What's the point of boxing when there's more complete combat sports out there?

[The Problem]

like honestly Out of the 5 major combats sports boxing would probably the second softest sport Just below Kungfu/karate...

Wouldn't it be better for self defense and respect aspect to do something MMA/ mauy thai or kickboxing?

[HandsofIron]

like honestly Out of the 5 major combats sports boxing would probably the second softest sport Just below Kungfu/karate...

Wouldn't it be better for self defense and respect aspect to do something MMA/ mauy thai or kickboxing?

I haven't watched MMA in a while, it's decent but it gets awful when they start dry humping each other to death. And their stand-up/striking are horrendous, just flaying away and swinging for the fences.

Idk about Muay Thai but kickboxing never made it primetime because all the fighters were always breaking their shins.

[Larry the boss]

which sport makes the fighters on the top level the most money?

[Larry the boss]

I guess people forget that the reason people do anything is for the money

[saintpat]

MMA is like gay **** with underwear when they get on the ground. And everytime there's a "here's the sport's newest, greatest star, the Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali all rolled into one," that person gets KTFO. I mean, I just looked at some website's heavyweight rankings and the top five have 25 losses between them. SMH.

Muay Thai is two guys hugging and taking turns trying to knee each other. Boring.

Kickboxing tried to make it big in the 1990s, got a lot of TV exposure and it was just awful. Mostly fighters would try to get their however-many mandatory kicks out of the way in the first 30 seconds of each round and then it was like watching a couple of novice boxers. Or someone would try a big kick and the other guy would take three or four steps back and the kicker would whiff and miss by a mile, and they'd reset. No flow, terrible action, not a high level of athlete ... just a mess.

Boxing has history. Boxing has greatness throughout that history, from Dempsey to Robinson to Leonard and Hearns and Duran ... I could go on and on. It has skill and power and excitement, a range of approaches and among the things that lift it to art form, defense (which you really don't see in those other sports, not at a high level, unless you could grabbing and holding in MMA as defense). It has everything.

[gmc_rfc_06]

It's for those who have no interest in watching grown ups roll around the floor. I've got zero interest in watching people trying to choke one another or grab a leg lock, it's one step away from biting the opponent.

I'll stick with stand up, hand to hand combat.

[monkeyboy]

like honestly Out of the 5 major combats sports boxing would probably the second softest sport Just below Kungfu/karate...

Wouldn't it be better for self defense and respect aspect to do something MMA/ mauy thai or kickboxing?

Really? You're posting THIS on a boxing forum? You're either a troll or a moron.

How on earth do you make the link between televised sport and real life practicality? Sports are popular entertainment and real life practicality has absolutely no correlation. Does anyone have any use for speed, power, strength, coordination, throwing ability, accuracy, etc etc in the modern age?

All sports are abstract and useless. If you don't enjoy boxing **** off and stop posting on boxing forums.

[RA-Box]

I stand with all the answers posted before me and I'll add this one: Boxing has the best fighters.

Why?

Because it has the highest potential for earnings in combat. Therefore, it has the highest participation in professional sport combat in the world. With a pool that deep, the best that rise up are only the greatest of athletes. You stack that with the history of sport ironing out and refining its style of combat and you have the best sport combatants you can get.

Thai Boxers, Kickboxers, and MMA fighters will always be second rate because they can't make it in boxing. If they could they'd be boxers as that's where the money is. MMA Fighters getting paid peanuts is holding the sport back, really. McGregor being desperate to ditch it is proving this.

[boliodogs]

I like both MMA and boxing but I love boxing the most. In the few real life fights I've had boxing has served me well. I fight with my fists and they have done the job for me because I can't kick worth a damn. The MMA is full of rules and things the fighters can't do. It's not a street fight where anything goes. Often MMA fights are just a fist fight between two lousy boxers. Their fighters hire boxing trainers to help them with their boxing.If you think so little of boxing as a fighting skill then why do you bother being here and starting this anti boxing thread?

[stephenmc]

Anybody who fights in MMA, Kickboxing or whatever else,
are just boxers who CANT or WONT make it very far.
i can guarantee you that if any kickboxer or mma fighter taught they were good enough, they would be boxing, makes no sense not to with the money involved (even as an amateur you can get paid for sparring)