Boxing has been sketched in our minds as the real man’s sport. It is no secret that the sport has been on a decline recently. There has not been a major heavyweight draw since the retiring of Lennox Lewis. There has not been a major heavyweight draw since the ageless Evander Holyfield, well, aged! During that time UFC, and MMA as a whole, has become more than just a threat to become the new “real man’s sport”, they’ve dang near succeeded!
The reasons for the near triumph of UFC over boxing have some very simple provisions, some boxing have seemingly forgotten. The first and most important is order. There is simply no order in boxing. The champions are simply who the media decides are champions. Seemingly every fighter that is in a fight has some type of title in the background. Where is the simplicity? I’m sure the die hard boxing fan does not want to know who is the “blah blah blah super lightweight champion”. Why are there three governing bodies? Can fans just know who their champs are? Having that process being simple could surely help a good bit.
Secondly, the bizarre decisions of late will probably scare a good bit of fans off. Manny Pacquiao seemingly dominates a fight with Timothy Bradley but loses? How does that happen? It could be more understandable if it were a close fight. However, when all experts say it was a one sided bout, why is boxing the sport where the man that dominates the fight loses some phantom decision? Fans always have the option of tuning into a ppv where there is almost guaranteed excitement.
Also, pay per views are done! About the only big draw is Floyd Mayweather. After that, its a big toss up on who boxing is choosing as its next one up. In the way of UFC, every ppv will have something different. Oh, by the way, the preliminary fights are free and boy can they be exciting!
Tonight Anderson Silva, one of UFC’s biggest draws, will do battle against Chael Sonnen. If Anderson loses the sport is not hurt, in fact there could be a trilogy between the two that will be highly profitable. Does boxing have that luxury? If Floyd or Pacquiao loses (legitimately loses), boxing would be severely hurt! Tonight’s UFC ppv is not just a battle for champion Anderson Silva. Its just another small segment of a bigger battle between boxing and UFC. For the sake of boxing, it better hope it can deliver a knockout in the later rounds. Or maybe they’re just hoping that Duane Ford will be the judge of this fight.
Boxing has plenty of great (some are up-and-coming), popular fighters apart from Mayweather and Pacquiao:
Kell Brook, Andre Ward, Carl Froch, Victor Ortiz, the Klitschko brothers, Tyson Fury, David Price, Seth Mitchell, Canelo Alavrez, Amir Khan, Lamont Peterson, Chris Arreola, James Kirkland, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., Sergio Martinez, Nonito Donaire etc..
About the heavyweight division, look out for:
David Price, Bermane Stiverne, Tyson Fury, Robert Helenius, Seth Mitchell (American) etc..
Boxing may not have much heavyweight star Boxers but look at the UFC with Dos Santos (not American either).
If anything it’s the UFC that is struggling to find stars. Most of them are aging like St. Pierre and Silva. Jon Bon Jones is young and he’s about the only one who can really be a long standing star, unless he moves up to heavyweight where he will be very beatable.
Most UFC guys can beat each other in the same weight divisions. They are mostly interchangeable, this can mean that the public could stop caring at some point.
The UFC’s ratings are already down and PPV’s are dropping according to some sources.
I would never count Boxing out.
Boxing is the much better sport in my humble opinion.
You my friend are a loser. Boxing is dead.
why do ufc and its young fans always post negative feedback bout
Boxing when one of the worlds best boxing trainer Freddy Roach has
Trained the best ufc fighters even anderson silva
Not in the least, mike.
People were saying UFC would take over boxing in 2005, guess what? Top boxers still make millions more than top UFC fighters.
The popularity of mma has very much leveled off.
Over the years I heard it all: boxing is dead when Tyson leaves, when Oscar De La Hoya leaves, when Pac leaves, when Mayweather leaves.
Prior to that they were saying it for years and years and years about other fighters. Something the UFC doesn’t have on it’s side: this history boxing does.
Besides, who wants to watch two scantily clad men dry hump? Oh yeah – you do.
