Rant: UFC will slowly take fans away from boxing

[Tony Trick-Pony]

That was bad in 2016 but Haymon is going to make changes/better fights in 2017. We already know PBC is planning Garcia vs Thurman, and while that's a fight that should have happened in 2016, it's still making steps in the right direction. We even had Floyd talking about the mismatches with his and Haymons fighters needing to stop, as well as PBC admitting they made mistakes. Tjis means they are well aware they need to speed things up and make quality fightd. So at the very least, we are going to see the welterweight division heat up fast in early 2017 which I believe will follow with consistency. That's just PBC and welterweights.

We know Golovkin is going to fight a couple times, he's going to have his entertaining can't miss fights and if we're lucky, Canelo vs Golovkin in September for a massive event.

I can keep going about a bunch of fights that are going to happen but that's not entirely the point here, the point is we are going to see a lot of great fights, big fights next year and we should have more consistency. Again, money is always the driving force so when there isn't an infinite amount of network money for mismatches and tune ups, the promoters / managers are forced to make quality fights in order to generate big paydays. This isn't the late 90s anymore where HBO/SHO are tossing around 6 fight contracts with no opponent names, the money is much tighter now and fighters are starting to see the affects of this - the Danny Jacobs of the world are realize they aren't making the big dollars they thought they were and the only way to get those kind of checks is by putting in the work. Trust me, these types of fights are going to happen because there are no more alternatives.

Good analysis and I hope you are right for the sake of the sport.

However, I must say. They realize they made some mistakes? They didn't know that mismatches were a waste of time to begin with? The viewers aren't going to watch anything. They have too many options. Crap fights and mismatches and showcase fights which are all the same, are boring, pointless and a total waste of time. I mean, honestly, I don't see any reason for fights with no potential being put on the air. Unless there's a big upset, what is the point? That's what fans are getting tired of seeing.

[Aggroblakh]

actually ufc has been on a down fall. i was a huge fan of it 5-6 years ago and follow it closely but its been slowly going down the drain. i find myself more interested in boxing now where as before i didnt really care much about boxing.

Came here to post this. I started watching combat sports because of the UFC, got into K-1 and kickboxing, and now am a bigger fan of boxing than I ever was with the other two sports. It just depends on the person, I'd say.

[big_james10]

I used to hate UFC but in the last year i started getting into it because a few of my friends love it. Obviously i dont like it anywhere close to boxing but after hearing that GGG is off Dec 10th card, Klit vs Joshua isnt happening, Danny Garcia gets another cherry pick.. I am getting quite fed up with boxing. I buy most of the big ppv's but enough is enough already. As fans of boxing we don't deserve this **** anymore. meanwhile in the UFC the top guys are constantly fighting top guys and you never quite know who will win.

Thank god for Kovalev and Ward, and Lomochenko Walters otherwise this year will go down as crap. We should be getting fights like Canelo GGG, GGG jacobs, Pacquiao Crawford, Pacquiao vs Vargas etc instead we get Canelo vs Khan, smith GGG vs Brook and other crap mismatches. Like step the **** up already because boxing is becoming an embarrassing circus that I am getting frustrated being a part of already. Seems liek 9 out of 10 top fighters are constantly cherry picking and ducking. The next big UFC even is in my hometown NY and the card is stacked from top to bottom with ridiculous fights. Whens the last time boxing had a stacked card? Boxing hardly gives us a top dog vs top dog main event let alone a stacked card with top fighters.

Sorry I just had to vent as I read about GGG not fighting on Dec 10 and Jacobs trainer saying Jacobs needs 12 weeks to train for GGG. GROW SOME ****ING BALLS already this is the fight game not table tennis.

Your rant is legitimate and I agree with virtually everything you said. However, you need to understand that boxing fans are boxing fans and MMA fans are MMA fans. We are not talking about ESPN vs Fox Sports or the WWE vs WCW (wrestling for those too young to remember). We are talking about two different sports just as rugby and American football are two different sports..

