Is boxing dead?

[americanspirit]

Everyone can agree that boxing is not the same as it was before. These days, there is not that many marketable fighters that can take boxing to the next level. I spoke with a friend with a mine who is a casual sports fan and he couldn't name any active boxers beside de la hoya. Tito Ortiz recently was on the Howard Stern Show and he said that UFC is better and more exciting than boxing and UFC can take over and that his fight with Chuck Liddell is anticipated to sell 1.5 million buys. He also said that he went to the mayweather/baldomir fight and he was bored as hell. He also said he could take out Tyson and Lewis within seconds. With that mind, what is the current state of boxing? is it dying? if it is, who can be the savior that can bring boxing back to mainstream?

You wouldn't even need Tyson or Lewis to drop Tito Ortiz.

My sister could knock him out with a little girl punch.

I have a better chin than Tito Ortiz.

Chuck Liddell has a good right hand and he's leveling the UFC. A one dimensional fighter is dominating the UFC.

UFC is a joke. A gimmick.

Fedor would beat Ortiz, Liddell, and Couture simultaneoulsy.

One punch each. He could throw a combo and knock out Ortiz with the jab, Couture with the straight, and Liddell with the hook..

[americanspirit]

You wouldn't even need Tyson or Lewis to drop Tito Ortiz.

My sister could knock him out with a little girl punch.

I have a better chin than Tito Ortiz.

Chuck Liddell has a good right hand and he's leveling the UFC. A one dimensional fighter is dominating the UFC.

UFC is a joke. A gimmick.

Fedor would beat Ortiz, Liddell, and Couture simultaneoulsy.

One punch each. He could throw a combo and knock out Ortiz with the jab, Couture with the straight, and Liddell with the hook..

UFC: I meant KFC.

[nfc90210]

Chuck Liddell has a good right hand and he's leveling the UFC. A one dimensional fighter is dominating the UFC.

Chuck Liddell has, arguably, the best takedown defence in the world. He also has the ability to get back up when take down even when facing a guy like Randy Couture who has a truly great amateur wrestling background. These abilities come from the fact that Liddell was a four year starter at a division one wrestling school. It's the combination of his wrestling background and striking that makes Liddell such a good fighter. They are equally important. People notice his KO punches, but what gives him the ability to deliver those punches is the fact that he is able to use his wrestling ability to keep the fight standing. You can't just think of wrestling in terms of taking a guy down. Liddell shows very good wrestling ability in the majority of his fights. The difference between him and most wrestlers is that he is using his wrestling ability to keep the fight standing and not take it the ground.

Liddell also has a purple belt in BJJ.

[americanspirit]

Chuck Liddell has, arguably, the best takedown defence in the world. He also has the ability to get back up when take down even when facing a guy like Randy Couture who has a truly great amateur wrestling background. These abilities come from the fact that Liddell was a four year starter at a division one wrestling school. It's the combination of his wrestling background and striking that makes Liddell such a good fighter. They are equally important. People notice his KO punches, but what gives him the ability to deliver those punches is the fact that he is able to use his wrestling ability to keep the fight standing. You can't just think of wrestling in terms of taking a guy down. Liddell shows very good wrestling ability in the majority of his fights. The difference between him and most wrestlers is that he is using his wrestling ability to keep the fight standing and not take it the ground.

Liddell also has a purple belt in BJJ.

Liddell isn't garbage. Liddell is a good fighter. In a weak ass league.

purple belt, ok... whatever.

He does have a good take down defense but has he been seriously tested?

No.

[nfc90210]

purple belt, ok... whatever.

Liddell does actually have a purple belt. Really, he's a purple belt under John Lewis. I don't mean to assert that he will be winning the black belt division of the Mundials any time soon, but he does have a grounding in BJJ.

He does have a good take down defense but has he been seriously tested?

Yes, his takedown defense has been tested. Look up at the guys he faced. Take Randy Couture for instance. Couture was a stud. I mean an absolute stud in wrestling. He was a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association D-I All-American, a two-time NCAA finalist and made three Olympic teams as an alternate. He's one of the best wrestlers, credentials wise, to regularly compete in MMA.

[americanspirit]

Liddell does actually have a purple belt. Really, he's a purple belt under John Lewis. I don't mean to assert that he will be winning the black belt division of the Mundials any time soon, but he does have a grounding in BJJ.



