Theodore

I don't care about a fighter's race or nationality. Only the fighting style matters to me.

im calling it now.....anyone doubt me? You called it Larry, you got it right!

The only ones that actually "saved" boxing when it was starting to decline were the exciting American HW champs like a Jack Dempsey, Ali, or 80s Tyson. Like it or not, an exciting American HW champion usually brings a lot of attention to the sport and revitalizes the sport, especially when he is at his peak and seems invincible. No little fighter will have that kind of impact on boxing or become cultural icons and be part of popular American culture. Like it or not, the HW division has always been the lifeline of this sport.

Thin hair Donaire, hahahaha. He's pretty much done. Has he saved up his money? He should just hang them up. He'll be 36 this year.

Sometimes I do wonder what if some of these freakish athletes of other sports trained as a boxer at a young age, what would their potential be? In the sport of boxing, I can only count a few guys being freak athletes, Roy Jones being one, Mike Tyson being another, Naseem Hamed, Loma, Ali.

A lot of things aren't as good as the old days, but what can you do?

If Fury would have been knocked out, this would have been a bigger upset than Douglas-Tyson. Imagine a guy that's been training in this sport since he was little getting almost knocked out by a guy with a few weeks training and participation in this sport.

The only time size matters is between trained fighters in different weight classes or people with hardly any fighting skills fighting each other. But if youre a 250 pound former college athlete with hardly any fighting skills or training you're not beating a former 130 pound boxer in the ring or even in a street fight. Even those trained MMA guys no matter the weight will seriously messed up or kill someone with hardly any fighting experience even if that person is much larger than them and in good shape.

RIP. And as some posters have said, it's pretty stupid to call someone willing to risk their health in the ring as cowards. This is a brutal sport and sometimes with brutal outcomes.

My first fight I watched was Tyson-Bruno 1. When you see something that crazy and amazing as your first boxing memory, it tends to stick with you forever. Then seeing HW fights like Holyfield-Bowe trilogy to Holyfield-Tyson 1 and one realize when the HW division is good then boxing does very well. The 90s was probably the 2nd best HW era after the 70s and it was a sight to behold. So many good HWs in the 90s. There is nothing more special in the sport than a good HW fight.

Well that is very damning info. Very disappointed as a Canelo fan.

June 23rd at some place like Wembley would sound good.

I lost interest. That's why the forum died down. Am I the only one that feels this way? Not as much as I used to. For some reason, Major league Baseball is my favorite sport league to watch now, when I was a kid I thought it was such a boring sport and it was basketball, football, and boxing. Things change when you get older. I still enjoy boxing though. Although I have to say I don't really like most of the fans.

I still have a lot of love for the sport of boxing. I still pay close attention. I hate the fans, though. Not all of them, of course -- there are some decent, non-agenda driven fight fans out there believe it or not. Maybe like 2 in every 15. The rest are f**king worthless. Boxing fans really are the worst of the worst, lowest level fans in all of f**king sports. This place is a shining beacon of an example. Unfortunately the fan base is littered with f**k boys who do nothing but disrespect the fighters, sh*t on their accomplishments, and call them "cowards" (when 99.9% of these lowlife subhumans would piss and sh*t themselves simultaneously if any of these fighters stepped to them in real life) just because they have a teenage crush on certain boxers. Much respect to you real fans out there but you know it and I know it that by in large the entire fan base of this sport is a sewage cesspool. Agreed on the bolded. Someone once asked me why I didn't post as much in NSB as the general lounge. Well, it's because idiot fanboys with teenage crushes s-hits on fighters and their accomplishments. They even have the nerve to call these guys cowards. OUt of like 20 started threads, there might be 2 decent ones and even then some idiot fanboys will screw it up.

Rest in peace. Legendary trainer.

fastest to move up in 3 weight class doe Pacman, the hero of your country is widely suspected to be on the juice during his career. You better look at your hero before pointing the fingers at others.

Clearly. There isn't a debate. via GIPHY

There's a difference between fighting prime and athletic prime for boxing. Meldrick Taylor was only 24 when he fought JCC, but he became a shot fighter around 28 years old, even though he was still in his athletic prime. The 1st JCC fight Taylor had took most of his prime away, he suffered a really bad beating. Boxing is the only sport where after 1 single event, you can lost most of your prime because your punch resistance has severely diminished if you've been in a nasty boxing war. Someone brought up Fernando Vargas, they are absolutely correct that Vargas was almost done by 28, even though he was still athletically prime. He was basically a shot fighter by that time.

Did I say that EVERY combat sport athlete goes into MMA now? this is like me listing a bunch of MMA stars and asking why they didnt go to boxing. It obviously depends on the individual and their circumstances. What I said was MMA takes a decent share of the pie now compared to the days of Tyson, RJJ or even Floyd and Pac. You only seem to attribute "monster talent" to boxers for some reason which is weird, are Fury and Wilder more "talented" than Ngannou and Gane? in what sense? are they more athletic? could they beat them in a fight? The reason why a lot of MMA stars didn't get into boxing is because they didn't have the talent to go far. Anderson Silva is one. You have to be really stupid to go make a few grand in MMA as a champion with no rights to use your image and likeness compared to the potential of millions as a boxing star and that's not even factoring in endorsements as a top flight boxing pro or elite amateur with Olympic medals. A guy like Amir Khan became a household name in the UK for winning silver and getting tons of endorsement before his 1st pro fight. A top flight amateur in MMA is working at a 9-5 job and getting ready to sign away his naming and image rights to join UFC for at most a few grand. lol Anyways defend MMA all you want, but it's not even a debate about the top stars of each sport on how much they make and the opportunities outside that arena. Even guys like Pacquiao (has a senate seat and running for president of his country) and Vitali Klitschko (mayor of a city) have used their boxing fame to jump start their political careers. You don't see that with UFC guys. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if their UFC contract says they can't run for political office, but I digress.

