MMA News Forums » MMA Forums » General MMA Forum

[Highlander]

[QUOTE=Afro Samurai][QUOTE=God]

Originally Posted by Afro Samurai

you dont have ESPN?

I live in Canada and have a couple other sport networks (tsn,sportnet 1,2,3,4, the score), but tsn usually shows boxing fights late every saturday.

[BIG FLO]

[QUOTE=Afro Samurai]

Originally Posted by God

Yes the article is dumb.. like I said MMA taking out Boxing would be like Football taking out Basketball

I think most people who enjoy combat sports, and have been watching it for years would be the smart ones and say BOTH cuz they can enjoy both.. personally I prefer Boxing, over the past couple years I was all MMA but its died down for me and as of right now I have enjoyed boxing matches more then I have MMA fights.. but im sure it'll change back to MMA and vice-versa.. doesnt bug me I get to enjoy both of them. I Dont know who these lot of people are but MMA is NOT taking over boxing, do you know how long boxing has been around? how much money is in boxing? its not going ANYWHERE.

i don't understand why u say MMA taking out boxing would be like football taking out basketball. MMA and Boxing are far different from one another but they also have many similarities. Boxing is one of the key disciplines of MMA. As stated above, MMA is taking ppv buys away from boxing. I'm not an expert on this but I don't hear about football taking ratings away from basketball.

[Afro]

[QUOTE=sretchin]

Originally Posted by Afro Samurai

i don't understand why u say MMA taking out boxing would be like football taking out basketball. MMA and Boxing are far different from one another but they also have many similarities. Boxing is one of the key disciplines of MMA. As stated above, MMA is taking ppv buys away from boxing. I'm not an expert on this but I don't hear about football taking ratings away from basketball.

There completely different, different atmospheres and everything yes theres boxing in MMA but watch an MMA fight and try and compare it to a boxing match.

[prophet665]

I was never a boxing fan, but in the past there were always a few fighters that would get through to the mainstream public like me. Tyson, Holyfield, De La Hoya, etc...

These were all names that I would at least look in the paper the next day to see who won the fight. Currently, I couldn't name a single current boxer. Thats the problem. The article is correct in that fans that would have in the past flocked to boxing are growing up watching MMA and UFC in particular. If you don't replinish your stock of fans you will die out eventually.

Originally Posted by Afro Samurai

Boxing matches still fill up the stands and your saying its only loyal fans that watch it now? ya because Boxing matches are often empty these days.. jesus stop making stuff up.

I don't know if you were being sarcastic here. It looks to me that this is a typo of some sort because you contradict yourself. I can tell you this though, everytime I see boxing on ESPN, the seats are at least half empty. Everytime I see UFC (I am only referencing UFC because it is the predominant MMA in the US) on TV, those seats are packed to the rafters.

As for PPV buys...it is not a good sign for boxing that they only put a few PPV cards on a year and still only get 60,000 buys. UFC puts on 10 to 12 cards a year and is approaching 500,000 buys. The theory behind this is that boxing fans should be hungry for a PPV quality fight, yet they are not buying it.

Overall, I do not think MMA will put boxing out of business. I think there are only two plausible scenarios:

1. Boxing slowly fades away to a smaller venue sport. The purse sizes will continually get smaller and smaller. Overseas markets will be more lucrative than the US market and consequently, it will be marketed to them (Europe and Asian specifically) and further alienate US fans.

2. Boxing will recognize the need to restructure. They will unify at least 2 of the title belt organizations together. They will impliment a more transparent system of how fights are matched up on all levels of the sport. This will hopefully lessen the grumblings that only the top promoters fighters get any big money fights.

Either way...I see boxing being a smaller sport than it is now in 10 years.

[Afro]

I dont know what boxing matches your watchin cuz I hardly see them half empty

and ythe PPV buys in that article is a BS comparrison you cant compare a Rahman fight to a Chuck Liddell fight, what about Trinidad-Wright that got 510,000 to Liddel and Sobral.. thats pretty even!

[LethalStriker]

Boxing isn't going anywhere, but it is going to be #2 to MMA as far as Combat Sports go.

[Afro]

but whats gonna happen when you got UFC, Pride, K-1, etc all competiting for buys.. thats the 1 big problem with MMA its not a unified sport.

[kickass32]

[QUOTE=God][QUOTE=Afro Samurai]

Originally Posted by God

I live in Canada and have a couple other sport networks (tsn,sportnet 1,2,3,4, the score), but tsn usually shows boxing fights late every saturday.

Get the fight network.....they have quite a bit of boxing on, as well as many different MMA organizations.........

[kickass32]

BTW....I see you are a fellow Sabbath fan god...........

[prophet665]

Originally Posted by Afro Samurai

I dont know what boxing matches your watchin cuz I hardly see them half empty

Just the ones that come on ESPN while I am flipping channels.

Originally Posted by Afro Samurai

and ythe PPV buys in that article is a BS comparrison you cant compare a Rahman fight to a Chuck Liddell fight

Why not? A PPV is a PPV. In my opinion a good indication of how the sport is doing is how well a PPV does when there isn't a big, huge star headlining the fights. Everyone wanted to watch Tyson destroy someone in 90 seconds back in the day, even people that were not fight fans. His PPVs drew astounding numbers. There isn't anyone in boxing like that now to catch new viewers and then segue them in to some of the lesser known fighters.

Originally Posted by Afro Samurai

, what about Trinidad-Wright that got 510,000 to Liddel and Sobral.. thats pretty even!

Ok...I am not disputing that boxing isn't pulling viewers. I am saying that they are not pulling NEW viewers. If boxing doesn't do something to get the male, 11-18 year old group interested in it, it will decline. If you did a street poll and asked kids between those ages what they watch (boxing or UFC) and recognizable names, I would put a large sum of money that 75% know at least 4 current UFC fighters versus maybe 1 or 2 boxing fighters. I would wager even more money that they have seen a non PPV UFC fight (specifically TUF, but any of the other cable TV shows) as opposed to watching a boxing match.

I think it will be at least 10 years before any of my predictions come true. It is a war of attrition that I think boxing is going to lose.