why can't boxers be moved up as quick as MMA fighters?

[trg6863]

carano, frank mir, kimbo slice. mma is treading on water in terms of stars. they will never be as big & as culturally significant as boxing.

journeymen with pink hair & a last second replacement will never beat a boxing star.

2-0,5-0 boxers will almost always never beat a estbalished boxer let alone a superstar.

What pisses me off is how mma fans go to boxing sites & message boards & comment about how much mma is taking over & is better than boxing.

I have never done that. i dont know if boxing fans go to mma message boards & talk junk. just like you brah, you are obviously a mma fan, wtf are u doing in a boxing website?

I stated earlier that I enjoy both. I understand your point about Carano and Slice but they are not the fighters that I was referring to. I also never came on here saying MMA is better than boxing. My point is that not all of the guys in MMA are bums like the way it is painted on this site.

[trg6863]

A boxer can spend an entire career focusing on four points of contact. His entire training will solidify in his mind and his body that there are four attacks possible. The points of contact consisting of his two hands and those of his opponent.

This knowledge allows for the boxer to focus in acute areas when considering both offense and defense. Obviously the whole body plays a role in boxing but the hands are the tip of the sword. His mind is conditioned to contemplate the defense and attacks based on those facts.

For a mixed martial artist the spectrum broadens considerably. Where only the hands are employed as weapons in boxing, in MMA there are eight points of contact. Two feet, two knees, two elbows, and two fists.

Multiply that by two and a fighter has eighteen things to consider before throwing a punch. That doesn’t take into consideration the ability to take one down, or complex aspect of submissions.

So where a boxer can focus in a broader spectrum and excel in that area, an MMA fighter must spread his mind thinner, as well as his body and also remain effective based on those aspects.

Those points are the very reason why the two can not be compared. Is it tomayto tomawto, or is it apples and oranges? The latter makes more sense.

- from Todd Jackson's most recent piece.

Excellent post!

[KittenFlaps]

There's a lot more money in boxing and a fighter with a spotless record is worth more than one with a loss on his record.

Promoters tend to treat their boxers like commodities. The carefully develop them so as to create a boxer with maximum selling potential.

MMA just throws two dudes in a ring and has them **** each other up. The fighters aren't brand names. Losses don't really matter.

[sycomantz]

One thing I dislike about most boxing fans on this site is that they tend to only look at the lower tier of fighters in MMA. So you are telling me that guys like GSP, Machida, Silva, and BJ Penn are not as techniclly skilled just in other aspects or all around? Again, they are not just fighting boxing, they have to be competitive everywhere. I think that's pretty difficult to "master" several completely different styles of fighting. I actually truly love watching both sports and think that some of you really do not realize that a lot of these guys put in just as much training, hard work, and dedication into what they do.

even upper teir fighters. its just how things go... you cant be great in more than one thing. either you are better at striking, ground attacks, wrestling, etc

but you cant be great at all. you can be good at all but not great.

i already see how much work some of these guys put in...GSP for instance. as said, dude is a beast... you know that

but whats his best trade of all the fighting styles he knows?

i feel andsee that there is more science involved in boxing than MMA. i always say it that Boxing is chess while MMA is checkers

im not impressed by KO'es, blood and ****. the brutality of MMA is why most people b/c fans of it...like watching a freak show. i rather watch a 12 round technically match thats chess/watching to people thinking their way through the match making adjustments and adapting than watch two people trade blows in a slugfest. that goes for boxing too...

[trg6863]

even upper teir fighters. its just how things go... you cant be great in more than one thing. either you are better at striking, ground attacks, wrestling, etc

but you cant be great at all. you can be good at all but not great.

i already see how much work some of these guys put in...GSP for instance. as said, dude is a beast... you know that

but whats his best trade of all the fighting styles he knows?

i feel andsee that there is more science involved in boxing than MMA. i always say it that Boxing is chess while MMA is checkers

im not impressed by KO'es, blood and ****. the brutality of MMA is why most people b/c fans of it...like watching a freak show. i rather watch a 12 round technically match thats chess/watching to people thinking their way through the match making adjustments and adapting than watch two people trade blows in a slugfest. that goes for boxing too...

I appreciate your response. I feel the same can go for boxing as well as in Pacquiao is a better offensive fighter and just had a truly brutal KO over Hatton. I know that I am speaking as a casual fan and cannot give all of the technicalities of either sport. I just enjoy both and don't see the need to really say one is better.

[Santo Domingo]

cause they dont wont to lose until they get a big money PPV fight.

Ding.ding. Ding. Correct answer.


A loss knocks your career off track too much to risk one. For the vast majority of fighters, a loss costs you money in terms of crowd appeal, promoter interest and choice of opponents.

[Shadow boxer 3]

cause boxing takes skill and it takes years to master that skill. MMA is all about hype. kimbo was aleady popular from the web so they hyped him up as the next big thing. Brock lesnar was already popular from WWE so the UFC is hyping him up as the next big think. Carano is sexy as hell so she also gets hyped

[shadeyfizzle]

I believe Rich Franklin said it best.

"In mma you have to be a jack of all trades, master of none"

Boxers HAVE to be moved up slower than mma fighters because there are those who have mastered their craft.

In mma there are more tangibles there are very few who are masters of their craft.

BJ Penn for example is an mma fighter but even if u put him in standard jiujitsu competitions without striking he would win a world championship in his weight class every year until he turned 50 or possibly even older.

But his cardio and striking are not very good and you just cannot being a master of 1 aspect in mma.

It makes for athletes with maybe more well rounded skills....but rough around all the edges.

The interesting side effect it ends up having though is that mma becomes more competitive than boxing.

In boxing only a select handful are really world class/world championship level.

In mma because of the way the rules are set up....becomes more competitive. Everyone is at roughly around the same level.

[CrackYourJaw]

cause boxing takes skill and it takes years to master that skill. MMA is all about hype. kimbo was aleady popular from the web so they hyped him up as the next big thing. Brock lesnar was already popular from WWE so the UFC is hyping him up as the next big think. Carano is sexy as hell so she also gets hyped

Yeah...what he said.

[blaze778]

Roy Jones Jr. said boxing is a way more difficult to learn than MMA because boxing is a one dimensional sport. In MMA, there are so many ways to beat someone, but there is an equal amount of ways to lose. That is way crossover stars like former college/high school amateur wrestlers, kickboxers, jijuitsu and karate experts and even pro wrestlers make a smooth transition to MMA. Take any of these athletes and throw them in a boxing ring at a pro level and they will get taken to school by any decent boxer. Check out a 47 year-old out of shape Ray Mercer knocking out former UFC Heavyweight Tim Sylvia with one punch in like 9 seconds.
Bringing up a boxer too soon and cause irreverseable damage. Guys like David Reid, Davey Moore, Fernando Vargas, and maybe Jeff Lacy had their careers ruined because of being moved up too quickly. Randy Couture moved up quickly and had a UFC title shot while having only 9 fights. He became a successful 2 division champ (3 titles total) and still competing at the highest level at age 45. Brock Lesnar had about 3 MMA fights and won the title from Couture. Can you picture any pro boxer beating one of the Kiltschkos after only 3 fights?
MMA is also a budding sport with a relatively shallow talent pool. So inexperienced cash cows like Brock Lesnar and Gina Carano will get opportunities that inexperienced boxers won't get. Boxing has been established for a 100 years, so there is high quality competition throughout the world. Having a losses early in your career can cause major set backs for a boxer since there is so much competition and so many other boxers with a 0 on there loss column. Most top MMA fighters (even Fedor) have a loss on there record.