Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather Hammer Nails Into Boxing's Coffin

For well over a year, the few boxing fans left have become the High School student that gets excited when they believe the person they have a crush on, flirts with them.  Ever since Floyd Mayweather Jr. came out of retirement, fans have been teased with the mega-fight of Mayweather against Manny Pacquiao. 

The fight seemed destined to happen, until a bizzarre demand by Mayweather's camp, namely, Pacquiao having to agree to strict Olympics-esque drug testing—which is not a requirement in professional boxing—derailed the fight. And now, months later, the two sides appear to be in a standstill yet again.

Thanks to these two sides, and to be fair to Pacquiao, it appears to be more on Mayweather's end, the two will go on to fight other second rate opponents while running the risk of losing and possibly killing any chance of their fight happening in the future.

One has to wonder if something beyond testing is stopping this fight from taking place, seeing as both fighters are about to walk away, for a second time, mind you, from $50 million.

Regardless, while the politicking, squabbling and childish actions continue between these two fighters and their handlers, the UFC and Dana White cannot help but sit back and laugh as they watch their brand of blood letting continue to grow in popularity.

As every month passes, the UFC continues to grow in mainstream relevancy, especially amongst those in the 18-34 age bracket. While the energy drink Xyience was a major sponsor several years ago, Bud Light sponsors the UFC today. ESPN created a web only MMA show a little over a year ago that now is broadcasted on ESPN 2 and also sends their team out to big pay-per-views.  

Mixed Martial Arts as a whole continues to gain licencing in more and more states, making it a matter of time before we see a UFC pay-per-view in Madison Square Garden. More and more new fighters are entering the MMA scene thanks to the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter .

While UFC continues to grow and grow, boxing on the other hand is fastly turning itself into a niche sport, and it has no one to blame but itself.

Take a look at how boxing has been run in the past 25 years.  From the rise of Mike Tyson, to the greatness of Oscar Dela Hoya and the epic Holyfield/Bowe trilogy, the sport has seen itself fail in almost every aspect imaginable.

Less than ten years ago, you could talk about some prime heavyweight contenders.  Lennox Lewis was king but you still had Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson competing.  You had up and comers such as David Tua rising up the ranks. Today, the heavyweight division is dominated by Wladimir and Vitaly Klitschko.  Can anyone tell me who the other "big" heavyweight out there is? Anyone? If it makes any difference, his name is David Haye. 

The saddest thing is, the division is so devoid of good fighters that Holyfield and Tua are still known as "contenders." While we are on the issue, other than Pacquiao and Mayweather, how many can name ten boxers period in any weight class?

Boxing has not properly promoted a fighter in years. What boxers do you see being marketed? Even the big names aren't anywhere to be seen in commercials. The biggest advertisement you have seen Floyd Mayweather in was one for AT&T's internet, an ad that made him look like an idiot.

A sport that had all of these issues would be in enough trouble. But then you factor in promoters who have completely sabotaged any dignity and honor the sport once had.  In these days, even if there is a fight that fans may actually care about, promoters will often go out of their way to see that the fight does not happen, or demand that a lesser opponent be offered up as a sacrificial lamb.

No, the boxing world is not doing well right now.  And while it continues to struggle, the UFC is doing most things right. The UFC knows how to market their athletes whether it is through a reality show, sponsorship deals, or the mere fact that their fighters compete more than once a year.

While you might not be able to name any boxers, think of how many UFC fighters are starting to come into the mainstream.  While Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz and Randy Couture carried the torch at first, you are now seeing others like Brock Lesnar, Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, BJ Penn take over. 

But what makes the UFC different is thanks to its reality show, you are given the opportunity to learn about the up and coming fighters.   Thanks to that show, people got to know fighters like Forrest Griffin, Diego Sanchez, Michael Bisping and countless others.

The fact that the UFC has no promoters is a huge help.  You want Brock to fight the man the people want to see?  Done. This was seen in the epic Lesnar vs. Carwin bout last month, and Lesnar's upcoming one against Cain Velasquez in the fall. Dana White gets to make the decision of who fights who, and he rarely disappoints his fans.

And personally, the other big difference I can see is that the UFC actually takes the extra effort to reach out to the fan.  Sure, many of us can't afford the very expensive prices to attend a pay-per-view event, but the UFC has now put on several free fights on Spike TV before a pay-per-view airs. They also put on numerous shows on free TV to keep the viewing public happy. 

They allow the fans to get very up close and personal with their fighters. I was lucky enough to experience this in May, when I visited Las Vegas and had the chance to attend their UFC Fan Expo.

While I was almost five hours late, I got the opportunity to meet, chat and get autographs with well over a dozen fighters.  This doesn't include being able to see dozens more. Who knows how many I could have met had I actually arrived on time.  Now I know most fans could not attend this, or the upcoming one in Boston, however, well over 100,000 fans were able to.

The point is, is that the UFC and its fighters go the extra mile to let the fans know they care. George St. Pierre wasn't some egomaniac you might see in other sports.  Instead, he was at the expo signed autographs for well over three hours and the same can be said for other big stars that were there.

Combine all of these reasons, and you are realizing why the UFC is becoming the No. 1 fighting industry in the world, if it isn't already. Their pay-per-views are starting to routinely eclipse one million buys, and there is no sign of the sport slowing down. 

As for boxing, it may already be too late to stop the bleeding. Even three years ago, that statement would not have been true. 

But when you see arguably its only two marketable fighters refuse to fight each other, you begin to realize this sport is on life support. You can visualize another few nails being hammered into boxing's coffin, with Dana White and his fighters salivating, with shovels in hand, eagerly awaiting to bury the sport into the ground for good.