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Boxing Vs. MMA
Mixed Martial Arts was founded in 1993 and since then has been moulded into a franchise that many fans of the sports claim can topple boxing off the top spot as the number one combat sports. This is mainly due to the sport being played at a faster, brutal and more unpredictable style of combat where virtually any fighter can beat another, by brute strength.
The sport peaked in 2006 where it had more pay per view buys than boxing and wwe making it the number one combat sport in that year. In that year they held 10 events and sold 5.2 million pay per view buys generating $220 million in revenue for the sport. It was then that people really started to question weather boxing is the number one sport at all. But, it seems that this year boxing will regain its top spot with ease as this year it has held 5 events with 3.6 million pay per view buys, generating $193 million in revenue. Of course with the year not over yet the sport still has Miguel Cotto V Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. V Ricky Hatton to come. These two fights are going to sell immensely as the Ricky Hatton fight has already beaten the UFC’s all time record gate set by the Liddell V Ortiz Fight. Earlier this year Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Oscar De La Hoya in a superfight that equalled in pay per view buys the total of the first five pay per view events from the UFC. From these figures it is clear that boxing is the number one combat sport as it still generates the most amount of money, generates the most amount of public interest and remains by far the leading combat sport worldwide.
It appears from these figures that MMA had one good year when there weren’t many boxing events and from that many people are of the impression that it is somehow better than boxing. But, what these people are forgetting is that MMA was only founded in 1993 and it has only recently started to develop more rules to stop it receiving a reputation as a sport for ‘thugs’. Boxing on the other hand has been a top worldwide sport since it was first recognised as an Olympic sport in 688 B.C. This has given the sport more popularity because of its history and how far the sport has progressed in recent years to what it is now. With history the sport can be traced back many, many years and famous boxing legends become household names for years on end because of how they graced the sport. Various examples of this is Cassius Clay and Mike Tyson both world champions and names ceremoniously linked with the sport, and are people virtually any sport fan will have an opinion on. Meaning that for every generation of sport fans they will know a boxing champion or even a boxer that has graced there hearts with so many boxers coming and going in the time it has progressed, and that in itself has helped to make the sport stand the test of time. MMA has virtually no history or worldwide stars that boxing has resulting in it having an extremely limited fan base that wont get the worldwide popularity and reputation boxing has built over thousands of years until it makes history.
Because boxing is a more recognised form of combat sport more boxing superstars are made and because you get so many boxing superstars created by the sport when they fight each other they can make huge amount son money. An example of this is when Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd is regarded worldwide as the best boxer in the world pound for pound and Oscar is the biggest star in Boxing. It was a dream fight for many fans, which meant it created serious amounts of money for both fighters. The fight itself created $120 million in revenue and is the richest fight ever as it shattered previous records in terms of pay per view sales by selling 250,000 more than the Lewis V Holyfield second fight. Oscar De La Hoya got $52 million purse for the fight, which beat Tyson’s record of $35 million purse when he fought Holyfield. Another record that the fight broke was how much was made officially from tickets to the fight as it made $3 million more dollars than its predecessor for the rematch between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis. This is all a huge contrast to the MMA as fighters there earn for a top career defining fight around $50 thousand where in boxing it has been proved that boxers can earn 1000 times more for a fight. Mainly because boxing is a more popular sport and has a greater hold on people hearts than the MMA does.
Boxing has a lot more worldwide celebrities than the MMA where their most popular fighter is Brock Lesnar who is famous from a glittering professional wrestling career. This is where boxing excels because of its many, many boxing celebrities from the ‘thrash-talking’ Zab Judah’ to a ‘jack-the-lad’ Ricky Hatton. With they’re being so many world-class boxers all competing at their peaks for titles and some upcoming fighters wanting a piece of the big money this means that there is even more competition for public attention. Which means that promoters will do more to promote their fighters and to get them better fights because it means that they will make more money from doing it. With many promotions being made about boxers the general public will not be able to help but support a fighter whose personality or upbringing they can relate to. This creates more fame for the sport of boxing and keeps the sport in the publics interest when the MMA does not create as much hype as HBO does for pay per view events, which is a reason why boxing will always be its superior.
