"Could you imagine if boxing had knockout bonuses or 'Round of the Night' bonuses or 'Fight of the Night' or something like that? The problem in boxing is the fans are tired of being lied to. You promote a great fight to them and then the fight never lives up to that. It happens in MMA, but rarely does it happen. I mean, in MMA, you never know who is going to win a fight because there are so many different ways that a fight can end. In boxing, you usually know who is going to win before the fight even starts," stated former featherweight champion Kevin Kelley as he shared his thoughts on the rapid growing success of mixed martial arts compared to that of boxing. Check it out!
PC: We talked off record before about Dana White. What do you think of Dana?
KK: Yeah, I've known Dana White for about 10 years. Dana's father was actually married to my wife's aunt for 19 years. I like Dana White because he thinks out of the box. Dana is new school. See, in boxing, we have what we call traditionalists. They don't go outside of the norm. See, Dana White is not trying to compete with boxing. Dana comes from boxing. Dana didn't have an MMA fighting background. He came from boxing, so Dana is basically capitalizing on boxing's mistakes. He's not competing; he...look at what Dana did. First person he hires, Mark Ratner. That gave his sport credibility. And then he goes and gets Leon Tabbs, Stitch Duran and Don House and now his sport is full of cutmen; damn good cutman, but guess where all of those guys came from? The sport of boxing and they were being under-utilized in boxing and Dana, being from the boxing world, capitalized on that. It was brilliant. Dana went to the Fertitta's with this great idea, but it was too brutal. They needed to have it regulated and once Dana and those guys brought regulation to the sport, it took off. But it all started with Dana White taking a risk and thinking outside of the box. We don't do that enough in boxing. That Fan Expo that they did in Vegas, oh my God, are you kidding me? Genius! You're marketing your fighters and letting fans see that these guys are human, they are real and you can reach out and shake their hand. The closest thing boxing does to that is 24/7, but they don't do it enough. That's the only thing that humanizes these guys and they should do it even when they don't have a scheduled fight.
That's what made Naseem Hamed so popular. That's what's making Floyd Mayweather so hot. The best thing Floyd could have done was embrace this villain role. He's not really like that; I know the kid. But guess what? More people buy his fights hoping someone can beat him or knock him out and as a fighter, we don't care why you are purchasing the fight or coming out to the fights. That was brilliant on his part. Look at Butterbean and what he did. Butterbean gave himself the moniker "King of the 4-rounders." Do you know how brilliant that is? How can a former toughman be more marketable and have a bigger namesake than some of the best heavyweight boxing champion to ever live? Boxing does a terrible job of marketing their product. Guess what? No matter who Butterbean fought, they had to fight him 4 rounds. I don't care if it was Mike Tyson, they had to fight him 4 rounds because he made himself the king of that. Great marketing strategy and a perfect example of thinking outside of the box. Why would he label himself "King of the 8-rounders" when he knows the longer the fight goes, the less chance he has of winning?
PC: You have actually worked with some MMA fighters, correct?
KK: Yeah, I worked with Steve Cantwell and Dewey Cooper, the "Black Cobra." I would love to work for the UFC. I know both sports. I know more than just boxing. I follow MMA as well. These two sports are nothing alike, but if you like combat sports, you should like both sports. I just like seeing great fights.
PC: I know something else that you like about the UFC and that's the bonus money these guys receive.
KK: I love that. That's probably what I like the most about the UFC. You think about this, a guy that was the first fight on the card could possibly earn more money than a guy that was on the pay-per-view simply by doing his job. You go out and fight, or get a knockout or a submission, and you can walk away with 50, 60 or 70 grand. That's great man because you're giving these guys the opportunity to earn extra money, but honestly, it's just what they are supposed to be doing. Could you imagine if boxing had knockout bonuses or "Round of the Night" bonuses or "Fight of the Night" or something like that? The problem in boxing is the fans are tired of being lied to. You promote a great fight to them and then the fight never lives up to that. It happens in MMA, but rarely does it happen. I mean, in MMA, you never know who is going to win a fight because there are so many different ways that a fight can end. In boxing, you usually know who is going to win before the fight even starts.
PC: So you feel MMA fighters, UFC in particular, are just marketed better than boxers are?
KK: Oh yeah! I'm in the store the other day and I see UFC action figures. What? Are you kidding me? I would have loved to have my own action figure. I think the only fighter to do that in boxing was Mike Tyson. Do you remember the "Iron" Mike figure? So yeah man, they are doing a great job of that. Could you imagine if they had a 24/7 on some of these up-and-coming guys like once a month; even the veterans? It would be insane. And the UFC keeps their fighters in front of you. These guys in boxing fighting once every 6 months and stuff like that, I tell you what, see Marcos Maidana? I would have that kid fighting on my network once a month. I would have him on as often as possible and I would have Donaire on as often as possible. I have sparred with both guys and they are very good fighters. You gotta showcase these guys though. You can't put guys like that on once every 6 months. I'm just going to call it like I see it. That's on the networks. The networks run boxing. No matter what people want to believe, the networks run boxing. They gotta put kids like that on more. If Maidana touches you, he can knock you out. That kid can punch that hard. They also have a kid out of Ohio; I think his name is Adrian Barron or something like that. That kid can fight as well. But yeah, I mean, other than Floyd, who is making any money outside of boxing?
I still watch wrestling and the thing is, although I'm in my 40's and I know it's scripted and rehearsed, I can't walk away from it because Vince McMahon is another guy that thinks so out of the box. He keeps it exciting, he keeps you guessing, and not to compare WWE to the UFC, but Dana White and Vince McMahon are very similar in that department. They think about the box and keep things fresh and boxing better keep up.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]