Canadian Politics Today

Boxing seems to me to be a sport desperate for attention.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/mayweather-mcgregor-fight-toronto-1.4263543?utm_content=buffer1ba54&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

'Not good for boxing.'

You know what's not good for boxing?  Boxing.  Boxing promoters did more to ruin boxing than anything UFC ever did.

One of the things that helps MMA gain popularity and build stars is that the top fighters actually fight each other. Most of the big name MMA fighters come to UFC, where they can earn the most money. And when they get there, they fight other top fighters. It's what builds interest.  On the other hand, in boxing the promoters and managers aren't interested in building the sport, they're interested in building their own fighters until they can cash out. Here is "Kid Joe", who has built a 19-0 record by beating up chumps.  Now that Kid Joe has an impressive-sounding record, maybe he can get a spot on a big fight card, where he'll fight some other promoter's Kid Joe who also compiled a 19-0 record by beating up chumps. It's all just a bunch of manufactured hype, and I think fans see through it. It took years to get a Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao fight negotiated, and that was a rarity because they actually fought. Sometimes they never fight. At UFC the top fighters have to fight other top fighters.

The article:

Boxing has seen a decline in fan support in recent years. Morrison says that's because the sport has no "brutal knockouts." He thinks UFC bouts draw more fans because the sport is bloodier and the fighters deliver more vicious blows to the head.

 

And then there's the actual in-ring product.  Tony says people just want "brutal knockouts".   I don't think Tony has actually watched much MMA, because for every "brutal knockout" there's several minutes of grappling or clinch-work that isn't exactly action-packed. I think one of the reasons people have lost interest in the boxing in-ring product is that it's first off very repetitive and predictable, and also that it's very artificial. By artificial I don't mean that the results are fake, I just mean that it's not really how people actually fight. Boxers throw punches at their opponents head and upper torso, and wrap up each others arms, and the referee comes over and separates them, and they do the same thing again. If somebody gets pushed into the ropes, the referee comes over and separates them, and they do the same thing again. If somebody gets stunned by a heavy shot, the referee will separate them and give the fighter a moment to recover so that he can go get punched in the head some more.  Every time something actually happens in a boxing match, the referee comes in and separates the fighters. I find it incredibly tedious.  Whereas in MMA, if the fighters wrap up each others' arms, or get pushed against the fence, or if somebody gets stung by a heavy punch, that's usually when things start to get more intense.

 -k