Now I bring you to the point that boxers have a far superior fitness and technical ability over any MMA fighter. This is because to be a boxer it requires you to have outstanding cardiovascular skills, perfect defensive skills, an outstanding offence, marketable personality and a fantastic knowledge of the sport and your abilities. Where I believe in the MMA you only need to get your opponent on the floor and you can cause them to submit. You do not need great cardiovascular abilities because you are only going to have five rounds and that’s it you are fighting for a title. Your defence skills are not really required because you will spend most of time going at each other in a ‘gung ho’ style. The offence you would use is grappling on the floor with your opponent, which gets extremely boring for the crowds. I wouldn’t know if any have a marketable personality because frankly I haven’t seen any of there promotions as they are no promoted as well as boxers. They would only need an average knowledge of their abilities and the sport because virtually any fighter and beat anyone as basically the winner in the one who gets his opponent on the floor first. Boxers on the other hand need all of these abilities and use them all to perform the ‘sweet science.’ All professional boxers are required to run about 10miles daily to keep kit and all professional boxers spend all of their days in the gym training for fights. They all need a perfect defence because if not they could get killed in the ring or most likely they would get knocked out. Without defence when they come up against a powerful puncher they would get destroyed. With a perfect defence though it is possible for some boxers to win fights from an awesome defence, something Floyd Mayweather Jr. manages to do. You of course need a great offence to score points and to win fights as without this their would be no pint in boxing if you cant cause pain to your opponent. A marketable personality is critical to ensure the longevity of a boxer’s career as without this people would not pay to see them in fights and would have no opinion of them. Finally is something a professional boxer has in abundance, knowledge of their abilities and the sport. This is critical for them to figure out halfway through a fight just how to beat them by changing tactics in order to beat them and get the win.
It appears famous boxers as well have an opinion on the subject like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bernard Hopkins who have both publicly told the world about why boxing is so far superior to the MMA. Floyd when in training for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya had this to say about the subject, “UFC ain’t ****, it ain’t but a fad. Anyone can put a tattoo on their head and get in a street fight.” Then when questioned about Chuck Liddell, a UFC champion, he had this to say about him. “We should put Liddell against a good heavyweight, under Mayweather Promotions, and if Chuck wins, then I’ll give him a million dollars out of my own pocket. These are guys who couldn’t make it in boxing? Floyd is the best boxer in the world right now and is known for being confident and outspoken throughout the world and would obviously support the sport that has made him over $200 million in a career lasting just over a decade. Another famous boxer who has expressed his comments about the ongoing argument about the MMA and boxing is Bernard Hopkins, who had this to say about the subject, “You want to watch UFC? Go down to your local bar on a Friday night. After a few drinks, a couple of drunks will start throwing punches at one another. There's your UFC for you. UFC is street fighting in a cage. Boxing is a controlled, skilled talent. There's no comparison. He has the same view as many opposition to the MMA who believe that boxing is so far ahead of it in terms of ppv sales, fame, history and the sports competitors.
That concludes my argument on why the MMA is lightyears behind boxing in many different areas and always will be it does not have the longevity capabilities as boxing and will struggle to comeback as a major draw to fans after a one-off year in 2006 where the sport officially peaked.
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Mixed Martial Arts was founded in 1993 and since then has been moulded into a franchise that many fans of the sports claim can topple boxing off the top spot as the number one combat sports. This is mainly due to the sport being played at a faster, brutal and more unpredictable style of combat where virtually any fighter can beat another, by brute strength.
The sport peaked in 2006 where it had more pay per view buys than boxing and wwe making it the number one combat sport in that year. In that year they held 10 events and sold 5.2 million pay per view buys generating $220 million in revenue for the sport. It was then that people really started to question weather boxing is the number one sport at all. But, it seems that this year boxing will regain its top spot with ease as this year it has held 5 events with 3.6 million pay per view buys, generating $193 million in revenue. Of course with the year not over yet the sport still has Miguel Cotto V Shane Mosley and Floyd Mayweather Jr. V Ricky Hatton to come. These two fights are going to sell immensely as the Ricky Hatton fight has already beaten the UFC’s all time record gate set by the Liddell V Ortiz Fight. Earlier this year Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Oscar De La Hoya in a superfight that equalled in pay per view buys the total of the first five pay per view events from the UFC. From these figures it is clear that boxing is the number one combat sport as it still generates the most amount of money, generates the most amount of public interest and remains by far the leading combat sport worldwide.
It appears from these figures that MMA had one good year when there weren’t many boxing events and from that many people are of the impression that it is somehow better than boxing. But, what these people are forgetting is that MMA was only founded in 1993 and it has only recently started to develop more rules to stop it receiving a reputation as a sport for ‘thugs’. Boxing on the other hand has been a top worldwide sport since it was first recognised as an Olympic sport in 688 B.C. This has given the sport more popularity because of its history and how far the sport has progressed in recent years to what it is now. With history the sport can be traced back many, many years and famous boxing legends become household names for years on end because of how they graced the sport. Various examples of this is Cassius Clay and Mike Tyson both world champions and names ceremoniously linked with the sport, and are people virtually any sport fan will have an opinion on. Meaning that for every generation of sport fans they will know a boxing champion or even a boxer that has graced there hearts with so many boxers coming and going in the time it has progressed, and that in itself has helped to make the sport stand the test of time. MMA has virtually no history or worldwide stars that boxing has resulting in it having an extremely limited fan base that wont get the worldwide popularity and reputation boxing has built over thousands of years until it makes history.
