By Mark Vester

In a recent article by journalist Rick Maese of the Baltimore Sun, notable figures in Boxing and the Ultimate Fighting Championship gave their opinions on why the sport of Boxing is on the decline and the UFC's fanbase is exploding.
 
The debate over which is the superior sport has intensified due to contrasting pay-per-view numbers since January 2006. The lowpoint for boxing came with the recent pay-per-view rematch between then heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman and challenger Oleg Maskaev, which only racked up a buyrate of 60K, and the live event had a poor turnout from fans. On the other hand, recent UFC pay-per-views have been drawing record crowds of thousands to events, gaining millions of dollars with live gate revenues and stacking up buyrates of 500-700K with recent pay-per-views. The company expects the recent Chuck Liddell-Renato Sobral pay-per-view to generate more than 500K buys. 

"I can't even watch boxing now. I really can't - and I came from a boxing background. It literally bores me to death. I'd rather watch Power Rangers with the kids than watch boxing," said Dana White, president of UFC.

White feels that the biggest problem with boxing, is the promoters are more interested in making a quick buck, than securing the future of the sport by making the right business moves.

"My biggest beef with boxing right now is that the powers that be, the Bob Arums and Don Kings, they aren't interested in securing the future of the sport," said White. "They'll never put a dime of their own money back into it. It's all about, 'How much money can I put into my pocket right here, right now?' There's no investing in the future."

Key figures in both the UFC and Boxing, are trying to distance the two sports, claiming that the sports should not be compared to eachother. Marc Ratner, former head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who resigned from his post to take a job with the UFC, agrees that both sports are similar, but far from the same thing.

"I think it's wrong to compare the two. The similarity is that they're both unarmed combat. But that's it," Ratner said.

Ratner admits that Boxing is failing to pick up new fans and thinks the future of the sport is dim unless something changes.

"When old boxing fans pass away, there aren't new ones to take their place," Ratner said.

Bob Arum, one of the biggest and most well known Boxing promoters in the history of the sport, does not think the UFC has had an impact on the sport of Boxing.

"I don't think Ultimate Fighting has had an impact except that it has demonstrated to boxing promoters another method to promoting the product. They've done a marvelous job in promotion," he says.

The reason Arum feels the UFC has not hurt boxing is simply, the audience makeup is different. He feels that the UFC audience is made up of mostly white males, while boxing caters to Hispanics, African-Americans and "a few whites."

"We have a totally different audience. The demographic of UFC are young white males. To cater to that audience, you basically only see white men who fight. Our audience for boxing is Hispanic, African-American and maybe a few whites."

The debate is sure to continue for quite a while, as UFC supporters will claim that they are surpassing the sport of boxing, while supporters of Boxing will say the UFC's claims are without merit.