Boxing

[Leicester Fox]

You are clueless. They are 2 seperate sports. Boxing has gone through a rough patch with the lack of a decent heavyweight but is still more than fine. Pacman-Hatton did just big numbers and it had no Americans in, right in the middle of a recession. British boxing is top quality right now and American boxing is still massive. Another typical ignorant UFC fan.

and by the way Enzo Macarinelli is an idiot as is his trainer Enzo Calzaghe. He will get sparked early at some point if he goes into MMA and he didn't even bother sparring for his last fight so his head really isn't screwed on.

 

[evertonfan]

Pretty much what Joe said. Boxing will never die; it's far better than MMA and UFC or any other variant.

 

[King Pietersen]

Personal opinion I guess. I've never really been particularly enthralled by boxing, MMA's always been far more interesting, and far less one-dimensional. As for my point about boxing dying out, I can see it happening. It's happening with Pro Wrestling. The talented amateur wrestlers, the guys that would have gone straight into Pro Wrestling in the past, are learning MMA instead and turning to MMA as a career instead of Pro Wrestling, and I can see the same thing slowly happening to boxing. I think boxing will remain as a sport, but I don't think it'll be anywhere near as popular as it is now in 15 or 20 years.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Haha what a typically crap arrogant argument. Boxing is 1 dimensional. Course it is babe.

You think boxers are turning to MMA, you're well off there. Boxing has put up with loads of other sports and MMA is just another, it might lose a little but the gyms will still be there and whilst the amateur setup is there boxers will come through. On the popularity side of things it has hsown no signs of waning especially when you consider the real tough times the sport has been through in the past few years in terms of quality and is now on the rise again.

I'm a big MMA fan,you can be fans of both. The argument boxing will die is ignorant bullshit.

Leicester Fox added 15 Minutes and 22 Seconds later...

And Guillermo Rigondeaux fights tonight in the states. This guy is going to be a superstar. He's quite old because he's been in Cuba and been rearrested and stuff because they don't allow pros but he's going to be class. He's won 2 golds, would have won in Beijing but they wouldn't let him fight and he will be massive if he's promoted well. Him and Korobov are going to be superstars.

 

[King Pietersen]

Is it possible for you to put your point across without resorting to insults?

I agree that you can be a fan of both, I'm a fan of both. I watch most of the big fights, but I prefer MMA, and I'm just putting my idea across, and where I think the sport is going. You cannot doubt the fact that MMA is massively on the rise, and I think that will result in Pro Wrestling and Boxing losing out on some major talent. MMA is starting to spread to the UK more and more, with gyms opening up all over the shop, and young guys now learning the various techniques, other than pure boxing.

As for Boxing not showing signs of waning, the figures beg to differ. In 2006 the UFC PPV's recorded far larger revenue than both Pro Wrestling and Boxing, bringing in over $222,766,000 in revenue. That is obviously a figure for the US, where the changes will be seen far earlier than in the UK where Boxing's a more traditional sport that will take a while to get overtaken, but in the US I can definitely see MMA overtaking and all but killing off boxing in 15-20 years. It could be a while after that before the tide turns in the UK, but I believe it will.

 

[Leicester Fox]

Hmm so because the UFC is doing big PPV numbers boxing is on the decline. Right. Ok.

I will insult you because you're an idiot. Your just repeating the same nonsense points over and over again. Boxing has had loads of other sports to compete with and done just fine, the amateur system is there and is fine. There is loads of talent on the way up and the sport is fine, why don't you get down a gym over here, or if your so bothered about the states check out the boxing scene there, shows are still massive and the sport is part of peoples lives. If boxing was dying then can you tell that the 800,000 who bought Pac-Hatton then please.

 

[King Pietersen]

I've not said it's dying right now, but is in the process (albeit a long term one) of being overtaken by MMA. There have been some massively grossing fights in the last year or so. De La Hoya-Mayweather and Hatton-Pacquiao for example, but my point is, that MMA has risen so fast and that rise has been so worldwide, that boxing has to be under threat. The UFC and PRIDE organisations have been massive for the sport of MMA, and the popularity has gone through the roof in the last couple of years, as proven by those 2006 US Box Office figures. Further evidence to prove that MMA is starting to encroach on Boxing's popularity are the top 10 PPV events in 2008, where 7 of the top 10 were UFC events, with just 2 Boxing events and 1 Wrestling event. The De La Hoya-Pacquiao fight had the highest buyrate of all the top 10, but Lesnar-Couture wasn't far off.

Boxing hasn't been knocked off it's perch yet, and probably won't for a few more years, but in 15-20 years Boxing will not be the #1 fighting event, if MMA continues to rise like it has done in the last 5-6 years anyway.

Also, try reading my posts before calling me an idiot, you're contesting a point that wasn't even made. I've not said that Boxing has massively declined in the last couple of years, so your point about Hatton-Pacquiao was useless. As was the point about gyms still being packed. My point is more a long-term thing, taking into consideration the wide-spread growth in popularity that MMA has experienced. Hence why in every post I've mentioned 10-15 years, although I now realise that could be a little hasty, and a figure of 15-20 years would be fairer.

