Boxing and MMA

[jamiebhoy]

I tend to agree that boxers are more interested in keeping their records padded out and maintaining the 0 . MMA guys don't put the same emphasis on it and there are a lot of good grudge match type scenarios which are good to promote.

The problem wih boxing is the alphabet soup where promotors can't and won't agree to fight each others fighters and the different organisations have people ranked differently with too much riding on a loss.

Sadly the current scene of catch weights semms to be prvoing the way forward for giving the publice some of the exciting fightes they need, but at what expense, it will only be a matter of time before someone is badly hurt doing this.

More needs to be done to get boxing back to the mainstream and start showing it on terestrial television again, even at lower level to generate interest.

With the news that the UFC have completed a TV deal in the UK the pressure will be on the promotors to get their act together.

No one wants to lose their 0 record though, second place is first loser!

[nakeddrunkpunch]

I tend to agree that boxers are more interested in keeping their records padded out and maintaining the 0 . MMA guys don't put the same emphasis on it and there are a lot of good grudge match type scenarios which are good to promote.

The problem wih boxing is the alphabet soup where promotors can't and won't agree to fight each others fighters and the different organisations have people ranked differently with too much riding on a loss.

Sadly the current scene of catch weights semms to be prvoing the way forward for giving the publice some of the exciting fightes they need, but at what expense, it will only be a matter of time before someone is badly hurt doing this.

More needs to be done to get boxing back to the mainstream and start showing it on terestrial television again, even at lower level to generate interest.

With the news that the UFC have completed a TV deal in the UK the pressure will be on the promotors to get their act together.

No one wants to lose their 0 record though, second place is first loser!

Valid points and well articulated. You're right promoters do need to get their act together. Boxing is dying but not dead yet. There could be more done to bring it back into the mainstream like airing fights for free on tv and showing fight footage on sports networks instead of press conferences. I remember greg leon from boxingtalk bitching about that.

[jamiebhoy]

Another point worth mentioning which was covered very recently here is that it's difficult to get agreement on the rights to fights in terms of releasing DVD's etc, I presume the same would be said for showing older fights on TV.
As I see it from a personal view, what's the loss in releasing say a box set of fights from each major promotor each year, even if it doesn't pull in a lot of $$ something is better than nothing.

Yet another contentious area where managers and fighters probably price themselves out of making these deal viable.

[superboxer]

I think boxing should go back to the early to mid 20th century in terms of gloves, like the flyweights and such should use 4oz gloves.

[Youngblood]

I think boxing should go back to the early to mid 20th century in terms of gloves, like the flyweights and such should use 4oz gloves.

ahhh, no.

[JazMerkin]

I think boxing should go back to the early to mid 20th century in terms of gloves, like the flyweights and such should use 4oz gloves.

I don't think you go far enough. Perhaps instead of gloves fighters should wear solid steel knuckledusters. Meanwhile gumshields should be outlawed from the sport. The loser gets fed to the lions at the end if the crowd sees fit

[Nameless]

I think boxing should go back to the early to mid 20th century in terms of gloves, like the flyweights and such should use 4oz gloves.

I don't think you go far enough. Perhaps instead of gloves fighters should wear solid steel knuckledusters. Meanwhile gumshields should be outlawed from the sport. The loser gets fed to the lions at the end if the crowd sees fit

Maybe not the knuckledusters, they would fall instantly, we want more durable fights with excitement and blood. You want to make it better? I would go VinceMacmahon style: I say 15 rounds matches with 4 oz gloves with abrasive leather to scratch easily the skin, aluminium foil underneath, no possibilities to stop the fight because of a bad cut, use of vaseline or adrenalin would be forbidden, no gumshields allowed and each fighters would come to the ring with nothing less than fireworks and special effects. Oh, also, there would be 2 voluntary head butts allowed per fighter per fight.

[superboxer]

Lighter gloves do not cause deaths or injuries. They changed it from 6oz for below featherweight to 8oz in 1991 as a knee-jerk response to a head injury and coma 'Akeem Anifowoshe' got. I remember seeing Cho Hi vs Daichi Sakoda(200, they were landing full force at some times and neither went down. Cho Hi died from the fight. Changing the gloves to 8oz didn't save anyone. You could even say if the gloves were smaller, one of them might have been knocked out earlier and Cho Hi would not have taken all the punishment that killed him.

You could also say that that is only speculation, but so is the theory that smaller gloves are dangerous. It's all speculation. So instead of basing the glove size on complete guesswork about which one is safe or not, base it on entertainment. Smaller gloves = faster, harder punching = more entertaining.

I also watched video of "Masaki Sawanaga" dying in the ring. Again they were using 8oz gloves. Again it didn't save him.