Because boxing is a more recognised form of combat sport more boxing superstars are made and because you get so many boxing superstars created by the sport when they fight each other they can make huge amount son money. An example of this is when Floyd Mayweather Jr. fought Oscar De La Hoya. Floyd is regarded worldwide as the best boxer in the world pound for pound and Oscar is the biggest star in Boxing. It was a dream fight for many fans, which meant it created serious amounts of money for both fighters. The fight itself created $120 million in revenue and is the richest fight ever as it shattered previous records in terms of pay per view sales by selling 250,000 more than the Lewis V Holyfield second fight. Oscar De La Hoya got $52 million purse for the fight, which beat Tyson’s record of $35 million purse when he fought Holyfield. Another record that the fight broke was how much was made officially from tickets to the fight as it made $3 million more dollars than its predecessor for the rematch between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis. This is all a huge contrast to the MMA as fighters there earn for a top career defining fight around $50 thousand where in boxing it has been proved that boxers can earn 1000 times more for a fight. Mainly because boxing is a more popular sport and has a greater hold on people hearts than the MMA does.
Boxing has a lot more worldwide celebrities than the MMA where their most popular fighter is Brock Lesnar who is famous from a glittering professional wrestling career. This is where boxing excels because of its many, many boxing celebrities from the ‘thrash-talking’ Zab Judah’ to a ‘jack-the-lad’ Ricky Hatton. With they’re being so many world-class boxers all competing at their peaks for titles and some upcoming fighters wanting a piece of the big money this means that there is even more competition for public attention. Which means that promoters will do more to promote their fighters and to get them better fights because it means that they will make more money from doing it. With many promotions being made about boxers the general public will not be able to help but support a fighter whose personality or upbringing they can relate to. This creates more fame for the sport of boxing and keeps the sport in the publics interest when the MMA does not create as much hype as HBO does for pay per view events, which is a reason why boxing will always be its superior.
Now I bring you to the point that boxers have a far superior fitness and technical ability over any MMA fighter. This is because to be a boxer it requires you to have outstanding cardiovascular skills, perfect defensive skills, an outstanding offence, marketable personality and a fantastic knowledge of the sport and your abilities. Where I believe in the MMA you only need to get your opponent on the floor and you can cause them to submit. You do not need great cardiovascular abilities because you are only going to have five rounds and that’s it you are fighting for a title. Your defence skills are not really required because you will spend most of time going at each other in a ‘gung ho’ style. The offence you would use is grappling on the floor with your opponent, which gets extremely boring for the crowds. I wouldn’t know if any have a marketable personality because frankly I haven’t seen any of there promotions as they are no promoted as well as boxers. They would only need an average knowledge of their abilities and the sport because virtually any fighter and beat anyone as basically the winner in the one who gets his opponent on the floor first. Boxers on the other hand need all of these abilities and use them all to perform the ‘sweet science.’ All professional boxers are required to run about 10miles daily to keep kit and all professional boxers spend all of their days in the gym training for fights. They all need a perfect defence because if not they could get killed in the ring or most likely they would get knocked out. Without defence when they come up against a powerful puncher they would get destroyed. With a perfect defence though it is possible for some boxers to win fights from an awesome defence, something Floyd Mayweather Jr. manages to do. You of course need a great offence to score points and to win fights as without this their would be no pint in boxing if you cant cause pain to your opponent. A marketable personality is critical to ensure the longevity of a boxer’s career as without this people would not pay to see them in fights and would have no opinion of them. Finally is something a professional boxer has in abundance, knowledge of their abilities and the sport. This is critical for them to figure out halfway through a fight just how to beat them by changing tactics in order to beat them and get the win.
It appears famous boxers as well have an opinion on the subject like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Bernard Hopkins who have both publicly told the world about why boxing is so far superior to the MMA. Floyd when in training for his fight with Oscar De La Hoya had this to say about the subject, “UFC ain’t ****, it ain’t but a fad. Anyone can put a tattoo on their head and get in a street fight.” Then when questioned about Chuck Liddell, a UFC champion, he had this to say about him. “We should put Liddell against a good heavyweight, under Mayweather Promotions, and if Chuck wins, then I’ll give him a million dollars out of my own pocket. These are guys who couldn’t make it in boxing? Floyd is the best boxer in the world right now and is known for being confident and outspoken throughout the world and would obviously support the sport that has made him over $200 million in a career lasting just over a decade. Another famous boxer who has expressed his comments about the ongoing argument about the MMA and boxing is Bernard Hopkins, who had this to say about the subject, “You want to watch UFC? Go down to your local bar on a Friday night. After a few drinks, a couple of drunks will start throwing punches at one another. There's your UFC for you. UFC is street fighting in a cage. Boxing is a controlled, skilled talent. There's no comparison. He has the same view as many opposition to the MMA who believe that boxing is so far ahead of it in terms of ppv sales, fame, history and the sports competitors.
That concludes my argument on why the MMA is lightyears behind boxing in many different areas and always will be it does not have the longevity capabilities as boxing and will struggle to comeback as a major draw to fans after a one-off year in 2006 where the sport officially peaked.
FEEDBACK APPRECIATED
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