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Will Boxing Defeat MMA As King Of Combat Sports?
Boxing likes to look at Mixed Martial Arts as its obnoxious little step brother, always in the way, begging to be noticed. It assumes that it will never amount to anything and will eventually just disappear. For years, boxing has been king of combat sports, and to this observer things are getting pretty stale. If it does not step up its game quickly, MMA is going to cruise on by and surpass it. Perhaps it is already too late.
Recently I had the chance to visit a local boxing gym that had three world champions training in it. The place was buzzing for the most part. The buzzing, however, was mostly coming from flies hovering over the carcasses of the onlookers. Very few people under the age of 40 were there. Mostly it was a bunch of elderly folks still hanging on to a sport they had loved all their lives.
I am friends with one of said champions, Celestino Caballero and socialize with him frequently in the city. The only time he has ever been recognized in public was when a person mistakenly identified him as a member of FC Barcelona’s football club. And outside of Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather, the same could be said for basically any other active fighter.
Now look at the UFC, which is the face of MMA in America today. Their participants are treated like rock stars when they go in public. If Brock Lesnar, Chuck Liddell, BJ Penn , or any other of a dozen or more UFC fighters go out, they are instantly bombarded by people and cameras. TMZ follows around its fighters. When was the last time TMZ followed a boxer not named Mike Tyson?
The tabloid media has already bought into the UFC. Now sports media is slowly buying into it as well. ESPN bought out the major MMA website, there is no boxing forum on the same level. It recently gave the sport its own show. More and more the sport is mentioned on its programs. The Ultimate Fighter is a staple of Spike TV’s programming.
The last stronghold for boxing has been pay per views. But with that gap closing quickly, it may soon become a clear number two in the world of combat sports. Outside of fights by the previously mentioned fighters, boxing pay per view numbers are steadily decreasing. The biggest culprit is the politics that have engulfed boxing. No longer can you count on seeing the best fighters square off. More than likely, you will see them spend their careers avoiding each other until they meet when it is already too late, hoping to make that one last big payoff.
In MMA, you can count on the best fighting each other at all times. Say what you will about Dana White, but one thing is for sure, he puts the best against the best. If you are the champ, you don’t get to hand pick tailor made opponents. They are picked for you, and the matchup is made for the benefit of the fan, not the Bob Arum’s of the world who are only looking out for themselves and not the sport.
In the near future, there will be a changing of the guard. The little step-brother is going to grow up. By then, boxing, which has been looking down its nose all this time will have realized when it is too late, that it is no longer the big fish in the small pond of combat sports. Sooner or later, the older generation of boxing fans will disappear. With the vast majority of younger fans gravitating towards MMA, there will be a new champion.
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