any former boxers who now prefer to train/watch MMA?

[thumper]

what made you jump ship?

[Evil Wacko 3205]

what made you jump ship?

I have not jumped ship but I have been very interested in MMA. I still think that many boxers are better athletes then MMA but that's only for a matter of time, because MMA is becoming huge and soon many athletes will bypass boxing and go into the UFC, then it will be choas.

[MPhelan]

I'm more compelled by MMA than I am boxing, but as a practitioner, I like boxing more. I think the most exciting boxing matches are better than the most exciting MMA matches, and the most boring boxing matches more boring than the most boring MMA matches (something about 12...long...rounds)

I like boxing more than I like striking mixed with grappling. I think it's more fun to do. I'm better at it, for sure.

MMA is a much better organized sport with more recognized fighters. I'll flat out confess I follow the MMA scene much more closely than boxing's, even though I compete in boxing and don't in MMA.

I don't think the level of athleticism is very different in the sports at this point, because of the influx of national and Olympic class wrestlers. And boxing and MMA are exceptional sports in that pure athleticism is tempered by skill requirements. If you can't run a 40 m in X number of seconds, you'll never make it in the NFL. Unless you're Mugsy Bogues, you're not getting on an NBA team if you're short, etc. But, guys like Bernard Hopkins, Randy Couture, Fedor Emelianenko, Matt Serra, and on a lower level, Kenny Florian etc. prove that being the best athlete can mean very little.

Case in point is Kevin Randleman, perhaps the most athletic person to ever fight in MMA and has a pretty shitty record. He's also a tremendously gifted wrestler, but he never technically mastered the other parts of MMA. Bob Sapp is another example. A freak of nature who got beat on by Fujita Kazuyuki and Mirko Filipovic.

I'll say I'm a bigger fan of MMA than boxing, because A) promoters put together better cards, B) I know who the fighters are, and C) There's only 2 champs at any given weight division. Not 5.

[VictorCharlie]

I grew up watching boxing matches like leanord hagler and had a Ring subscription at the age of 14. I had a good brazilian friend that got me into watching the UFC at its inception. I'd say I was 80% boxing till about 5 years ago. Part of this had to do with my training in submission wrestling and then MMA but more so I just felt I got more for my money with MMA and that for the most part the fights you wanted to happen did. I still watch boxing but I dont follow it nearly as intensely as I used to and I spend much more time watching MMA.

[HisWife]

As a fan you get 500% more for your money with MMA, more fights, more EXCITING fights, more of a variety of fighting techniques shown that can flip a fight in an instant.

I don't know about boxing, but in MMA as a competetor the money is crap until you have been around a while, no matter how good you are.

[tkdboy]

i wish i had the money to get payper view fights for boxing it just seems like the only fights worth watching anymore are not free...
but in mma right now it feels like u can watch the best fighters and the upcoming talent more frequently plus i am not supprised with the outcome of many boxing matchs but with mma we are still figuring out what works against other peoples styles there is just more to think about.

[themusic]

about 3 years ago my dad hated me watching pride/ufc saying in a few years time the fashion will pass and it will be looked at like the WWF is (basically a joke) and he was and still is obsessed with boxing and has been all his life, but when he actually sat down and watched a pride fight 2003 middleweight tournament i think he watched, now he watches around 80% mma and about 20% boxing, thought it was strange how his opinion changed after he actually watched a show.

[southakron314]

Im a pretty decent sized dude. 5'11.5 and around 220. Here in Akron's south side we have little backyard brawls. Kind of like Kimbo Slice. We stopped it last fall because of the cops were called too many times and a few guys got arrested for dc and disturbing the peace. Im telling you I got a dude up here that I think could take out Kimbo Slice. He is 6'4 255lbs he is probally the best fighter I have ever scene who has never trained. I was a pretty good boxer and there is no way that I would ever win with him. He can take a shot and he throws a veriety of punches at all diffrent angles. We wore boxing gloves because most of us have wives and kids and work manual labor so we cannot afford to have shattered fingers or broken wrists. I love getting in a fight out in the street than in a ring. Well I had to wear head gear. I preffer more of a no holes barred type of shit than a fight with rules. I think if some one trys to choke you, you should be allowed to take a chunk out of their forearm like a pitbull. Thats just how a real fight is.