Hang up the boxing gloves, its MMA’s time

By Eldrick Bone
October 2nd, 2009
Section: Featured - Sports

Georges St. Pierre, left, punches Josh Koscheck during a UFC 74 mixed martial arts match at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, Saturday, August, 25, 2007. Photo Caption: Francis Specker /MCT

Georges St. Pierre, left, punches Josh Koscheck during a UFC 74 mixed martial arts match at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, Saturday, August, 25, 2007. Photo Caption: Francis Specker /MCT

Boxing has made its mark as one of the most legendary and entertaining sports of our time. People can still recall some of the greatest boxing matches ever, but boxing is slowly becoming a thing of the past.

The legendary sport has been slowing down in major events over the years. The sport averages about two major pay-per-view events every year. Fight match-ups are becoming scarce and now boxing has a competitor in the race to be the most popular fighting sport — Mixed Martial Arts.

In the last decade, MMA has been growing in popularity all over the world. Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, was the first organization that brought the sport to pay-per-view audiences. MMA first started out with no rules or no weight classes nor time limit. The only way to win was by knockout or submission, so many people first viewed it as a barbaric form of fighting that showed no legitimate skill.

Since the UFC was instituted 16 years ago, the organization has developed weight classes, judges and rules so it would be sanctioned in many states in the U.S. and in several countries.

MMA fights are more susceptible to exciting finishes, where as big boxing matches usually end in decision.

UFC popularized MMA to the point that now there are several MMA organizations around the world. UFC has pay-per-view events at least once a month. Strikeforce, another rising MMA organization, recently signed a deal to show its fights on broadcast television.

Boxing, on the other hand, has stopped growing. The heavyweight division used to be a money-maker for boxing. Fights such as Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frasier and Mike Tyson vs. Evander Holyfield were instant boxing classics. Now, most people don’t even know that Vitali Klitschko, the heavyweight champ, fought over the weekend.

Boxing still produces interesting bouts in other weight divisions, like the recent Floyd Mayweather vs. Juan Manuel Marquez fight, but even those kinds of match-ups are infrequent.

The question on boxing fans’ minds is who will fight next. Fans are hoping for Manny Pacquiao vs. Mayweather to happen soon. But the real question should be what will happen after that fight.

All the other match-ups that could make money have already happened. Oscar de la Hoya and Mayweather had to come out of retirement so the sport could make money. There are no up-and-coming boxers. All the fighters who are ranked now are most likely going to be the last of the famous fighters that boxing is going to have.

Boxing is in such bad shape that even once-famous boxers, such as Ricardo Mayorga, Eric “Butterbean” Esch and Ray Mercer have become MMA fighters. And who can blame them? MMA fighters usually fight three to four times a year, get to travel the country or the world and get to take part in an exciting sport.

It’s hard to support the argument that boxing incorporates more skill than MMA. MMA not only uses some of the same techniques found in boxing; it also adds kickboxing, wrestling, judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Also, MMA fighters only use 4-ounce gloves, which make their punches more dangerous.

If you put boxers in the ring with MMA fighters, the MMA fighters would be trained to defend themselves against punches, but boxers would not know how to defend themselves against a flying knee or an arm bar. Now, who do you think has the more skill between the two?

At this rate, boxing is going to be as annual an event as the Super Bowl. Eventually, the only boxing people we’ll get to see will be in MMA.

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  • Les Speed

    It’s all the same from men battling with their bare knuckles to using Formula 1 cars funded through millions of dollars of ingenuity and resources. Shame the world hasn’t evolved and would rather watch this new form of pugilism than rise up the food chain and evolve.

  • http://www.mmaapparel.co.uk MMA Clothing

    MMA is like Poker in 2003, its gonna blow up all over the world!

    end of!

  • TAP OUT

    Are you kidding me calling Ricardo Mayorga a famous elite boxer that guy purely sucked he was an overrated boxer who couldn’t beat his top competition. As for Butterbean that guy is an excuse for boxing he was the Brock Lesner of boxing during this career, it was a joke his size difference from his oppenent was tremoundous. I’m a huge UFC fight fan and after seeing 104 I have some doubts whether UFC is really trully dominating boxing because I seriosly don’t see it.

  • Eldrick Stewart Bone

    A couple more corrections:

    UFC represents MMA. Just like there is one Boxing organization that represents boxing because it is more well known like the WBC or promotions like Goldenboy.

