Lennox Lewis is obtuse….

I will never forgive him for saying that fighters go to Las Vegas to get away from distractions to train because there are no night clubs or parties.

Maybe it’s that I’m a little older than Scott and most posters here—a little further along into geezerdom than my friends in the age demographic Scott cites—but the overall vibe and feel to how MMA fights are delivered does turn me off. There’s the Affliction element that I’m not too keen on, but it’s also what seems to me a current of dishonesty in many commentators. I don’t know them as individuals as well as I do boxing announcers, and I’m sure there are good MMA commentators. But to me, it seems they seldom admit when a fight is a stinker or a mismatch. There is this effort to act as if every MMA matchup is the greatest thing ever. Hype overload. Boxing commentators, as a whole, seem more honest about the failings of their own sport.

Then there’s the fact that MMA events don’t fit with most of my friends, so I generally watch them alone. I’m older, and I’m a college Professor, and while many of my friends have at least historical appreciation for boxing, MMA comes off as something geared for a more testosterone-fueled crowd than I tend to roll with.

I wasn’t really sure what the point of noting that Latinos and African Americans have not warmed up to MMA and MMA is doing awesome with Caucasians and Asians. As if that gave MMA some sort of added credibility.

OK, that’s fair. I was just talking about demographics, and the only demos that boxing performs well in against MMA (and I hate “against” but since that’s sort of the idea here, whatever) are Latinos and blacks, really. I also think that in time, MMA will build their audiences there. Those are markets they haven’t really tapped yet, and with fighters like Rashad Evans emerging alongside an established star like Quinton Jackson, progress is being made slowly. Miguel Torres is a guy anyone is going to like to watch fight, but he’s in WEC. There are several more fighters of note, but compared to boxing it’s not close.

Of course we could also note the biggest audience, which is people that don’t give a shit about either sport.

The only thing you noted that matters is the 18-34 demographic. That said, I’m not sure what else boxing can do in that regard. And, I’d really prefer that it avoid making it professional wrestling but, ya know, real. If you have great ideas for how boxing can perform better within that market, feel free to share your ideas.

If you want to appeal to a younger audience, you have to market it better. Honestly I don’t think the promoters spend nearly enough money on advertising, which is a statement I can answer, too, because they spend a lot of their money on the main events. I mean Affliction paid a little less than $5 mil for the entire show’s talent. Manny Pacquiao’s gonna make in the neighborhood of $15-20 million to fight Ricky Hatton, who will make a little less than that and probably wind up around $10-12 million, if I was just wagering a guess.

But really, the fights are only advertised to those of us that know they exist, you know what I mean? You can catch a WWE or UFC PPV ad at random on TV, and Oscar’s bigger fights get that level of promotion, too.

I do, however, think some strides are being made. ESPN actually paying even minor attention to the sport is a big step in the right direction. Also one of the things I felt was another problem was that the TV presentation on HBO and other networks felt stale and way outdated. WCB’s new graphic design and approach to the broadcast was excellent and HBO deserves a lot of credit for that. Little things like that can add up.

With regard to Lampley and Merchant disliking MMA and making their opinion known. The problem I see, is that a lot of MMA followers demand those that have not been drinking the Kool-Aid to do so. Sorry, not everyone is going to accept MMA nor should they have to and those two have enough credibility and stature to say pretty much what they want.

I personally just don’t see what it added to an otherwise great broadcast. And to go further, since I’ve heard Lampley’s opinions enough, my problem doesn’t lie with the fact that they don’t like it, it lies with the fact that they’re misinformed and ignorant in their aggressive dislike of MMA. I also get why sportswriters don’t like steroids, but I do wish more of them would at least wikipedia “steroids” sometime and learn at least a little about what the hell they’re so viciously against.