"Fighting Words" – What Boxing Can Learn from the UFC

by David P. Greisman

LAS VEGAS – The music, rock and roll heavy with aggressive guitar, reverberated through the arena. The fans roared. There were few empty seats in sight. Soon there would be none, not with nearly 15,000 people in attendance.

The atmosphere was already electric. And the first fight on the undercard had yet to begin.

One week before, a boxing match between Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley had brought in 20,820 people, the largest crowd ever to an event at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The successful promotion was a rare exception to what has become the rule for major fights in America.

On this night in Las Vegas, Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC, packed 14,885 into the MGM Grand Garden Arena, drawing knowledgeable, vocal and dedicated fans from near and far to see UFC 94, a show headlined by a rematch between Georges St. Pierre and B.J. Penn. The successful promotion was yet another for the standard bearer of mixed martial arts, or MMA.

Nearly two years ago I wrote of the relationship between boxing and MMA, of two unnecessary themes seen in mainstream coverage of both sports: that boxing is on the decline and is desperately in need of saving, and that MMA is experiencing a meteoric rise that may lead to the sunset of the Sweet Science

Boxing has indeed stagnated in the States. And MMA indeed continues to grow. But those who love boxing shouldn’t feel threatened. As I wrote then, the two combat sports need not collide in a sort of commercial rivalry, not when they can coexist in a market that caters to both the old and new definitions of “hardcore fight fan.” There are some who only like boxing. There are some who only like MMA. And there are many who like both and can appreciate the strengths and recognize the weaknesses in each.

That said, boxing can learn. MMA, primarily through the UFC, continues to cater to its fans. Boxing promoters, meanwhile, seem to have become complacent, overly confident that the money will come no matter how much or how little effort is put into their product.

How else does one explain pay-per-views where the main event is the sole selling point to the entire card? How else does one explain the proliferation of pay-per-views so that promoters may get the most amount of money while their shows are seen by the least amount of viewers?

How else does one explain the number of mismatches aired on major fight cards, building stars through a perception of invulnerability as compared to the reality of accomplishment? How else does one explain license and site fees, an influx of millions of dollars into an event on which a promoter no longer has to work to earn money?

Last year’s biggest boxing show, featuring Oscar De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao, sold 1.25 million pay-per-view buys. Those who tuned in got a stellar but one-sided bout in the main event. The televised undercard had three so-called fights featuring future stars in uncompetitive bouts. The first two hours of programming saw less than five rounds of action, a total of 11 minutes and 41 seconds of house fighters barely breaking a sweat in victory.

The broadcast’s commentators and production crew scrambled to fill airtime with talk, interviews and footage from the combatants’ previous bouts.

Last year’s biggest mixed martial arts show, a UFC card headlined by Randy Couture against Brock Lesnar, sold about 1 million pay-per-view buys. Those who tuned in got a noteworthy main event, plus eight undercard bouts. The only fight that went the distance was a three-round slugfest, and even those bouts that ended early were exciting.

People who buy boxing pay-per-views are gambling that the main event will be good, that the match wasn’t just put on pay-per-view since it involves two stars whose purses can only be paid through hundreds of thousands of $50 purchases, but also because the fight will be good, too.

People who buy UFC pay-per-views are paying for an entire show. Yes, they are drawn in by the main event, but there are also strong undercard bouts, plus preliminaries that maintain interest despite their relative lack of star power. Even bouts lower on the card get interview vignettes which act as promos, accentuating personality over back story, increasing fans’ familiarity with the fighters and giving them an emotional investment in the outcome.

With bonuses going to bout winners and to those with the best submission, knockout and fight of the night, mixed martial artists are motivated to put on a show. Doing so will bring them fans and bring them back to the spotlight. They cannot coast or bore their way to victory and suck up mandatory minimum paydays.

In Las Vegas last week, the energy was palpable enough that the weigh-in was louder than between the bells during most boxing matches. Thousands of people came in support of their fighters, their competing chants of “GSP” and “B.J. Penn” providing a preview of the deafening duel that would be heard through the arena the next night throughout the entire card. Before the weigh-in, hundreds of members of a dedicated group known as the UFC Fight Club were allowed in for a question-and-answer session with light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans.

Those at UFC 94 were there as fans of the sport. They knew and cheered for several undercard fighters, reacting to the action with intensity usually unheard at boxing matches. Even at the biggest televised boxing cards, those with tickets don’t seem to take their seats until the main event, leaving an eerie quiet that sucks the excitement out of the broadcast. It also doesn’t help that television commentators tend to treat undercard fights as having little significance, keeping aspiring stars and upcoming talent from getting over fully with viewers.

