Boxing Vs MMA: A Rant On The Pointless Feud and The Disrespectful Fans Of Both

    First off I must state that I myself have no preference between the two sports, I am a fight fan and a good fight is all I really seek. That being said I would like to address the strange phenomenon of the feud between the two in sports pages and bars throughout the country. I laugh when people say that one fighter from from MMA would not survive a boxing match or that a Boxer would lose in an MMA match. News Flash its because they are different sports and I thought we had settled that in UFC 1 in 1993 when Brazilian Jui Jit Su master Royce Gracie fought Pro Boxer Art Jimmerson an submitted him. Jimmerson at the time had a decent pro boxing record of about 28Wins 3 loses I believe. We never did see Royce step into a boxing ring with him under those rules because if Royce tried to box he would get KOed.

    This is aggravating to me as a fan of both because each seems to be constantly misrepresented by the "hardcore fans" of the other. I still hear terms like " human cock fighting " applied to MMA and, " boxing is dead " or " its not a real fight if you can only use your hands " applied to boxing.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes these are sports; yes these guys are athletes but, they work full time to achieve their goals as fighters and should be respected for just getting in the ring/cage to entertain us all by putting themselves on the line. Below I will give a few examples of fights in both sports that I find to be modern greats.

    1.Boxing) Most people referring to boxing as dead are the casual fan who really just want to see someone get beat down and, focus on the heavyweight division. Well unfortunately these folks are not about good fights, otherwise they would see the enormous amount of talent thriving in the lighter weight classes. Some of the best fights I have ever seen have been in the past few years in the Lightweight,Welterweight and Middleweight divisions.

    A few come to mind; 9-29-07 & 2-16-08 middleweight title fight at 160lbs Kelly " Ghost" Pavlik vs Jermain "Bad intentions" Taylor 1 & 2 - The first bout saw Taylor put Pavlik on the mat in the 2nd round and manage to survive the round  to come back and KO Taylor in the 7th handing the undefeated champion his  first pro loss. The second bout saw both fighters more cautious from having felt the others power and went to a close decision and fought at a heavier catch weight of 164. Both incredible fights that forced both fighters to up their games, I had more respect for the skill Taylor displayed losing to Pavilik than when he won in his prior three bouts.                                                                                     3-15-08  super featherweight 130 Manny Pacquiao vs Juan Manuel Marquez a twelve round war that was the Pac-mans last fight at 130 and an all time great in my book. Then the recent 7-26-08 welterweight 147 Miguel Cotto vs Antonio Margarito fight where the relentless Margarito handed Cotto his first defeat as a Pro Boxer.

    I could name a ton more but, if you think boxing is dead watch these four bouts first and tell me you can still believe that.  If so I have to say its your loss.

    2 MMA) Now "human cockfighting" terms referring to MMA should have died with the early 90s from which it was spawned.  To many people refuse to acknowledge the changes in the sport. Yes that's right there are rules in place and weight classes.  To anyone who believes this is to brutal a sport or that these guys are barbarians needs to take a closer look.  Maybe go check out a local MMA gym there are more than ever these days.

    Here are some excellent examples of the sports progress and the talent of the fighters. 3-4-2006 UFC 58 BJ Penn vs George St. Pierre (GSP)- A welterweight bout (170 in UFC and most MMA orgs) a three round battle of two of the best in the sport, where Penn lost a split decision against GSP in a dynamic battle that was a roll reversal of sorts since Penn was known as the ground guy and GSP the stand-up fighter yet Penn punished GSP with viscous stand-up and GSP managed to put Penn on the ground which no one had ever done with such ease. This fight has demanded a rematch that will come soon by all accounts.                                                                                    10-14-06 UFC 64 Rich "Ace" Franklin vs Anderson "spider" Silva for the middleweight title (185) - The Brazilian Silva devastated Franklin in a first round stoppage from a brutal series of knees, this was huge at the time since Franklin was quite well known while Silva was not. Silva has remained undefeated since arriving in the UFC and is one of the most skilled MMA fighters out there.                                                7-19-08 Affliction banned Heavyweight bout ( 206 -265 lbs)Fedor"the last emperor" Emelianenko  vs Tim "the maineiac "  Sylvia.  Fedor regarded as the best MMA fighter by most the former Pride Fighting Championships(PFC)  HW champ  had not fought a top 10 HW in nearly 3 years many were questioning his abilities and, legitimacy.  Enter Tim Sylvia  the & ft former UFC HW champion.  In a stunning 36 second  main event  Fedor knocked Sylvia to the ground with viscous  punches  then applied a wind pipe choke to end the bout and be crowned the  WAMMA hw champion. (World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts)                                                                                                   I could name many more but these stand out for me.

    These are all great fights for different reasons. If you have seen these you know why, the point is that both sports can learn from each other and, co-exist. There are many people out there that feel as I do we just like a good fight.                                     MMA fighters on the average don't make nearly as much money as Boxers do.  This has come up often and will eventually lead to some kind of fighters union.  Guess what there was a time not to long ago boxers were underpaid as well.  MMA should look long and hard at the legacy of Boxing when more weight classes and to many belts drove many fans away from the sport, we have the beginnings of that now with UFC on top for now but rival organizations such as, Affliction, Dream and EliteXC getting attention and some gaining steam. Could this lead to the sport becoming the crowded mess of too many titles that many have come to associate with the sweet science?                           Though the two sports have crossed over in subtle ways. Famed boxing trainer Freddy Roach recently trained MMA HW Andre Arlofski for his bout against Ben Rothwell at Affliction Banned.  UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn has implemented boxing coaches for years since he transitioned to MMA with a Jui Jit su resume that still has a lot of merit but was not enough to win every fight as the sport evolved from art vs art to well rounded fighters facing off.                                                                                       At any rate the fact is neither sport is going to disappear and nor should they.  If you prefer one over the other that's fine but, at least respect what these fighters do for us. They go out there and put there livelihood and lives on the line to entertain us.  That is a sacrifice we can never really repay them for other than by showing our appreciation.  So do that don't boo a guy who didn't a fight as you expected so what you lost a bet or were disappointed, show them respect because they step up and throw down.