What Happened to Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia's Boxing Careers?

Two former UFC champions, one clear path.

First it was announced that Andrei "The Pitbull" Arlovski was training with Freddie Roach to improve his standup. Next, there were a string of press releases about Arlovski possibly stepping into a boxing ring. There was even Freddie Roach saying down the line Arlovski was going to fight for a title belt.

All that came to a halt on June 6th, when Arlovski was knocked out in 22 seconds by Brett Rogers. This was supposed to be a tuneup MMA bout before Arlovski's pro boxing debut, scheduled for later that month.

With his quick knockout loss, the questions linger for Arlovski. Was he focused? Did he take Brett Rogers lightly? Did he even train for that bout?

The talk of Arlovski's boxing career has cooled down, for now. At this point it looks as if he needs to seriously commit to one sport or the other. Lingering between the two is obviously not working for him.

In MMA, Arlovski is a very talented kickboxer with good leg kicks and great boxing. He does, however, have a suspect chin which will not serve him well in a boxing ring. If he is to commit to a boxing career, he will have to work on his defensive skills to protect that liability.

Whichever path he chooses, Arlovski will have a difficult hill to climb. He has lost his last two in MMA, and is unknown in the boxing world.

For Tim Sylvia, the fall has been hard and even faster.

Also a former UFC champion, Sylvia has lost his last three fights. After losing his UFC title in his last fight in that organization, he has yet to win outside the UFC.

Sylvia managed to lose to both the best heavyweight in the world, and arguably the worst in consecutive fights.

Getting destroyed by Fedor is one thing, losing in 10 seconds to Ray Mercer is another thing totally.

Sylvia showed up to that fight overweight, reportedly over 300 lbs. Rather than try to use his wrestling skills or submission skills, he opted to stand with Mercer. After absorbing an overhand right, Sylvia fell to the canvas like an Oak tree being cut.

If this loss wasn't humbling enough, Sylvia also wanted in on pro boxing. Right before his fight with Mercer, he dropped the following quotes in Fighters Only Magazine:

"It's something I've always wanted to pursue, and if it works out like I'd like for it too, I can switch over," he told the magazine. "I don't want to be done with MMA, but the money is a lot better in boxing. I would love to fight some of the heavyweight champs, you know? I mean the paydays are ridiculous!"

Random Thoughts

I am in no way implying no mixed martial artist can have success as a pro boxer. What the failures of Arlovski and Sylvia should show us are simple. When fighters lose focus on their primary sport, their performance suffers. In combat sports that will get you hurt.

If these two fighters had dedicated themselves 100 percent to transitioning into boxing, rather than taking MMA bouts they didn't train for, they would both be further along in their quest for boxing dominance.

Basically, fighting is fighting. You concentrate on the man in front of you. If you have an upcoming fight, you focus on that, and that alone. Not on your upcoming boxing debut, or your delusional ideas of future boxing paydays.

Now there has yet to be an influx of high profile boxers trying their hand at MMA, but that will change as MMA paydays increase. Of course then some boxer will half train and get his arse handed to him by a MMA fighter who doesn't care he used to be a boxing champion.

It goes for both sports.