[ROLL DEEP]

The thing that bugs me about the boxing world is how they're too stubborn to think that they need to do anything?

There general outlook is 'MMA, huh? Pffft, that's just a bunch of gays rolling on the floor. It'll NEVER be as big as boxing. Boxing is the greatest. We don't need to change one thing as we're the premier combat sport. We don't need to do anything. Boxing has been around for 100's of years and MMA is still in nappies. Why should we change?'.


The boxing world is stuck up it's arse so much that it thinks it doesn't need to change. Keep doing it and it'll keep dying.




UFC...whether you like it or not, is doing the right thing. It'll keep getting bigger and bigger whilst boxing will keep dying down.

[Hotsauce]

boxing has a lot of problems.

for some reason, they don't want to change.

[ks1]

C'mon now, let's not get carried away. Moving from Spike to Fox is a good thing for the UFC and should give it a bump but, as someone said earlier, "big network" TV is hardly the be and end all it once was. Also, all this talk of "prime time" is misleading. Network TV primetime is from 8-11pm EST Mon-Sun. The only shot UFC has to be on primtime is late Sat., or maybe Fri., which are by far the lowest rated primetime periods.

Dana White has done a brilliant job of copying every business tactic and promotional idea/stunt of Vince McMahon's WWE right dwon to the roids scandals but, even with the "shiny new toy" effect going for it, UFC luster's has started to dim a bit because most of the guys with crossover potential are either out, almost done or done. The real test of the UFC will come when the fighters start demanding more control of the careers and more money.

Yes as we all know in true Chicken Little fashion boxing has been dying!!! for some time now but while its problems are obvious and, to a large degree, fixable, its strengths are very underrated. So while the move to Fox is good for UFC, I don't think it means all that much for boxing because I don't think it's a zero sum game.

[blackbelt2003]

Look, we all know boxing needs a make over.


But it's not in the way you'd think. We don't need tournament formats, we don't need votes, we don't need to dumb down boxing for the MMA fans, we don't need to make it all rock music and "Way cool, dude!" like MMA has.


What boxing needs is to embrace what it does well, not try and be something it's not.



Boxing needs to get back in touch with it's history, it's roots and try and take it BACK not forwards.


To do that it needs significant attitude changes at the top level. Boxing as seen by the public is linked to it's biggest names, and when the biggest names, Floyd and Pac, are basically acting like a couple of prima donna bitches, of COURSE people are gonna tune in to MMA, where the guys lose as much as they win because they all take tough fights.

When boxing was at it most popular, the fighters fought often, they fought tough, and they were interested in fighting more than being businessmen. If they could just do that, then boxing wouldn't need all the hype, the razmatazz, the rock music and the flashy advertising MMA has received.





Black

[gravytrain]

Look, we all know boxing needs a make over.


But it's not in the way you'd think. We don't need tournament formats, we don't need votes, we don't need to dumb down boxing for the MMA fans, we don't need to make it all rock music and "Way cool, dude!" like MMA has.


What boxing needs is to embrace what it does well, not try and be something it's not.



Boxing needs to get back in touch with it's history, it's roots and try and take it BACK not forwards.


To do that it needs significant attitude changes at the top level. Boxing as seen by the public is linked to it's biggest names, and when the biggest names, Floyd and Pac, are basically acting like a couple of prima donna bitches, of COURSE people are gonna tune in to MMA, where the guys lose as much as they win because they all take tough fights.

When boxing was at it most popular, the fighters fought often, they fought tough, and they were interested in fighting more than being businessmen. If they could just do that, then boxing wouldn't need all the hype, the razmatazz, the rock music and the flashy advertising MMA has received.





Black

i think everything that made boxing interesting is pretty far gone. the fighters are lazy and don't want to prove anything because promoters are just trying to make hype jobs they can sell to HBO, there's no personality. PPV fighters take insignificant fights 99% of the time and promoters do nothing to try to change how a fight is marketed. if there's one good thing to come from the Mayweather and Pac bullshit it's that it forced HBO to step it up to compete with Showtime's offer and will now put shows on different channels to get fights more exposure.