The money is far better and greater for boxing's stars compared to UFC/MMA. You're also not allowed to make endorsements when you sign with the UFC. If you have the skills and/or natural talent of a Mike Tyson, Ali, Mayweather, Pacquiao, Roy Jones, etc. You choose boxing as your profession to make that money, endorse products and generate generational wealth.

Those guys got into boxing before MMA was a factor. Tyson himself said he would have competed in MMA today. Its pretty obvious that MMA is taking a decent share of the combat sports talent pool nowadays. When someone first gets into a combat sport (as a participant) they're usually too young to be thinking about money long term, its more about what they've been exposed to, what they think is cool, what athlete they want to be like etc. Boxing used to be the only game in town in all those respects. You haven't refuted anything I've said. If you have monster talent, you take your talent and make the most money from a sport that gives you the most opportunity. Boxing's top talent makes far more money from purses, a cut of the PPV percentage, and most importantly endorsements. What kind of archaic shyt prohibits you from using your image, name, and likeness from making money? Hell, even top amateur athletes make far more money than UFC fighters and champions, considering they can now use their image and likeness to endorse products through the NIL law. You said some guys got into boxing before MMA became big? MMA became big and made a name of itself during the mid 2000s, around I say 2004. Pacquiao and Mayweather were in their mid 20s then, why didn't they jump into UFC or any MMA organization and make money? Because the money is so low and not worth the risk. Top elite boxers like Pacquiao also has endorsements, something that UFC fighters cannot do and are prohibited. The biggest names in boxing right now are Fury, Wilder, Canelo, Joshua, Inoue. Those guys I mentioned were born late 80s to early 90s, they were all little kids or teens when MMA became big. How come they didn't jump into MMA? Fury, WIlder, and Canelo makes 10+ million per fight, Inoue doesn't make that money since he fights in a lighter weight division that doesn't get the attention, but he's able to use his name, image, and likeness to endorse products in Japan where he's massively popular. If you have massive talent in using your fists for combat, you take that talent and get into boxing where it's far more lucrative not MMA. Even a youtuber like Jake Paul got into boxing and instead of MMA. Washed up UFC stars are begging for a fight with him to make some decent cash, because when they were in the UFC they weren't making shyt.

I'm not talking about already established stars switching over as adults. If you're already established as an elite boxer clearly there would be no reason to transition to MMA. I am talking about someone walking into a gym to train for the first time as a young kid/teenager. You really think money factors into the decision of what combat sport to train at that age? most wont have a clue about the money involved other than the vague notion that they can get rich and famous. The more important factors are like I said, exposure, visibility, cool factor, athletes from the sport you like, cultural factors etc etc. Also when you talk about "monster talent", that talent usually becomes properly discernible AFTER you start training a sport already, and there is zero guarantee that you will end up making big money, in fact the chances are very slim. Nobody is going up to some 10 year old who has never trained before and being like "bro you have incredible hands, go into boxing and you'll make tens of millions of dollars". How the **** do you know who could or couldnt be a "monster talent" in boxing if they never go into it in the first place for one reason or another? So then why didn't Canelo, Inoue, Fury, Wilder, and Joshua picked up MMA and become UFC fighters? As I've said, those guys were in their teens and were little kids when UFC/MMA became big. Wilder and Joshua picked up boxing late. Why didn't they walked into an MMA gym and said I want to fight for Dana White and the UFC? You said in an earlier post that boxing stars only chose boxing when they were the only game in town. So why didn't today's boxing stars picked up MMA instead to fight for Dana White?

Who gives a damn what these boxers and athletes say. Their job is to entertain. People put too much stock into what Floyd said, AJ said, Pacquiao said, Hopkins said, etc. These guys get punch in the head for a living. Think about that. You expect these guys to be PC like other jobs? Their job is to entertain. In fact I want more of these guys to be like Tyson after his stretch in prison. Be crazy and say stupid stuff. That guy was pure entertainment inside and outside of the ring.

What a fight, what a finish!

In other words, he needs another big money fight before he retires. He thought he got it with Pac last year.

Congrats to Andy Ruiz! Vato was out there throwing haymakers like it was a fight in the parking lot of Dodgers stadium.

Pretty sad that top MMA fighters are paid so low that they always try to get top level boxers to fight them to make some decent money. The only people stupid enough to pay these fights are the MMA fans with Affliction shirts and their Monster Energy drinks.

Congrats to Ruiz! Vato was out there throwing haymakers like it was a fight in the parking lot of Dodgers stadium.

Taylor about to get his 3rd loss in row Saddo misses you bro!

What an awesome fight. Now this is the HW division that I remembered in my youth!