    There are still other organizations on the rise like strikeforce which just signed a broadcast TV deal.
    So MMA is becoming popular, not just the UFC

    And MMA fighters DO duck each other too (unfortunately). the top 3 contenders in the Welterweight division are ducking each other because they are all from the same camp (American Top Team). But they are gonna HAVE TO fight each other to get a title shot.

  • Cool Guy

    correction: I love boxing and prefer it more than MMA

  • Cool Guy

    correction: I meant I love boxing and prefer it more than MMA

  • Cool Guy

    Is it MMA that’s really more popular or is it just UFC? You know I love boxing and prefer it more than boxing. You know what I like about the UFC though is it’s one organization. Fighters can’t duck other fighters. In boxing, that shit happens. Floyd Mayweather and SANE MOSELEY!!! I dunno who’s ducking who but it’s a fight everyone has always wanted holy crap. A Bernard Hopkins Roy Jones rematch. Come on that’s another one we always wanted. Pacquiao Marquez III? Why doesn’t Bhop fight Thomasz Adamk? I mean those are just examples. I know for a fact everyone is dodging Paul Williams. In the UFC if you’re the “champ” or the “best” you’re going to fight the one next in line who wants to be the “champ” or the “best” There’s no excuses.

  • Eldrick Bone

    Ray Mercer knocked out the WORST Tim Sylvia i had ever seen. I think he weighed in like 60 lbs more than he ever weighed in the UFC. I am glad he got knocked out. Thats why he was cut from the UFC, he is more washed up than Mercer.

    And the has-beens you are talking about were former boxing champions. They had skill in the sport.

    and Boxing do fighters make more money, but i Dont think i ever argued that MMA paid more.

    And the only reason we might never see an MMA guy beat a boxing champ is because the boxer would not agree to it.

    The closest they got to any fighter agreeing to anything like that was when Mayweather agreed to fight Anderson Silva, but even then it was only to a Boxing Match.

  • Cody

    also in a fight the result isnt as clear-cut as it seems you think as washed up boxer ray mercer recently KO’d a former UFC Heavyweight champion in tim sylvia. This is probably the exception rather than the rule but you would NEVER see any mma guy beat the undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion
    again, terrible article.
    Boxing isnt going anywhere anytime soon and neither is mma

  • Cody

    also in a fight the result isnt as clear-cut as the author seems to think as washed up boxer ray mercer recently KO’d a former UFC Heavyweight champion in tim sylvia. This is probably the exception rather than the rule but you would NEVER see any mma guy beat the undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion
    again, terrible article.
    Boxing isnt going anywhere anytime soon and neither is mma

  • Cody

    I accidentally hit submit before I was also going to conclude that Ray Mercer, the washed up boxer knocked out Tim Sylvia a former UFC champion… I only mentioned that because you brought up if a boxer fought an mma fighter, well the result isn’t always as clear-cut as it seems you think!
    Again, terrible article

  • Cody

    terrible & pointless article. sounds like you just wanted to bash boxing, you should educate yourself or not write about stuff you don’t know about. The top boxers make waaay more money than the top MMA fighters, they dont HAVE to fight mma as you put it, and the three boxers you mentioned are has-beens or never was fighters. Ray Mercer and Mayorga are has-beens and butterbean never-was, they couldn’t make it in boxing thats why they fight mma. Boxing isn’t going anywhere. MMA and boxing can both do well & coexist, and they are both doing well.

  • David-Christopher

    Umm I think you all are missing the point. let me make this a bit easier to follow in very few words.

    Boxing is like nascar. You drive in a loop to see who’s fastest requires some skill and talent not much though.

    MMA is like formula 1. Requiring precise reaction time making turns at 200mph while keeping your cool in a highly sophisticated agile machine.

    with all that said it comes down to basics. I’d rather have a trained MMA fighter get my back than a champ boxer.

  • Matthew

    And correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the boxing competition for the hardly stocked ufc 103 fight end in a decision??? I may have to double check with all the boxing websites, but I’m pretty sure the fastest hands in the world let his come back go to a dull decision.

  • Matthew

    First guy seems to be racist and uneducated, second guy is making up stats and is not considering the other MMA orginizations, past and present. PRIDE, DREAM, M-1, STRIKEFORCE, ELITE-XC, WEC… to name a few. MMA stands for mixed martial arts, that means being proficient in multiple art forms. What’s the point in being excellent in stand-up, and then someone with little to no experience can get a takedown and submit you in no time? You may think it is easy to get up when someone is guard or halg-guard, or maybe it is easy to escape an armbar or a choke, or maybe when someone has you in the clinch that you can just slip out of it? But that kind of logic is idiotic. MMA is very very very big in the world, what drugs are you smoking. Biggest ufc event ever held was in Canada, Brazil has a huge fan base and the ufc is offered FOR FREE in most european and south american countries. Japan houses Dream and Pride… Maybe if you were educated in some actual knowledge other then spoken word or making stuff up based on misconceptions your arguement would make a little more sense. Please do some homework before you insult someone/a sport with a super dedicated fan base.

