An MMA fan's view of the Pacquiao vs Mayweather debacle...
by Dark Tower on Jan 7, 2010 6:10 PM EST
Email
Print
I've been a boxing fan before.
I watched the sport pretty religiously from 1996 to about 2003. I followed the likes of RJJ, Lennox, Holyfield, DLH,Mosley, Tito, F. Vargas, B Hop, etc... to name a few. somewhere around 03 i got a little fed up with the sport. Whether it be promotional bullshit getting in the way of good fights, too many weight classes and belts, or lackluster PPV's that i felt like i never got my money's worth. A little of all of those made me consistently lose interest to the point that i became oblivious to the sport almost.
In steps MMA, or more specifically The Ultimate Fighter. I was hooked instantly. Yes, the fighter's had hands that were no where near the level of top boxing talent, but there were so many other aspects to appreciate. The ground game, the kicks, and the submissions taught me that there was more way than one to win a professional fight. All the things i started to appreciate about this new sport came packaged with characters out of a street fighter arcade game and a promotion (UFC) that had most of MMA's top stars. (we won't get into the whole UFC vs other MMA orgs here). The PPV's became worth the money because i started to recognize most of the fighters and the UFC did a great job of selling it. I became a full fledged hardcore MMA nerd.
Fast forward to 2009. Manny Pacquiao's ascension (and my hate for PBF) began to draw my interest back to the sport. For the first time in years I watched and cheered for boxing matches. Margarito vs Mosely had me off my couch yelling in excitement! Juan Diaz vs JMM had me going nuts in my living room! Hell i even appreciated a jab clinic by Vitali K. on Chris Arreola. I felt like i was finding boxing again. Pac and Mayeather were ready to go toe to toe and i was ready to lay out $60 for the first time in years for a boxing PPV.
I find out this morning that Pac vs Mayweather is off and i instantly get angry! "boxing did it to me again" is what i mumbled to myself. luckily, boxing introduced me to some new stars this year that i am interested to follow like A. Ward, Vic D., Cotto, Clottey, Paul Williams and a few others. But i'm hesitant to get to involved because of shit like the Pac vs May debacle reminding me of the reasons i left.
So its back to my faithful gal named MMA. Haven't been nearly as upset with her in the past few years. Stacked PPV and good free tv MMA cards provide endless entertainment for me and i don't see it going away anytime in the future. Yes MMA has its promotional drawbacks as well (Fedor vs Lesnar will probably never happen), but for the most part i never feel duped, like boxing makes feel more often than not.
I'm willing to stick around boxing for a little while longer, but if more Pac vs May disasters come to fruition i will be heart broken for the sport once again.
FanPosts are user-created content written by community members of Bad Left Hook, and are generally not the work of our editors. Please do not source FanPosts as the work of Bad Left Hook.
13 comments
|
4 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
This FanPost sums up my feelings on boxing.....
I enjoy a good boxing match between two equally matched combatants at the top of their game and the top of the rankings. But, that’s becoming hard to find these days. I’ll keep my eye out for anything big on the horizon, until then I’ll watch MMA until boxing gets its shit together.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart."
Rickson Gracie
Berto-Mosley is later this month
There have been half a dozen fights that fit that description in the past year, and most of them didn’t involve the biggest names.
Bad Left Hook - The SB Nation boxing blog
"Baseball is played on the field, not on a calculator."
I enjoy a good boxing match between two equally matched combatants at the top of their game and the top of the rankings. But, that’s becoming hard to find these days.
It happens far, far more than you think. Mosley-Berto and Luevano-Lopez both fit that this month. The entire Super Six outside of Jermain Taylor follows this. There were tons of them last year.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by Scott Christ on Jan 7, 2010 10:25 PM EST up reply actions
I understand what you're saying. but.....
I was just speaking of the “MEGA-FIGHT” type things like Leonard-Hearns. We have to remember that Leonard-Hearns situation was similar to this one in the way that Leonad was seen to be ducking Hearns for a long time (until it finally happened). And, it ended up still being a box office smash and a great in-ring fight as well. I think this fight may still happen at some point and deliver.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart."
Rickson Gracie
ah, OK
I see what you mean, but I also think it’s unfair to expect there to be many Leonard-Hearns or (possibly) Mayweather-Pacquiao level fights. If there were more of them, they wouldn’t be what they are.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
by Scott Christ on Jan 8, 2010 12:26 AM EST up reply actions
Agreed.
But, there hasn’t been one for a while now(I don’t count Oscar-Floyd.). And, I really think this could be on that level. I really have a gut feeling at some point this will happen.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart."
Rickson Gracie
It’s definitely that level. Part of me is still convinced they’re going to fight on 3/13. And if they don’t, I’m almost totally convinced they fight in the fall. I think the situation is a train wreck that doesn’t at all help market the fight the way it should be marketed (“Here are the two best at this in the entire world. Watch them fight.”), but I’m still confident they’ll fight.
Bad Left Hook
"If bulls**t was poetry, Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini's name would be Shakespeare." -- Dennis Rappaport
Also
apologies about my 1st comment. I should have explained myself more thoroughly.
"True strength is not always shown through victory. Stand up, try again and display strength of heart."
Rickson Gracie
There have been tons of great fights recently, and there are tons of great fights on tap. I’m disappointed just like everyone that this one big fight fell through, but that isn’t a reason to give it such a disproportionate level of importance. The only area where it’s that significant is in the area of marketing.
I understand that what just happened will make or break a lot of casual fans’ opinions about boxing, which is why everyone responsible for it did such a disservice to the health of the sport. But at the same time, casual fans are also kind of dumb. They think Mayweather-Pacquiao is the be-all and end-all for the same reasons why so many of them think Yankees vs. Red Sox is the be-all and end-all of major league baseball, and that Kobe-Lebron is the be-all and end-all of the NBA, and that Brett Favre is the greatest QB of all time. Which is because all they know about these sports is ESPN hype, and they’ve only heard of athletes who are famous, and they don’t have any real appreciation for the sports themselves.
This is the perspective of an embedded boxing fan.
As such, it’s really quite valid and valuable. But the problem is that you absolutely MUST have the legions of uninformed, Brett Farve-jersey-wearing, Kobe-Lebron-debaters on your side in order to grow your sport.
Like it or not, boxing is in a state where it desperately needed a shot in the arm like this would have provided. More new eyes would have turned to this fight than for any other boxing event in the last two decades, and that turns into automatic market gains for the sport.
Keeping with the MMA view, Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar was absolutely NOT one of the greatest technical displays in the history of MMA. It doesn’t even make the top 100, to be quite frank. It was a slugfest between a pair of B- fighters who didn’t know how to do anything other than stand and bang on each others’ heads. But it got literally millions of new eyeballs glued to the TV, and many (most?) of these new eyeballs became regular PPV customers. I’m not patronizing you here, I’m just trying to make a comparison…
Imagine if, instead of a well-outside-of-top-100 fight like Griffin Bonnar defning your sport for the next decade, you had Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (which has the potential to be a top-10 all-timer) defining your sport to the legions of potential fans. It’s no comparison which one builds a better, stronger fan-base.
There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
