, welt, even if you wrestle, falls, throws and takedowns end up like hits. I think UFC and similar syndicated sports are getting used up. Much like professional sports, the branding, the pre-fight talk amongst fans and the post fight talk (give you something to talk about at work for example) are getting repetitive and old.

As for the toughness aspect of the sports, Both will make you tough in some common ways, and each has their own unique toughness. I read off an exercise chart that wrestling (highschool) burns 2000 calories per hour. Boxing burns about 1000 calories per hour. Similar difference between sprinting and jogging.

I hope the match goes well tonight.

-Lance C

[Xperience]

Hi guys ~

I think that if people are going to identify martial arts w/martial sport, the sport should be presented a little more street-real; You know what I mean(?). I prefer Pride Fighting or Intn'l. Fight League, because they limit ground time; but actually, I'd like to see gound time limited to under a minute. This would force application of the submission, while going to the ground; a more realistic, street-wise approach, especially when confronted with a multiple attackers. Knowing how to rebound from the ground efficiently, can be a good thing too.

;) X

[Lance C]

Hi guys ~

I think that if people are going to identify martial arts w/martial sport, the sport should be presented a little more street-real; You know what I mean(?). I prefer Pride Fighting or Intn'l. Fight League, because they limit ground time; but actually, I'd like to see gound time limited to under a minute. This would force application of the submission, while going to the ground; a more realistic, street-wise approach, especially when confronted with a multiple attackers. Knowing how to rebound from the ground efficiently, can be a good thing too.

;) X

That's something else too, in Greek days of wrestling, pinning someone to the ground in a vulnerable position meant one of your buddies would give him the coup de gras while you held him. So Pinning should be a valuable part of the sport, not just submission.

I agree with X that the rules need to change to keep it interesting, have different kinds of matches too. Have some challenges. The World's Strongest man competition learned that sometimes bizare obscure sports can be interesting. Show us what a world class athlete can do.

Some other martial sports demonstrated during the fights, show clips of people doing what they do best, horse archers, sumo, fencing, gymnastics.. etc..

It would be more entertaining than the Stunt Man's Opera interludes.

-Lance