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I must admit, i know it is now. back in the days kids had fights after school, back then it was pure boxing, i just saw a fight near my high school, some kids got arrested, but before that, i saw them using mma, wrestling, boxing, and kick boxing, guy got knee hard in the face, this convinced me that mma is now popular, once the kids in the ghetto start fighting like this, you know mma is big because they are used to only fighting using boxing
I must admit, i know it is now. back in the days kids had fights after school, back then it was pure boxing, i just saw a fight near my high school, some kids got arrested, but before that, i saw them using mma, wrestling, boxing, and kick boxing, guy got knee hard in the face, this convinced me that mma is now popular, once the kids in the ghetto start fighting like this, you know mma is big because they are used to only fighting using boxing
For me growing up, fights had a lot of wrestling in them too. Mixed Martial Arts is quite simply real fighting with enough rules to make it legal. If pure boxing worked, you'd see pure boxers in MMA.
Boxing all by itself doesn't work against any fighter who knows wrestling, grappling, knees, kicks, etc.
It's weird how these things developed. If MMA had come first, I don't know if boxing could have ever gotten started. Try convincing two guys who are used to being able to do whatever it takes to win, tell them to strap pillows-thick gloves to their hands and tell them that they can only hit each other, they can only hit with their fists and only above the belt ... and they'd think you were crazy!
No real fighter would agree to limit themself like that.
Watching street fights and trying to sort out which sport is popular doesn't really make much sense. Mostly, the only thing that changed is that people realize they have more options than punching.
For me growing up, fights had a lot of wrestling in them too. Mixed Martial Arts is quite simply real fighting with enough rules to make it legal. If pure boxing worked, you'd see pure boxers in MMA.
Boxing all by itself doesn't work against any fighter who knows wrestling, grappling, knees, kicks, etc.
It's weird how these things developed. If MMA had come first, I don't know if boxing could have ever gotten started. Try convincing two guys who are used to being able to do whatever it takes to win, tell them to strap pillows-thick gloves to their hands and tell them that they can only hit each other, they can only hit with their fists and only above the belt ... and they'd think you were crazy!
No real fighter would agree to limit themself like that.
Watching street fights and trying to sort out which sport is popular doesn't really make much sense. Mostly, the only thing that changed is that people realize they have more options than punching.
I respect MMA, but with all due respect to your post, I disagree with what you said about boxing.
For one, Sports Science has shown that the difference in power between an MMA glove and a boxing glove is negligable, so don't be fooled by what you say are, "clown gloves."
Admittedly, gloves were smaller in Louis' era for instance, but in order to protect boxers' hands, they have made the glove size larger which is still being debated upon its effectiveness in protecting a fighter's mental health.
Additionally, Ray Mercer who was way past his best at almost 50, managed to knock out the longest reigning heavyweight in UFC history at the time in Tim Slyvia.
Boxing is very underrated, but I do agree that you have to be versatile to excel in MMA.
In boxing, you rarely see people with few fights get to the top. Prospects have 25 fights before they are even close to being ready for gatekeeper level opposition, and even then, there could be problems.
Boxing is hard. Don't get it twisted. When an MMA fighter goes into boxing and knocks out one of the longest champs with few fights under his belt...
Last edited by Kansarado; 01-21-2012 at 09:53 AM..
The 2 things I see wrong or misleading, ray mercer knocked out a terribly out of shape Tim Sylvia who was not a champ at the time nor had he been a champ In 2 yrs, and was coming off a 2nd straight loss. Don't try to make it out like Tim was overeem, or fedor, or even randy couture.
And 2nd most boxing records are fluff. Guy like manny and mayweather took fights against cans for years before facing real competition. Hell I believe it was 9 fights before Floyd faced anyone with a winning record. He face at least one guy with something like a 2-13 record. In mma you don't see good fighters padding records or ducking fights like that very often. When you do see it, they tend to get called out and dealt with fairly quickly and are generally not heard from
After they are exposed. I mean gsp has what a 22-2 record, but he has not ever faced a guy with a losing record. His 1st fight was against a guy who is like 28-8. If he where a boxer his 1st fight would have been against a guy with a 1-0,0-0,0-1 type record unless he where being "groomed"
The 2 things I see wrong or misleading, ray mercer knocked out a terribly out of shape Tim Sylvia who was not a champ at the time nor had he been a champ In 2 yrs, and was coming off a 2nd straight loss. Don't try to make it out like Tim was overeem, or fedor, or even randy couture.
And 2nd most boxing records are fluff. Guy like manny and mayweather took fights against cans for years before facing real competition. Hell I believe it was 9 fights before Floyd faced anyone with a winning record. He face at least one guy with something like a 2-13 record. In mma you don't see good fighters padding records or ducking fights like that very often. When you do see it, they tend to get called out and dealt with fairly quickly and are generally not heard from
After they are exposed. I mean gsp has what a 22-2 record, but he has not ever faced a guy with a losing record. His 1st fight was against a guy who is like 28-8. If he where a boxer his 1st fight would have been against a guy with a 1-0,0-0,0-1 type record unless he where being "groomed"
But what are you going to say when Nick Diaz beats the hell out of GSP with his crude form of boxing?
Nick Diaz would get obliterated in real boxing though. It's no contest, and his boxing is considered the best in MMA.
And you can't make any excuses. Ray Mercer was way past his best days, and walked into Tim Slyvia, a veteran of the sport and one of the best of all time at heavyweight, and knocked him flat out with one punch.
You tell me one MMA fighter that can walk into boxing and do that.
The fact is, the learning curve in boxing is much higher. MMA, despite what people like to believe for the most part has two guys who look very crude, and it turns into what looks like a glorified bar fight.
And in boxing it takes a special person to take that type of punishment. Look at Dos Santos vs Cain for instance.
Dos Santos almost knocked Cain out with a wide, sloppy hayemaker that would have never landed in boxing.
Meanwhile, that very same night, Pac and Marquez were landing sharp power punches in combinations on eachother several times during the night, and neither flinched.
Don't get me wrong, MMA has its moments too, but for the most part it looks very crude and tends to be just two guys holding eachother against the Cage, waiting for time to run out or a guy laying on the floor, waiting for his opponent to fall on him.
And when you don't, with very few exceptions, you just have very crude boxing, that's just not anywhere NEAR the skill level required to box at the highest levels.
I gave you an example of a boxer beating a former champion barely removed in MMA, but there is no example of an MMA fighter beating a high level boxer.
Even Anderson Silva, arguably the most skilled fighter in MMA history, is 1 and 1 in boxing, against club fighter type opposition.
Boxing takes great pedigree, patience, conditioning, and god given tallent.
In MMA, a likely roided up Lesnar just used his size to bulldoze people and won a championship in his 4th fight.
Boxing isn't about size, it's about skill. Dos Santos may have the best hands in MMA, but put him in with Wlad Klitschko, it would be a massacre.
Put Wlad in MMA, it could very well be 50/50. Honestly, I would favor the MMA fighter because he'll likely go for the lowest shoot he possibly can to avoid getting hit, and grab Wlad's legs.
But if Wlad is a fast learner and got experience in wrestling/grappling, he would be practically unstoppable.
I will say that I enjoy Cyborg though. She might be the most skilled fighter in MMA PERIOD.
She is like a female Mike Tyson.
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