[checkleft]

C'mon now, let's not get carried away. Moving from Spike to Fox is a good thing for the UFC and should give it a bump but, as someone said earlier, "big network" TV is hardly the be and end all it once was. Also, all this talk of "prime time" is misleading. Network TV primetime is from 8-11pm EST Mon-Sun. The only shot UFC has to be on primtime is late Sat., or maybe Fri., which are by far the lowest rated primetime periods.

Dana White has done a brilliant job of copying every business tactic and promotional idea/stunt of Vince McMahon's WWE right dwon to the roids scandals but, even with the "shiny new toy" effect going for it, UFC luster's has started to dim a bit because most of the guys with crossover potential are either out, almost done or done. The real test of the UFC will come when the fighters start demanding more control of the careers and more money.

Yes as we all know in true Chicken Little fashion boxing has been dying!!! for some time now but while its problems are obvious and, to a large degree, fixable, its strengths are very underrated. So while the move to Fox is good for UFC, I don't think it means all that much for boxing because I don't think it's a zero sum game.

I agree with some of your points.

My opinion is that the ufc really can't compete with boxing when it comes to ppv, not even close. This is a smart move for the ufc to keep up with boxing. Because I don't think that boxing is behind the ufc by any means, if anything the ufc is still significantly behind. This will definitely help them though by bringing it to the masses.
But the biggest difference that I see between the two sports is that the ufc has incredible respect for its athletes while boxing analysts announcers promoters shit on boxings athletes and this continues through the fans. I think that's what truly is hurting boxing.

[gravytrain]

how is the UFC behind boxing? they put on like 12 PPVs a year and their average buy rate keeps rising. now it's getting fights on free TV and this shit has really only been relevant for like 8 years. i might not really care for MMA very much but it's just naive to think they've to catch up with boxing. there's no telling what kind of progress the UFC can have over the next decade but we all know where boxing will be and that's HBO PPV 2-3 times a year.

[checkleft]

Yes boxing is going bad and I could he wrong but the way I see it as a someone that's into marketing is that Dana badly wants the kind of money boxing pulls in, that's why he is doing all of this free programming on local and cable networks. From a marketing point of view it makes perfect sense, but they are behind. They are catching up to boxing though, and it doesn't help that boxing is going backwards.

[Mean Mister Must...]

C'mon now, let's not get carried away. Moving from Spike to Fox is a good thing for the UFC and should give it a bump but, as someone said earlier, "big network" TV is hardly the be and end all it once was. Also, all this talk of "prime time" is misleading. Network TV primetime is from 8-11pm EST Mon-Sun. The only shot UFC has to be on primtime is late Sat., or maybe Fri., which are by far the lowest rated primetime periods.

Dana White has done a brilliant job of copying every business tactic and promotional idea/stunt of Vince McMahon's WWE right dwon to the roids scandals but, even with the "shiny new toy" effect going for it, UFC luster's has started to dim a bit because most of the guys with crossover potential are either out, almost done or done. The real test of the UFC will come when the fighters start demanding more control of the careers and more money.

Yes as we all know in true Chicken Little fashion boxing has been dying!!! for some time now but while its problems are obvious and, to a large degree, fixable, its strengths are very underrated. So while the move to Fox is good for UFC, I don't think it means all that much for boxing because I don't think it's a zero sum game.

That's a good point about the UFC not really having a lot of mainstream stars at the moment. Back in 05, when the UFC really started to gain momentum, people liked it because they had Chuck Lidell knocking guys out left and right. The average Joe loves knockouts and the people jumped aboard. Some new fans were made but a lot of other people got tired of it because they didn't like the grappling aspect of it. I wonder if MMA has hit a dead end as far as its popularity is concerned.

[EAlbian]

That's a good point about the UFC not really having a lot of mainstream stars at the moment. Back in 05, when the UFC really started to gain momentum, people liked it because they had Chuck Lidell knocking guys out left and right. The average Joe loves knockouts and the people jumped aboard. Some new fans were made but a lot of other people got tired of it because they didn't like the grappling aspect of it. I wonder if MMA has hit a dead end as far as its popularity is concerned.

I think the sport has evolved, you can no longer dominate with just one style of fighting. The new hybrid fighters(Jon Jones/Jose Aldo/St Pierre/Anderson Silva) will continue to dominate. If you haven't seen Jose Aldo I suggest you invest 5mins in youtube. He is a true beast

This post has been edited by EAlbian: Aug 19 2011, 05:58 PM