The UFC 132 Fight Card and the Pros & Cons of Sharing July 2nd with HBO Boxing
Weeks ago, ESPN.com reported that the long awaited-boxing bout between WBA Heavyweight (200+ lbs.) Champion David Haye and IBF/IBO/WBO/The Ring Magazine's Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko finally landed on a set date and venue.
The Heavyweight bout—arguably the first Heavyweight bout in years that any non-religious follower of Boxing has given a damn about—takes place on July 2 at the Hamburg Imtech Arena in Germany.
Now that'd be an event to get excited for if UFC 132 wasn't emanating from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on the same night.
Having a Heavyweight fight go up against an already stacked fight card with a Bantamweight title fight falls under the category of "risky F'N business", especially when said Bantamweight title fight included Dominick Cruz defending against The Fighting Pride of Sacramento, California, Urijah Faber.
Couple it in with Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben, Dong Hyun Kim vs. Carlos Condit, and the returns of Evan Dunham and George Sotiropoulos to action after their first true losses (that is, IF you still think Dunham got screwed against Sean Sherk at UFC 119 last September), and what you have is an event that would have easily justified the decision to have Haye and Klitschko fight the weekend before—possibly somewhere in which the results won't leak out before the fight airs.
Nonetheless, this fight airs on the same day as UFC 132, and that's regardless of whether you find out the results of it before it happens or not.
It's not a big issue—Juan Manuel Marquez fought Floyd Mayweather on the same night as UFC 103, and Manny Pacquiao's systematic destruction of Antonio Margarito just happened to be on the night of UFC 122.
That, plus some of HBO's free World Championship Boxing and Boxing After Dark events have fallen on the same day as MMA events as well.
Still, it's boom or bust when this Heavyweight bout contends with UFC 132, and here is how.
Pro: The Trash Talk Has Been as Heated as Any in Boxing
1 of 10Wladimir and his brother Vitali have been looking to get a fight with Haye for the longest time, but according to Wladimir, Haye "bitched out" twice already.
The trash talk hasn't stayed within the confines of a sports news station camera, as their public trash talk has even been caught on tape and now exists on Youtube.
Believe it or not, all this trash talk has gone on BEFORE the date and venue were even in talks, and now that the fight has been signed, one can expect that the trash talk will elevate as July 2nd draws closer.
Con: Urijah Faber and Dominick Cruz Dont Like Each Other Either
2 of 10Urijah Faber isn't fighting Dominick Cruz just because Dominick Cruz needs to defend the UFC Bantamweight Championship.
Urijah Faber is fighting Dominick Cruz because Urijah Faber has unfinished business with Dominick Cruz that stems from their days in World Extreme Cagefighting.
The last time they fought, Faber got the victory, and from the account of Faber, Cruz took the loss like someone who shouldn't be involved in the sport rather than handling it like a future champion.
Now the shoe is on the other foot, so to speak, with Cruz being the champion and Faber being the challenger.
Still, it's safe to say that these two still do not like each other, and considering that very few outside of Boxing's most hardcore following have even noticed Haye-Klitschko so far, Faber vs. Cruz has a bit more pull.
Pro Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye Are Big Names in Boxing
3 of 10
It didn't take long for David Haye to get to the status that he's at right now.
All he had to do was be a brash UK-bred Boxer who won a Heavyweight title and defeated former Heavyweight Champ John Ruiz.
That, plus wearing a t-shirt depicting himself standing triumphantly above both Klitschkos and symbolizing his victory by depicting Vitali and Wladimir as having been decapitated--that helped.
All Wladimir did was show a great jab and punch people's face in.
Dating Hayden Panettiere may have helped Wladimir become a big name also, although Hayden is really only know for her younger role in "Remember The Titans" and recent roles in "I Love You, Beth Cooper" and "Scream 4".
Damn you, Charlie Walker...had to stab Kirby...
