Boxing making a Comeback over MMA?

[donnydarkoIRL]

Another interesting point to the new insurgance of MMA fighters coming to the sweet science, is where to put them class wise.

The Amateur Boxing Association of Canada is now looking into this and are likely making amendments to classifications. For eg. an MMA fighter who has had a number of bouts, is it really fair for him to be deemed a Cadet or a Novice fighter? Does his experience really reflect that of a 0-0 brand new inexperienced amateur boxer? The boxing commision tends to think not. It is already in the works to put these people into higher classes, such as open and so on, depending on their experience.

I encountered this myself a couple of years ago. Myself and a friend who have boxed for the last ten years were classed as novice kick boxers and muay thai fighters.

[VictorCharlie]

An amateur MMA fighter usually has years of training in one discipline or another. A top BJJ/Wrestling/kickboxing participant can do well at the lower levels with moderate cross training. My opinion is that it takes much longer to be skilled enough as a boxer to fight competitively even at the amateur ranks. Top MMA fighters like Fedor, GSP, Quinton Jackson, Couture etc are very skilled at multiple skill sets but many of the mid tier to lower level fighters are only trained well in one facet of the game. Im not familiar in the classification system of novice/amateur boxers but I'd say while they have many of the tools for boxing a MMA fighter doesn't have the polished boxing skill set to rank very high in boxing class system.

[cpcompany]

I like MMA and boxing, although i am still far more of a boxing fan.

MMA will never replace boxing in popularity IMO. Mainly because of the negative connotations that the cage has, and the way UFC markets itself. The UFC still portrays itself as slightly thuggish (which is an insult to the dedication and skill of many of its fighters) and also encourages fighters to act like arseholes. All of which alienate a certain percentage of the public.

[donnydarkoIRL]

An amateur MMA fighter usually has years of training in one discipline or another. A top BJJ/Wrestling/kickboxing participant can do well at the lower levels with moderate cross training. My opinion is that it takes much longer to be skilled enough as a boxer to fight competitively even at the amateur ranks. Top MMA fighters like Fedor, GSP, Quinton Jackson, Couture etc are very skilled at multiple skill sets but many of the mid tier to lower level fighters are only trained well in one facet of the game. Im not familiar in the classification system of novice/amateur boxers but I'd say while they have many of the tools for boxing a MMA fighter doesn't have the polished boxing skill set to rank very high in boxing class system.

A Novice Boxer is considered as a boxer with under 6-8 amateur fights.

It is usually one - two years in the gym before the first amateur contest although that varies greatly.

[VictorCharlie]

Thats ironic...Most of the MMA fighters that are said to have backgrounds in boxing usually have only 6-10 fight to their name.

[Youngblood]

I like MMA and boxing, although i am still far more of a boxing fan.

MMA will never replace boxing in popularity IMO. Mainly because of the negative connotations that the cage has, and the way UFC markets itself. The UFC still portrays itself as slightly thuggish (which is an insult to the dedication and skill of many of its fighters) and also encourages fighters to act like arseholes. All of which alienate a certain percentage of the public.

I can say that I don't really have/carry the stigma of the thuggish tattoo clad opinion of MMA fighters that so many have. Likely because I am surrounded by a number of them who are now entirely focused on boxing. And as of now I see that some of them have incredible hand speed. Mind you, they have now been training in strictly boxing for a few years now, and are now racking up wins heading into double digits.

Some of them are still doing some teaching of BJJ, Muay Tai and other forms, but it is more just to earn some extra $$ for our club and finance our shows and travel.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Thats ironic...Most of the MMA fighters that are said to have backgrounds in boxing usually have only 6-10 fight to their name.

I trained in an MMA gym for a while because I get very little training in my actual gym.
They thought I was some sort of freak throwing 5 punch combinations!

[Youngblood]

Thats ironic...Most of the MMA fighters that are said to have backgrounds in boxing usually have only 6-10 fight to their name.

I trained in an MMA gym for a while because I get very little training in my actual gym.
They thought I was some sort of freak throwing 5 punch combinations!

Ha, well there was this one time. Bear in mind some folks just aren't meant for fighting. Dude was sparring, got smashed in the face...dropped to the floor, covered his face and started kicking at the air. Everyone started laughing. He got up, rinse, repeat. Everyone started rolling with laughter. He then jumped out the ring, grabbed his bag, and headed out the door shouting "F*&% You all!'" haha. hilarious stuff.

[VictorCharlie]

MMA was dominated early on by wrestlers and submission fighters. While these disciplines still play a big part the striking aspect has evolved quite a bit over the past few years. Fighters like GSP and Quinton Jackson have shown how a good ground game can complement their technical striking. Great striking takes much longer to refine especially to the point where a fighter is limiting his exposure to being put on his back. I firmly believe that MMA is moving to a more technical striking orientation but as I said it will take time for these training regiments to filter down to the mid and lower tier fighters. As long as MMA is one of the sole avenues for grapplers to pursue a professional fighting career there will be a steep learning curve for how to effectively put punch and kicks together and not look somewhat amateurish.