Yes, his takedown defense has been tested. Look up at the guys he faced. Take Randy Couture for instance. Couture was a stud. I mean an absolute stud in wrestling. He was a three-time National Collegiate Athletic Association D-I All-American, a two-time NCAA finalist and made three Olympic teams as an alternate. He's one of the best wrestlers, credentials wise, to regularly compete in MMA.

Couture was a fantastic humper- I mean, wrestler.

Too bad his chin was swarvoski crystal..

[psychopath]

Everyone can agree that boxing is not the same as it was before. These days, there is not that many marketable fighters that can take boxing to the next level. I spoke with a friend with a mine who is a casual sports fan and he couldn't name any active boxers beside de la hoya. Tito Ortiz recently was on the Howard Stern Show and he said that UFC is better and more exciting than boxing and UFC can take over and that his fight with Chuck Liddell is anticipated to sell 1.5 million buys. He also said that he went to the mayweather/baldomir fight and he was bored as hell. He also said he could take out Tyson and Lewis within seconds. With that mind, what is the current state of boxing? is it dying? if it is, who can be the savior that can bring boxing back to mainstream?

Boxing? Dead?

Nah dude, boxing is far from being dead. In fact it is soaring to higher heights lately. Most of the title holders fights legitimate and worthy challengers unlike before wherein title holders fights HYPED challengers most of the time.

[nfc90210]

Boxing had a very good year in 2006. If you look at the numbers boxing is far from dead. The UFC had a great year, but so did boxing. The world is bigger enough for boxing and MMA to exist together.

Does boxing have problems? Yes. Those problems aren't related to MMA though. Even those problems aren't in danger of killing boxing in the foreseeable future. For all that is currently wrong with boxing there are still a lot of people getting very rich off it.

Once Oscar is gone there aren't any fighters who are similar level draws. One will come along though. Who it'll be I have no idea. Sooner or later there will be someone though. It might take a while but someone will come along. Also, while Oscar is the only guy who can be counted on to do in the region of a million buys it's hardly like everyone else's PPVs are losing money hand over fist.

I don't think boxing will ever again hold the place in our culture it once did in decades past. That's something we will have to adjust to. That isn't death though. It's not due to MMA either.

Boxing and MMA fans can argue all they want about who's more famous Liddell or Oscar. I would guess though that there are millions and millions of people who have no idea who either is. Combat sports, on the whole, are somewhat of a niche market.

Put it this way. The third Pacman/Morrales fight did 350,000 buys. On the same night the UFC had a card where Matt Hughes took on GSP for the second time. I'm not sure what the UFC PPV did. Hughes last fight with BJ Penn did 700,000 buys. Given that fact I'll take a conservative guess and assume the UFC did 500,000. It's possible the UFC did more as Hughes/GSP was on of their big fights, but for the sake of this point I'll assume that they did 500,000.

That gives us, 850,000 buys for combat sports on that night. Some people order PPV's by themselves. Other people get together with their friends. Let assume that on average for every PPV buy there are three people are watching. That gives us, roughly, 2.6 million people watching some kind of combat sport on that night.

The third series of “The OC.” got on average 5.6 million viewers a week.

How many viewers did “Friends” used to get every week?

[Welter_Skelter]

Everyone can agree that boxing is not the same as it was before. These days, there is not that many marketable fighters that can take boxing to the next level. I spoke with a friend with a mine who is a casual sports fan and he couldn't name any active boxers beside de la hoya. Tito Ortiz recently was on the Howard Stern Show and he said that UFC is better and more exciting than boxing and UFC can take over and that his fight with Chuck Liddell is anticipated to sell 1.5 million buys. He also said that he went to the mayweather/baldomir fight and he was bored as hell. He also said he could take out Tyson and Lewis within seconds. With that mind, what is the current state of boxing? is it dying? if it is, who can be the savior that can bring boxing back to mainstream?

HECTARIs ALT??????????????

[El Pollo LoCo]

boxing isnt going anywhere. UFC is just a fad. I do like it but as ppl have said before boxing is a gentlemens sport and thatll never change. It may look like boxing is dying but come on now, boxing has been around since about 688bc, boxing as we know it now has been around since 1892.

tho i like UFC I have to admit that it is rare to find an exciting match. the other day i was watching a fight with tito ortiz vs forrest griffin. I honestly thought forrest should have won that fight. i have nothing against tito and he dominated forrest the first round. second he couldnt take forrest down for **** and forrest was just nailing him. third samething but tito got the takedown once in the last seconds of the fight. The point is that i think they gave tito the fight because he is one of their star fighters. for him to lose to someone like forrest would be devastating.