Oh well, at least Hayden's a single girl now (hint-hint, wink-wink, if you're reading this, Hayden.)
Anyway, Wladimir and Haye are arguably the biggest names that very few Boxing fans talk much about and even fewer outside of Boxing's most passionate followers know of.
The fight, as stated before, is considered with very little debate to be the biggest and the best Heavyweight Boxing title fight in years.
That's all the more reason why people may tune in to HBO or HBO PPV to watch this fight on July 2nd.
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Con: Faber's Rematch with Cruz Isn't the Only Intriguing Bout at UFC 132
4 of 10
The UFC 132 card, according to MMA Junkie, reads like so at the moment:
- Champ Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber (for bantamweight title)
- Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben
- Carlos Condit vs. Dong Hyun Kim
- Ryan Bader vs. Tito Ortiz
- Melvin Guillard vs. Shane Roller
- Jason "Mayhem" Miller vs. Aaron Simpson
- Evan Dunham vs. George Sotiropoulos
- Brian Bowles and Takeya Mizugaki
- Anthony Njokuani vs. Andre Winner
- Erik Koch vs. Cub Swanson
- Dennis Siver vs. Matt Wiman
The Wikipedia page for UFC 132 has Silva-Leben, Winner-Njokuani, Koch-Swanson, and Mayhem-Simpson down as announced but not made official for the card.
In the same way that the dispute over who really won at UFC 125 justifies Frankie Edgar facing Gray Maynard one more time in the main event of next month's UFC 130 fight card, the magnitude of the fights announced for the July 2nd fight card justifies them being a part of the UFC 132 card.
Leben called Wanderlei out after beating Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 last summer in a candidate for the Fight of 2010.
Evan Dunham suffered his first undisputed loss when he was soundly defeated by Melvin Guillard, while George Sotiropoulos has a fire lit up under his ass now that he and all of us in the MMA World have to recognize that "The Wizard of Oz-tralia" is coming off of a loss in a rather one sided UFC 127 bout against Dennis Siver.
Speaking of Siver, he'll look to carry the momentum gained from derailing Sotiropoulos' hype train in Australia and exact the same result on TUF 5 veteran Matt Wiman, who just came off of a win over Cole Miller.
Really speaking, there's only one fight on the card that has potential for a bonus away from "Fight of The Night" and that's the fight between Ryan Bader and Tito Ortiz.
I say it could be a "Submission of The Night" candidate, partially because my "KO of The Night" will likely come either in Wanderlei's fight with Leben or in Koch's fight with Swanson.
Okay, my real Submission of The Night pick is Carlos Condit's fight with Dong Hyun Kim, but you get the point... the card is as loaded as it can possibly get at this time.
Pro: The Undercard Could Deliver, Once We Find out Who's on It
5 of 10
Mind you, Amir "King" Khan is not on the Haye vs. Klitschko card, but I for one would love to see the Freddie Roach-trained boxer on the Germany card as a co-headliner rather than having to wait until September to see King Khan fight.
Anyway, news hasn't really broken about who has fought on the undercard of the Haye-Klitschko card, but generally speaking, Boxing cards have a tendency to be exciting in their own way.
The undercards are no exception, and when we find out who's on this one, perhaps it will bring forward the same excitement that Boxing fans are accustomed to seeing.
On the other hand though...
Con: We Don't Know Enough About the Undercard to Get Excited (or Care) About It
6 of 10
Everything up until the Leben-Silva bout beats out Haye-Klitschko as it stands now because...well, there IS no real undercard for Haye vs. Klitschko.
No other bouts have been made for the Boxing card at the time of this publishing, so it's tough to really get too excited for Haye and Klitschko if you're a hardcore Boxing fan because the Heavyweight bout is all that is really set in stone.
At least UFC 132 has a title fight, a Middleweight strike-fest, and some solid fights in some of the other UFC weight divisions.
Until we hear of something else for the Haye-Klitschko card, the overall card will have to bank on the main event to capture anyone's attention.