I see some still missed the points. I never said MMA was the better sport! What I clearly stated was that UFC is doing the simple things right that boxing is failing to do. Boxing can’t get its champions right, they’re usually determined by public opinion rather than actual representation. PPVs are horrible because the only real draws are Mayweather, Pacquiao, and seemingly Canelo as of late. Personally, I’m a boxing fan. But even I’m disappointed with what has been going on lately. Also, pre-lims are free! Most of the time they provide the most exciting parts of the night. And yes, boxing has the history but that has nothing to do with future generations. And I welcome all boxing fans to follow me on twitter @TerranceM_Smith I love a good boxing chat!
Boxing also does great things that the UFC doesn’t do.
Boxing matches are available free of charge on YouTube soon after they’re over.
It’s a fantastic way to follow the sport and see fights from all around the world.
The UFC generally takes out videos of their fights on YouTube and makes people pay to have access to their archives.
Also, there are indications that Boxing is coming back to free TV, Canelo is rumored to be fighting on CBS next fall. NBC has also said that there will be a Boxing card on the network next December.
Nothing is set in stone, but it’s a sign that Boxing could come back to free network TV.
About Boxing being splintered all over the place, yeah it’s not the best thing for sure but it’s like America(Boxing) vs China(UFC). The American system of freedom is far better for people but China, like the UFC with their totalitarian regime, gets things done “faster” and “better”.
The UFC is totalitarian in nature and I hate their “sandbox” model.
I think it kills the souls of the people involved, mainly the fighters.
The last thing I would want to see is Boxing turned into the UFC model. I can live with some fights, even HUGE fights like Pacquiao vs Mayweather not being made because there are still great fights being made all the time. And I love the open nature of Boxing so much even if it sucks sometimes and that’s a fact.
In the real open world, we don’t always get what we want but that’s life and I accept that.
When I was a teenager in the 90′s, I was upset over the fact that Tyson wasn’t fighting Riddick Bowe or that Bowe wasn’t fighting Lennox Lewis. But I understood in the end, that’s life and things don’t always happen.
I read an interview about a month ago with a Bellator fighter and the funny thing is that he basically wanted a Boxing model for MMA and he was referring to the openness of Boxing. He said : “Why can’t the Bellator champ fight the UFC champ? In Boxing, the WBC champ can fight the IBF champ and that fight can be held anywhere in the world.”
My point was not to downgrade the incredible athletes the sport of boxing has, nor to downgrade the sport itself. My point was that the sport itself is downgrading its greatness. Those very names you mentioned are mainly stars you or no other person would give a red penny to see at a ppv. Maybe Canelo, who is becoming a very big name. The fact is that boxing’s old ways have caught up with it. It could be costly if they don’t at least attempt to straighten them out. MEANWHILE UFC is thriving with popularity. Even if it is a bit microwaved, its growing quickly because it is doing the things boxing wont do. But I do agree, there will very rarely be that dominant fighter that can completely takeover the sport. With the exception of Jon Jones, there is almost no guarantees. Don’t think UFC will ever have its Roy Jones or Floyd Mayweather. I don’t think that will ever hurt them, in fact, it could prove quite profitable.
Mike and the author don’t want to admit this – but boxing to the UFC is like NFL to soccer.
Aside from the fact that the UFC is NOWHERE near as popular as the NFL in America.
Boxing is huge in other countries (and still is popular in America – Floyd wouldn’t get paid in excess of 10million for a fight if it wasn’t).
News articles have been reporting that mma is close to dead in Japan. Boxing is taking over there.
All I know is I stopped watching UFC a few years back.
Had been watching since 1994, just no longer interested in it.
I do watch boxing quite a bit more. More of an actual sport, more history.
UFC is thriving in popularity?
How do you come to this conclusion? Bars I go to don’t air hardly as many fights as they used to.
UFC’s success also seems to be driven by freakshows. Hell, mma’s popularity is driven by freakshows.
[...] The Real Fight! UFC vs Boxing [...]