 

[Leicester Fox]

MMA is more popular than boxing already. That is irrelevant as boxing is still as popular as before MMA really rocketed. Boxing just happens to be going through a bad spell in terms of the quality of the fighters and the personality as it was for a couple of years before but it's coming back. The gyms are going to be fine. Kids will keep getting taken if the sport is popular on tv which it is. There is no reason they can't co-exist and given that boxing currently is improving in the states there wil be better quality fighters in 10 years time. The majority of people who fight in MMA stateside are guys who have wrestling backgrounds and go to university not black kids from crap areas who get down to their local gym. Sure they'll be some MMA gyms open up in these areas but the same old boxing ones will stay there and still get people through the doors whilst the sport is going. Things might decline but the sport won't even get close to dying.

Boxing won't die. Might be forced to change and adapt but that is what sports have to do. When you consider how boxing as a sport really doesn't give a ████ about the fans it's not surprise that something like the UFC can come along, offer fans what they want and be a success. and let's not forget the fact that the MMA fighters purses are a fraction of what top boxers are.

 

[MasterBlaster76]

In boxing, you have to put your man down using nothing but your fists and your brain (of course, Tyson might beg to differ). That's what makes it so interesting to watch.

 

[King Pietersen]

Can't say I agree with that. Putting a guy down with fists alone is more impressive than interesting for me. The skill of a quality boxer massively impresses me, but I would much rather watch someone get knocked down by a big punch, then get jumped on and pounded out. Far more entertaining than watching a dude flail about on the mat trying to get up whilst the Ref counts to 10. Impressive, yes, interesting for me, no.

 

[evertonfan]

I love boxing and I also enjoy watching MMA (note to all, UFC is a class game. bought it today and I kick ass) but I think boxing has the more household names. Well, in the UK at least. Not everybody knows Chuck Lidell or Brock Lesnar, but EVERYONE knows Floyd Mayweather and EVERYONE knows Oscar de la Hoya etc.

 

[King Pietersen]

Talking of household names, one other thing that bugs me about Boxing and the PPV's especially, are the crap undercards. The main events are always kick ass, but the rest of the show is often full of nothing fights between unknown fighters to the more casual fight fan. That's where the UFC hold a massive trump card in my eyes, the PPV's are full of cracking fights. Check the UFC 100 card for example, you've got:

Main Event: Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir for the Heavyweight Title
Rest of Main Card:
George St-Pierre vs Thiago Alves for the Welterweight Title
Jon Fitch vs Paulo Thiago (2 very decent names, Fitch has only lost once in the UFC and that was to GSP, and Thiago's unbeaten in his MMA career winning his first UFC fight against Josh Koscheck at 95)
Dan Henderson vs Michael Bisping - clash of the TUF Coaches
Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Alan Belcher - 2 more very decent fighters who will put on a good shown

Then you've got an Undercard that includes names like Mark Coleman, Stephan Bonnar, CB Dollaway, Mac Danzig and a few more decent fighters. It's a cracking card that doesn't rely on just the Main Event to pull in viewers. Most events are the same. The one this weekend for example has the main Title fight with Machida taking on Evans, but then before that we've got Serra vs Hughes which is going to be an immense fight, plus names like Drew McFederies, Sean Sherk, Frank Edgar and Chael Sonnen.

Well said about the UFC game btw. Had it since yesterday and loving it. Won the Heavyweight Championship earlier as my Career fighter Such a fun game.

 

[evertonfan]

I liked the demo but I wasn't really wowed by it although it was good. But I started career mode as my true-to-life-obviously kick arse kickboxing beast of a man and my first fight ended in a 2 minute right foot to the face knock-out. So epic.

 

[King Pietersen]

What's your record in your career so far? My Heavyweight (Boxing and Wrestling) fighter's record is 14-3 and I'm currently on a 6 Fight winning streak and the Heavyweight champ, and my Middleweight (Boxing and BJJ) fighter's record is 11-5. Thalis Leites is the only guy that's beaten me convincingly. He dominated me on the ground and ended up submitting me with a Kimura. His Jiu-Jitsu is unreal. Probably didn't help that my ground game sucked early on, but even so, Leites is a beast on the ground. I'm hoping to avenge that defeat to Thalis in my next fight, when I take him on again. I'm going to get hammered

I really need to improve my Middleweight guy's record. 11-5 isn't too bad, but I've been submitted far too many times. I need to get more sparring done, and get my ground game stats up. I've done far better with my Heavyweight guy in terms of getting the right stats and training. Got a Strength rating of almost 80 with my Heavyweight! He's a beast in his stand-up.

Edit: Just realised this isn't the UFC thread . Reply in the UFC Undisputed 2009 thread Matthew

 

[Leicester Fox]

Fight Night demo out tomorrow. Meant to be really good just the roster that's the rpoblem, heavyweight is good and it's better than usual but they still struggle because they have to buy each right individually. Create a boxer mode is really in depth though and you can just save a picture of the boxer and put them in though so the few major absences can be sorted.

Ricky Hatton is making a comeback his fanbase won't be as big this time though because so many people disagree. He is meant to be using Freddy Roach who is the best but still.

Haye-Klitschko. 3 weeks. and new............ :banana2