  • Eldrick Stewart Bone

    PS.
    Can u please send me the link with the Stats for 20,000 boxing matches last year. I couldn’t find it.

  • Eldrick Stewart Bone

    Thanks David for the feedback!
    I am glad u wrote a good argument (minus the buffoon, drug use and retard comments). The guys before u made didn’t really back anything up.
    Ill address ur comments the same way u did to mine.

    First off, I am saying MAJOR boxing events are diminishing. As in PPV audiences. You are correct and saying that between amateur and professional boxing matches, your numbers do exceed that of MMA. You are also comparing MMA, which has been around (in the US) for only 16 years while boxing has been around for how long? MMA is still developing.

    “Few MMA fights end in an exciting kayo.” “Most end in a dull wristlock or choke, while the rest end in decision ”

    Let just look at the last UFC event. There were 6 out of 10 fights that ended in either a KO/TKO. Lucky Event? Lets Look At the UFC Event before that. 5 out of 10 fights ended in either KO/TKO. And that’s just the UFC. I am not saying I can guarantee a knockout in every MMA event, but looking at those stats, that’s not a bad KO/TKO rate.

    “Most end in a dull wristlock or choke…, while the rest end in decision ”

    I can only guess that you have never had someone put you in a Kimura, Arm bar or rear-naked choke. I am also probably right in saying you have never experienced how hard it can be to apply any of those submission in a fight. They require skill, strength and technique. If you think fighters are faking the pain they are in, then I invite you to go to any Brazilian Jiu Jitsu school, tell them what u think and ask them to show you one of these moves on you and please let me know what you choose to do, because in my experience, you only have the choice to tap, have something snap or take a nap.

    “Wrong, and wrong again. Neither DLH nor Mayweather were retired when they fought.”

    You are right, DLH didn’t come out of retirement when he fought Pacquiao, But I do believe Mayweather just came out of retirement.

    And if there are so many up-and-coming boxers then maybe you can give me a prediction to what you expect “High-Rating” boxing will do after Pacquiao and Mayweather fight.

    As for your comment about the three boxers i mentioned, none of the fighters are “excelling” as you say.

    Mayorga has not fought in MMA yet but announced that he plans to.
    Butterbean is 13-7.
    Mercer is only 1-1 in his MMA carreer

    “MMA fighters train hard all day just like boxers, except that they divide their time between all the various disciplines. Jacks of all trade, Masters of none.”

    First off, I am not saying boxing has no skill. Boxers ARE masters of fighting with their fists. MMA fighters are also masters in their arts. There are MMA fighters who are black belts in Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Sambo, Taekwondo and Hapkido. There also fighters who are Olympics Medalists, NCAA wrestling champions and former boxing champions. All the current champions in the UFC have a Black belt in something or are Wrestling champions.

    “Just because UFC/MMA has risen in popularity IN AMERICA does not mean boxing is becoming extinct.”

    MMA has not only risen in popularity in America. You are correct in saying there are other things that happen in the world. Japan, Germany, Russia, Croatia, England, France, Italy, Brazil and Mexico are all countries that are home MMA fighters, events and schools.
    Maybe I was little too strong in saying boxing is becoming extinct, but I see the tides changing between MMA and Boxing, it the tides aren’t favoring Boxing.

    By The Way, I really like your argument because you provide some great support. Such as:
    “Mayweather-Marquez did 1 million PPV during the same night the UFC 103 was running a PPV”

    The Boxing fight did out shine the UFC in ratings. But you are comparing a semi-annual event such as boxing to MMA. That’s like comparing the Super Bowl ratings to the ratings of a regular season Basketball game.

  • David Neiman

    You are quite simply the least informed person to ever be published as a “journalist” – which you are not. There are so many faults, errors, let alone blatant disinformation in your “article” that I can hardly read it without laughing outloud. Literally. You might as well have said “all boxers paint their bodies blue for a fight.” That’s how incorrect you were in the above body of text.

    “The legendary sport has been slowing down in major events over the years. “……….
    “Boxing, on the other hand, has stopped growing.”