Of course, most tickets for boxing matches at casinos often go to sponsors, locking out the fans that can truly help the sport thrive. The upcoming card between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao has already sold more than 14,000 tickets, according to reports. One imagines that a small percentage of those were actually available to fans, while the rest went to sponsors and ticket brokers.

The UFC has made a home in Las Vegas, where it has put on 18 shows in the past two years. But it has also spread its reach to California, Florida and Ohio, and outside of the United States to Canada and Great Britain. Boxing promoters do not leave their comfort zones often enough.

There was little if any dead time at UFC 94. Bouts were barely over before entrance music for the next fight began. By the time the main event fighters began their walks to the ring, the arena was ready to explode.

And why not? St. Pierre and Penn, after all, were the best fighters at welterweight (170 pounds) and lightweight (155). They had history. They had a rivalry. And neither money nor ego could get in the way of them fighting again.

Some will criticize the UFC for using its dominance to pay its fighters less than the top boxers receive. But the lower-tier undercard fighters earn more than those on boxing shows. The UFC takes on the risk of marketing and putting on the fight, unlike boxing promoters who receive help from site and network licensing fees. And in turn the organization is stable and growing. Other companies trying their hands at mixed martial arts have followed the boxing salary structure and ended up financially unsteady.

Boxing promoters seem inclined to hotshot fighters to the largest possible paydays. There is too much value given on being undefeated as opposed to having experience. Only one current UFC champion has never lost a fight. There is parity between fighters, and the unpredictable is often possible.

The media have embraced mixed martial arts, be it through newspaper ink, in valuable column inches or Internet bandwidth. St. Pierre-Penn 2 was the top story on ESPN.com. When was the last time boxing got that level of play?

It could. But it’ll take plenty of work.

An emphasis needs to be placed on fights rather than fighters. Boxers hold far more sway over networks’ purse strings than they should. The networks could scale back their pay, lowering the expectations of the fighters who have essentially been holding them ransom. Spending less money on a boxer means there will be more money for more boxing matches. There should be a better mix of quality and quantity.

There is much resistance to change, however. Boxing seems stuck in the perception of itself as fabled, as a sport of dramatic classical music (see “The Contender”) compared to hard-hitting rock (see “The Ultimate Fighter”). It relies on aging stars to sell pay-per-views rather than forcing prospects to face each other to separate the wheat from the chaff.

With so many promoters competing for venues, dates and the fighters themselves, it is up to the networks to push for what is good for the sport rather than what will be beneficial for a certain fighter, a certain manager or a certain promoter.

Much will not change. The number of sanctioning bodies, weight divisions and titles will make the sport hard for the occasional viewer to follow. But if those involved in the sport choose to focus on the product instead of their profit, making the former matter will still lead to plenty of the latter.

1.  Some nine days after a foreign substance was allegedly found within Antonio Margarito’s hand wraps prior to his fight with Shane Mosley, several questions remain.

My first question: Why do questions still remain?

The California State Athletic Commission has been incredibly mum on something that should not take more than nine days to make public. Easy question: What was the substance within Margarito’s wraps? And then the slightly harder one: Who put it there?

And, just as important, whose responsibility was it to ensure that no dirty business went on? Why did no one catch whatever was within Margarito’s wraps until Mosley’s trainer inspected them? And what will happen to the commission employee assigned to Margarito’s dressing room?

Margarito and his trainer, Javier Capetillo, have had their licenses temporarily suspended. It’ll be interesting to see where this story goes from here.

2.  We want boxers to stay busy, to fight often. But one reason why boxers don’t step into the ring as often as fighters did decades ago is due to the potential for an injury that could derail a major payday.

For Marco Antonio Barrera, that has become painfully clear.

Barrera is scheduled to face lightweight prospect Amir Khan on March 14. It now seems unlikely that the Khan fight will happen on that date.

Barrera suffered a bad cut above his left eye this past Saturday in a keep-busy bout against a designated opponent named Freudis Rojas. With a 1-7-1 record to his name, Rojas was there as a late replacement for a 17-4-4 fighter named John Nolasco.

In the final minute of the third round, Barrera stood against the ropes, taking a right hand to the body from Rojas. Rojas then put his head down like a charging bull, butting Barrera and leaving an ugly vertical gash on his left eyebrow.