I am a boxing fan. I never have been and never will be a MMA fan. I am just as frustrated as you. Unlike you, I don't buy PPVs. I have only purchased one or two PPV's a year for the last 10 years. The last PPV I purchased was Mayweather vs Berto and I have no intention of purchasing any PPVs in the next year. If boxing continues to go in the direction that it is currently moving (as you described), I will simply stop watching boxing and cancel my subscription to HBO and Showtime. I won't start watching MMA instead.

[pacmanis1]

Depends on who you're talking about. Some guys are still living in a fantasy world and falsely believing they should and can get Mayweather money but reality is setting in for others. I used Danny Jacobs in my last post as a minor example of this. I truly believe he's going to sign to fight Golovkin because he's pretty much out of options. I think a couple years ago, if it were the exact same situation, the fight wouldn't be made and they'd blame the networks or whatever but now Haymon is likely advising him to take it by being real with him - there isn't any other way to generate that kind of money and that turning down the fight will hurt him too much.

The other thing is this transitional period is going to end in a year. Mayweather vs Pacquiao happened in 2016. That era just ended. The new stars are just barely getting their feet wet. These are the guys that will replace Maybe, Pac, Cotto, JMM, etc. What we'll see is a big improvement in 2017 (compared to 2016) and go from there. It just takes some time. The entire landscape of boxing is going through a transition, not just the start fighters.

I hope you're right. There are guys who seem like they're more concerned with their legacy than their bank account like Thurman and Jrock. However history seems to show everyone becomes a diva eventually.

[LacedUp]

i follow both, but my interest in UFC has grown over the last 3-4 years and i watch it almost as reguarly as boxing. I only watch the UFCnumber shows though, not really the small shows. Not live anyway.

that's the difference with boxing I guess.

[LacedUp]

But there's no doubt that UFC craps all over boxing in terms of building a show, involving the fans and giving everyone a kickass time.

the excitement fans have at a UFC show is on another planet to boxing, especially boxing in America where people damn near fall asleep. Just sit and clap ocassionally like it's a damn NBA game.

Only the big UK shows can rival UFC in terms of excitement.

[sicko]

They won't take Boxing Fans but they will take Casual Fight Fans, they've done it already actually here in the States

[BoliviaChiLEsp]

Speak for yourself.

[Scipio2009]

I've seen him showcase a lot of talent but that ain't getting it. I give him credit for Thurman-Porter but he's put together a lot of BS match-ups no one cares about and paid his fighters a lot to take easy fights. Something fishy there.

Garcia-Thurman is set for early 2017, Charlo-Williams is basically starting the process towards the big fights at 154, Errol Spence Jr (four years removed from his Olympics run) is lining up for his first world title shot, Jack-Degale and Stevenson-Alvarez are basically done (sans a date), Beterbiev is about at his own title shot as well, etc (Burns-Broner in the works, Zlaticanin-Garcia, the coming unification fights at 126, with prospects (like Erickson Lubin, Jarrett Hurd, Tony Harrison, Gervonta Davis, Ievgen Khytrov, Michael Hunter, Marcus Browne, Lipinets, Derevyanchenko, Caleb Plant, Tabiti, Gassiev, Mario Barrios, etc) starting to get their own shots).

Let the schedule unfold

[IMDAZED]

It's called a comparison. 2 combat sports, one doing multiple million plus PPV per year, matching top contender against champion on a almost consistent basis and one where the so called face of the sport draws 250,000-300,000 PPV and the other gets anywhere from 97-150k and instead of seeing the top guys fight we get these ducks running away from big fights and then complaining why theyre not more well known.


For every Ward-Kovalev we get the UFC puts on 5 shows just like it or better.
I'll never give up on boxing but I'm a 40 year old guy and have been following before the UFC existed in the mainstream, guys I work with that are 20 couldn't care less about boxing and it's all about the UFC. So good luck bringing new fans in when we get older and fade away putting on garbage fights all the time that nobody gives a fk about while your competition is destroying you with quality fights.

Sounds good. As a boxing fan, I could care less as to what UFC is doing.