MORE MMA VS. BOXING THOUGHTS

Posted on | July 18, 2007 | 2 Comments

MIXED MARTIAL-ARTS vs. BOXING………my two cents by: Jack Bratcher

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I was recently watching a boxing match where one of the fighters threw over 1,000 punches during the course of the match; one-thousand punches…..and he never knocked his opponent down. Can you believe this? Could you imagine an MMA fight where this occurred? Of course not. Imagine Chuck Liddell hitting someone 500 times during a fight. Can you just imagine what Chuck’s opponent would look like after that fight? Also, for someone to hit another guy 500 times (if only half of the thousand punches landed) and for the one being hit never to get knocked down, what does that really say? Boxing has its place. Some people enjoy a “fight” like this where someone can be hit 500 times and never really suffer any damage but those are not the kinds of boxing matches that have ever appealed to me. To be honest, to see someone dance around and throw a thousand punches at another guy with big padded gloves on, and never knock the guy down or do any real damage, personally to me, is gonna get boring. How many different types punches can a person really throw in a boxing match? It’s the same thing over and over and over. Then look at a mixed martial-ats fight where you have all those same punches that boxers have at their disposal but you also have a multitude of other techniques at your disposal. It really bothers me when I hear critics say that MMA is nothing more than human cock-fighting but boxing is a real sport or even an art. That’s just crap and the only people who would say such a thing are people who are UNEDUCATED about the sport of MMA. Boxing is one aspect of fighting. Boxing is PUNCHING (and punching, and punching, and more punching). I’ve enjoyed watching some boxing but really the only people that were ever exciting to me were the boxers who could come out there and end a fight. Boxers like Tyson and Tommy Morrison in his prime, I loved to watch fight because they had the power that could end fights. I liked the hard-hitters, the guys with some real KO power. If boxing can be called a sport or art (which it is), then so can MMA because it encompasses everything that boxing is but ADDS to it really unlimited possiblities. Can wrestling be called a sport? I’m not talking about the WWE; I’m talking about real collegiate and olympic wrestiling. Of course it can….it’s even in the olympics. Can kickboxing and karate be called a sport? Of course. Can Judo and Jui-Jitsu be called a sport? Of course, all of these can. Then why should MMA, which combines all of these sports that I’ve just mentioned, not also be considered a sport? The answer is obvious. It is a sport and the only people who can’t recognize this probably either have a vested interest NOT to realize it or either have an innate ability NOT to be able to comprehend and process information.

I think there will always be a place for boxing, and rightly so. It can be good entertainment and a good sport. I don’t see any reason why people can’t enjoy a good boxing match and also a good MMA fight. Today there is so much talk about these two different sports about which one is better and is boxing on its way out. Well, I personally don’t have a problem with boxing. If people want to train as boxers and do that and participate in this legendary sport then so be it But to me, it’s just not nearly as exciting to watch a sport that only uses punching as it is to watch a sport that uses all the same punches that boxing does but also includes a combinaton of all the great combat sports. MMA has taken fighting and turned it into an art. It has taken what is possible when two men fight and turned every aspect of that literally into an art: the kicking, the punching, the grappling, the wrestling. The Octagon has become the home of today’s warrior, today’s gladiators. MMA athletes devote their lives to training in these different combat techniques to refine their skills and to become stronger and more powerful athletes. It has become a science as well as an art. Because the fighters must be at certain weight levels to participate in a match, like a scientist mixing the right formulas, they are able to mix the right amount of exercise and food to maintain the right weight and to cut the right amount of weight if need be within a certain time limit. MMA fighters are among the most disciplined athletes in the world. Videos of certain professional fighters’ workout routines have recently been shown on nationwide TV sparking awe and respect among the athletic world.

Make no mistake, MMA is a legitimate sport sanctioned by athletic commissions and it is among the toughest in terms of competition and skill level. Personally I’d like to see some big name professional boxers move over into the MMA arena. I think it would be exciting. They could add some kicks to those punches; throw in some wrestling and jui-jitsu and they could possibly move into a contender status. But they would definitely have to add more to their arsenal than just punching if they were going to participate in high-level mixed martial-arts competition. Hey, it’s a big enough world where we can all get along. I think there’s a place for boxing and MMA. I don’t see them in conflict with each other except in the fact it seems many more people are willing to shell out forty bucks for an MMA pay-per-view than for a boxing pay-per-view. But having said that, there really just hasn’t been any big name pay-per-view boxing matches that I would want to see in a long time or I probably would order it. I definitely don’t want to order a pay-per-view boxing match where some guy is throwing a thousand punches and he never even knocks his opponent down and it goes twelve rounds. I’d much rather see a Chuck Liddell come out there and throw four or five good punches and a kick and his opponent not only goes down but goes out cold in the first round. It is much more entertaining. And then there’s still enough time left for four or five more entertaining fights.

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