Barrera was visibly upset. He has good reason to be. After coming back last year from a 13-month layoff, Barrera took the Nolasco fight as a second chance to shake off whatever rust remained before getting in the ring with Khan. Now he will probably head back to the sideline, waiting for the cut to heal.

3.  Back to MMA and boxing for a moment: How about that five-minute 10th round between junior welterweights Juan Urango and Herman Ngoudjo on last week’s episode of ESPN2’s “Friday Night Fights”?

The stanza actually clocked in at five minutes and 10 seconds. And whoever the timekeeper was deserves to have his bell rung.

4.  The mega-fight between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao has gone from proposed to close to off to set. Pacquiao had balked over the split, not wanting to go 50-50 with the Mancunian Mauler. His hardline stance ultimately worked, though. The Filipino Firebomber will pocket 52 percent of the proceeds, compared to 48 percent for Hatton.

This is the second straight set of negotiations for Pacquiao in which a fight has gone from on to off to on again. He was also able to get a few extra percentage points for his bout with Oscar De La Hoya. And yet one wonders what Pacquiao would have done had the other parties balked at his demands – there’s no other opponent with whom he would end up pocketing a reported minimum of $12 million.

5.  Pacquiao has grown from a one-dimensional power-puncher to a multi-faceted boxer-puncher. And he has grown from a boxer whose former promoter allegedly ripped him off to a man who looks for any extra bucks he can get from the bargaining table.

In the end, boxing is a business. And so far Pacquiao hasn’t gotten so greedy as to offend his customers.

6.  Boxers Behaving Badly: Undefeated prospect Gary McArthur was arrested last week due to his allegedly being the kind of jealous ex-boyfriend who chooses to take a baseball bat to the new beau’s luxury car, according to Scotland’s Evening Express.

McArthur, 26, has been charged with breach of the peace, weapon possession and reckless damage. He is accused of striking a BMW X6 worth £42,000, or about $59,875, owned by a soccer player now dating McArthur’s former girlfriend.

McArthur turned pro three years ago, fighting at lightweight and junior welterweight. He apparently has more power in a baseball bat than in his fists – of his 11 victories, only one has come by knockout. His last appearance was Jan. 21, an eight-round decision over some dude named Billy Smith.

7.  Boxing Commissioners Behaving Badly: Shane Crampton, a former tribal boxing commissioner in Michigan, has been charged with extortion and wire fraud for allegedly demanding money in exchange for getting fights booked at a local casino, according to The Grand Rapids Press.

Crampton, 38,      is accused of demanding $1,000 from Detroit-based promoters Clip Boxing Inc., saying the money could help get their fights hosted at the Little River Casino and Resort. Clip Boxing has put on two shows at the casino.

Crampton did take a $1,000 payment from the promoter, money he says was a fee for networking Clip Boxing with other tribes around the country, according to the newspaper.

He denies the charges.

“I never had any power, and everyone knew that,” Crampton was quoted as saying. “Everything got signed and approved by the tribal council. I couldn’t even make a recommendation.”

8.  Is it just me, or has Tommy Morrison and his supposedly having HIV become boxing’s version of Roger Clemens and his allegedly having used steroids?

9.  Dodgeball, an occasional update: So far, so familiar.

Two games into a season in a new league with new teams, Aim Low has faced old foes and has come out with the usual results. In the first game, Aim Low faced SBW Prime Target, newly refurbished with veteran players from this more competitive environment. The win didn’t come as easily as it used to, but Aim Low still won, 5-1. In the second game, Aim Low faced Corning, the team it lost to in last season’s recreational league championship.

Our bench was far shorter – we had five players on the court, not even able to field a starting six. Of those, we had two players with injuries and one who was sick. And yet, more than halfway through, the score was 2-2. But Corning soon took over and then added insult to injury during garbage time, handing us a 6-2 humbling.

Team record: 1-1. This past week’s post-game beer of choice: Long Trail Hibernator.

10.  Read a report quoting former featherweight king Prince Naseem Hamed – inactive since 2002 and, as my colleague T.K. Stewart noted, “a few weeks shy of his 35th birthday and nearly 50 pounds over his best fighting weight” – as saying he will “never rule out a comeback.”

That’s fair enough. I’ll never rule out dating Angelina Jolie.

David P. Greisman is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. His weekly column, “Fighting Words,” appears every Monday on BoxingScene.com. He may be reached for questions and comments at