Then again, isn't that what most Boxing cards do anyway?
Pro: It's a HEAVYWEIGHT Title Fight
7 of 10Before MMA, before Brock Lesnar and Randy Couture, before the Fedor-Minotauro-Cro Cop saga in PRIDE, there were Boxing Heavyweights.
Even if the best fight in the sport was a Welterweight bout or a Middleweight bout, people always anticipated the bouts with Heavyweights.
It's been going on ever since the days of Floyd Patterson, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ingemar Johansson, and Sonny Liston, and despite the interest in the ultra-talented lower weight classes, the Heavyweight division remains a division to watch in the world of Boxing.
Regardless of who is fighting and how much drawing power they have, people will not turn away from a bout if it is in the Heavyweight division.
Case in point: this upcoming bout with The Hayemaker and Dr. Steelhammer.
Con: The "New School Sport" Has Made Every Title Fight Tough to Top
8 of 10Mixed Martial Arts is a sport in which fighters use a variety of disciplines to obtain victory over their opponents, whereas the purpose of Boxing is to achieve victory by either knocking your opponent down three times (wherever possible), knocking your opponent down for a ten count, or battering your foe badly enough for the ref to intervene and stop the fight.
If you've ever wondered why people moan about the lack of excitement in MMA fights, there is one theory.
Such has changed over the years, much so to the point where regardless of the title up for grabs, the people will pay to watch it as long as there is excitement and action behind it.
Being the face of the former sister of the UFC (as Faber pretty much was) helps too, which is partially why this Bantamweight title bout is among the most anticipated bouts of 2011.
Pro: Few Boxing Bouts Have Been as Anticipated as This One Has Been
9 of 10Some people would like to point out flaws in Haye's style of Boxing, and they're probably carrying some justification with their logic, but the only real flaw that Haye has is that he's a brash and cocky fighter whose mouth gets him into trouble sometimes.
Okay, it almost always gets him into some sort of mess, but it also helped landed him this fight.
For the record, though, Klitschko mentioning that Haye "bitched out" of fighting him and Vitali before was likely the motivation to finally sign the fight.
It probably added some extra boost when Haye , much like the rest of us, realized quickly that Klitschko has some Heavyweight gold around his waist, and is widely considered one of the best boxers in the world right now.
Haye can change that on July 2nd but he has his work cut out for him when it comes to making Klitschko look like a bum and knocking him out.
Boxing prize fights are like MMA fights: If you have to walk down a ramp or a pathway to go through with it, chances are it's not an easy task.
Con: Mixed Martial Arts Promotions Like the UFC Do Anticipated Bouts Very Well
10 of 10Enmanuelle Stewart famously said during the first clash between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward, "You dream of fights like these, but very seldom do they live up to the expectations."
He also mentioned that that particular fight was likely going to be 15 rounds worth of action within a 10-round affair—and it famously went thirty rounds (three ten-round fights, with Gatti winning the series two fights to one).
MMA fans might not be as nice about certain fights on this UFC 132 fight card or any other fight card that some believe will be fifteen uneventful minutes worth of boredom, but when you look at the fighters on the card, you have to wonder if those fights really can do what only a handful of fights in the past decade of MMA have been able to do.
With how the UFC 132 card looks, one can say with no doubt that MMA fans could get twenty-five minutes worth of exciting fights in a few of the 15-minute battles before Cruz and Faber go at it, and considering that Cruz and Faber are not the same fighters going into this UFC Bantamweight title bout that they were going into their initial encounter for the WEC Bantamweight Title bout, one can expect the definitely unexpected in the rematch.
As a matter of fact, it would not be surprising if the rematch between the California Kid and The Dominator wound up being one of the greatest title bouts in the history of the fight game, and that fact coupled in with how big of a crowd Faber and Cruz can draw might be enough to give the Haye-Klitschko card a run for its money.
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