I know enough to know that boxings been around for decades while MMA is fairly young. The skill level of the best guys at the top in pro boxing is a lot harder for the average joe or new fighter to acheive, not so in MMA. You got guys transfering from one sport straight to MMA PPV's just because they're big and can throw a punch. It's not my intention to belittle MMA, because to be honest I'm actually starting to get into it. However I still feel it's youth is what makes it so easy to get into.
boxing sucked for the last year, but it has picked up a bit in the last few months. It's nowhere near dead.
Are there any Oympic prospects worth getting excited about? It's been awhile since we've had anyone come out of the Olympics and become a major star. TFK
I've NEVER been intimidate by MMA as some of you cats seem to be. MMA is a very bright flame which is destined to burn out relatively quickly. Boxing will endure onto the end...
you really need to give it up with the "no single fight is good enough to sell a card" angle. every other sport has dropped off in terms of quality and value for your dollar, yet nobody ever complains about other sports being dead. Shit, baseball doesn't even schedule doubleheaders anymore -they just happen as make-up games and even at that, they're day/night doubleheaders, to make sure that the same fans aren't getting 2-for-1 - as was the case once upon a time when boxing was still relevant by your standards. I'll keep saying it until all of the simpletons get it - the difference between other sports and boxing is that the networks and media have yet to completely abandon other sports. Put them on boxing's level and with similar funding (or lack thereof) and they'd be just as irrelevant, if not more so, and completely bankrupt.
Huh???... Floyd & Vargas- 1996 Cotto & Jermain Taylor- 2000 Andre Berto has the POTENTIAL to B a Star,but he's Only 3 Years REMOVED from his Olympic Days... NONE of the Aformentioned Names R "Major Stars" on the Level of DeLa,but Stars of THAT Magnitude R 1nce per Generation... Floyd,Vargas,Cotto AND Jermain All R @ Least "On the Radar" of the Mainstream,Cause ESPN has Reported on their Recent Fights...If/when Kelly Pavlik KO's Jermain,he'll DEFINITELY Become a Mainstream Star N REED's Opinion... REED
Yeah, martial arts are new. Nobody ever trained in martial arts before MMA became mainstream. :laughing: There is NOBODY that just started training MMA that is at the top or anywhere near it. If you can name a guy who's a top fighter that just started I'd love to hear it.
Boxing overall is far from dead! The heavyweight division is dead if your expecting an American savior to come along, but thats about it. When cats say shit like "boxing is dying cause all the great athletes are going to other sports" thats bullshit and only goes for heavys. To be in the NFL, NBA, or even to be an MLB star you need to posses considerable SIZE! Size that most the great fighters we follow are simply not born with. So no there not going into those sports cause they dont have the SIZE to do so! That HAVE to go into boxing, a sport where size is irrelevant cause of weight classes. So no, boxing isnt dead at all! Theres lots of young talent coming up, and will continue to come along. If ANYTHING, I'd say the sport is on the rise! I hear more boxing talk nowadays, and I feel the sports garnered more popularity currently then say about 5 years ago.
If Manny Pac was a HW, the whole world would be following. We can all appreciate a great defense, slick offense, footwork, and so on but the rest of the sports world wants action out of boxing. They love the Mike Tyson's and Arturo Gatti's of the sport. LB 4 LB is right on the money with the new clinch styles that have emerged in far bigger numbers in our sport. The safety first style is turning fans away from boxing. Two other things that hurt boxing, too many titles, too many divisions. The average fan drowns in all of boxings alphabet champions.
TFK talks absolute shit, it gets annoying. I enjoyed most of the recent boxing cards a hell of a lot more than say, the Rampage - Chuck card, or the recent sherk - franka card. And there are a lot of exciting fights on the horizon. Personally I would LIKE the good fights to be spread out a bit, not all on the same card. It gives me numerous days of excitement and enjoyment, not just 1. TFK - it seems like you're not even a boxing fan - do you even watch boxing? What fighters do oyu like? :dunno:
you're smart enough to figure it out. need a clue...the talking heads of MMA constantly trying to put down boxing to elevate their sport is backfiring. it's forcing boxing to make better matches thus increasing it's popularity.
That's wasn't the jist of my statement. I was talking about guys that came out of the Olympics as medal winners. Not so much guys that may have fought in the Olympics, but didn't do much there. I guess I should've been clearer about that. I'm talking in the line of an Oscar, or a Roy Jones, or Holyfield, someone who used their Olympic success as a springboard to stardom. Andre Reed won the gold, but he hasn't really set the world on fire since. Jermaine Taylor has had a succesful career as well, but I'd hardly call him a superstar. And Floyd was 11 years ago. Are the any American fighters that are gold medal prospects for the upcoming Olympics? TFK
Yes, I'm a boxing fan, although I admit I'm not as big of a fan as I used to be. And there are a number of reasons for that. I think my interest in boxing started to wain a few years back, when my cable company switched over to digital cable, rendering my black box useless. So instead of being able to watch every PPV for free, I was forced to pay for them. And with the ridiculous oversaturation of boxing on PPV, with even marginal fights being offered on PPV, I just wasn't exposed to as much boxing as I once was since I wasn't about to pay to watch them...well, most of them anyway. Also, the cancelation of Tueday Night Fights hurt too. I never missed an episode, and TNF was by far the best weekly televised boxing series I ever saw. They had a great method of building stars, and always had a good mix of young up and comers and past their prime 'Name' fighters, and fighters like Troy Dorsey, who while far from world class, always gave their all. TNF had some great moments of the years too. Watching Foreman in his comeback, watching Pazienza come back from a broken neck to win the title, the Bowe-Tillman brawl, etc, etc, etc. It was always fun. And of course, with UFC putting on a better overall product in my opinion, when I do shell out for PPV's, it usually goes to that instead of boxing. As for fighters I like that are still active, I like Cotto, Margarito, Wlad, I know he's not really relevant anymore but I'll always be a Mayorga fan, I was a big fan of Gatti but I'm glad to see he's retired, I like Cintron and several others. I still love boxing, just not as much as I once did. TFK
I find you to be a boxing doomsdayer, but (as here) you are up front about it so it doesn't bother mE. I do think you are probably being nostalgic about TNF. TNF had some great moments, but wasted a ton of shows on old, washed-out heavyweights and has-beens. O'Grady's schtick has always been somewhat juvenile--not unlikable, but often repetitive and not particularly insightful. Albert, otoh, really kept the show professional. I like his brother better on Showtime, but he was very solid, imo, and better than the ESPN2 guys. Quite a bit better, imo. The difference is that ESPN2 almost surely has put out better matchups than TNF. TNF, as I remember, had very few title fights and what hurt about them shutting down was that they finished so damn strong with like 3 title fight shows in a row at the end. That wouldn't be particularly noticeable on ESPN2.