    Get your facts straight (like that was ever a priority of yours). Boxing has been growing during the last 15 years. Yep. Right along side UFC’s admirable explosion of popularity. Ask the boys at boxrec.com – boxing’s definitive records site. Last year there were just under 20,000 fights, world-wide. At the end of the 70′s the number was under 10,000. Does MMA have that many fights per year? Not even close. Not even a modest fraction.

    “MMA fights are more susceptible to exciting finishes, where as big boxing matches usually end in decision.”

    Also not true. Few MMA fights end in an exciting kayo. Most end in a dull wristlock or choke, while the rest end in decision. If you find the sight of someone pantomiming “UNCLE!!!” with a tap of the hand because his opponent is twisting his arm too hard for him exciting, then more power to you. There’s lots of that in MMA, so you’re in luck!

    “Oscar de la Hoya and Mayweather had to come out of retirement so the sport could make money. ”

    Wrong, and wrong again. Neither DLH nor Mayweather were retired when they fought.

    “There are no up-and-coming boxers. All the fighters who are ranked now are most likely going to be the last of the famous fighters that boxing is going to have.”

    What the hell are you talking about? There are plenty of up and coming future-stars. I won’t even bother listing them. Are you smoking drugs before you write? Wait, this is a student “newspaper,” so I guess the answer is ‘yes’.

    “Boxing is in such bad shape that even once-famous boxers, such as Ricardo Mayorga, Eric “Butterbean” Esch and Ray Mercer have become MMA fighters.”

    Ray Mercer was an okay heavyweight back in the day, but he’s ancient now. Butterbean was always a joke in boxing. Mayorga had a good pair of wins over the late Vernon Forrest, but has ultimately been proven to be nothing more than a mouthy circus act. The point here is that these three fighters are, at this point, boxing’s rejects. And here’s the kicker: they’re excelling at MMA. What does that tell you?

    “It’s hard to support the argument that boxing incorporates more skill than MMA.”

    The point people are making when they say that boxing involves more skill is that they are more skilled at boxing, you retard. MMA fighters train hard all day just like boxers, except that they divide their time between all the various disciplines. Jacks of all trade, Masters of none. Boxers are Masters of the art of striking with their hands. They have mountains of skill in this, because it’s all they do. Again, what are you talking about?

    ————

    To conclude, you’re are a buffoon sir. Just because UFC/MMA has risen in popularity IN AMERICA does not mean boxing is becoming extinct. I know you can hardly believe this, but there are things that happen outside of the U.S. Seriously. You should look it up. Boxing is huge on a world basis, including America (where Mayweather-Marquez did 1 million PPV during the same night the UFC 103 was running a PPV). UFC is only big in the U.S. It does alright in other markets, but it’s nothing compared to boxing.

    You MMA writers keep preaching the boxing is shivering in its boots at how our sport is dying, while we just laugh and laugh…

  • what?

    Are you kidding me ufc has some of the worst striking my eyes have ever seen. Those guys suck so bad it’s a joke. Half of those so called ufc “strikers” couldn’t throw a punch to save their life. Many of them are just grapplers who want to strike the are not proficient strikers. The ufc only appeals to white americans and fighters that have failed at their former sports and join the mma ban wagon. The guy talks about boxers who want to join mma, are you fucking serious. Ray mercer is an old washed up piece of trash, who failed as a boxer and is making a name for himself in a less respect sport. Boxers are not going to go to the ufc because it’s the new “thing” if they do go it’s to challenge themselves other wise they don’t need to because boxing PAYS WAAAY BETTER!!!! UFC is giving white guys a chance at a fighting sport that’s it.

    • Deez

      First of all patna it’s got nothing to do with black or white. I’m black & I grew up watching Boxing. Yet I watch UFC all the time & so do all my homies. Go into a sports bar on the night of a UFC fight. You’ll see all races of people watching & competing. Not to mention that the Pound for Pound best fighter in the world is black. Anderson Silva. Notice how I said best fighter not boxer. It’s too different things. The ignorance of the things you just said shames us all. You can’t even compare the two sports. Just because you cant or dont want to take the time to study up on MMA & learn just how entertaining it can be doesn’t mean you should bash it & try to bring some lame comments about race into it. No that’s dopey dumb dumb talk. Bottom line is they are to different sports & right now MMA just happens to be much newer & appealing to many more people. Now I’m not saying this guy who wrote this piece knows much either because obviously he hasn’t done his homework on either of the two. They are both great sports & there’s no reason they both cant thrive. I enjoy watching them both & will continue to do so.