After Floyd Mayweather, Jr., ripped UFC and its fighters in the build-up to his fight with Oscar de la Hoya, UFC head Dana White brought lightweight champion Sean Sherk to Vegas with him to challenge Mayweather. Floyd said that he was only kidding, and that he has respect for the sport of MMA. That's probably true -- Floyd will say anything to get a reaction, and he was building a fight that was, to some people, going to "show up" UFC and its recent success.
Now, Kermit Cintron says he's willing to fight Sherk. Cintron will defend his welterweight title on July 14 against Walter Matthysse, part of HBO's three-fight, two-site night of 147-pound boxing. After that, he says, he's willing to take on Sherk in the UFC.
The only interesting thing is that Cintron was a wrestler in high school and was offered full scholarships to Ohio State (the college of Kevin Randleman, among other underachievers) and Wisconsin.
That said, Cintron is years removed from any real wrestling training, and Sherk is a good, experienced mixed martial arts fighter. Cintron has the ability to hit Sherk if they stay standing, and chances are his punchers carry more weight than just about anyone Sherk has ever fought. But Sherk could also simply take Cintron down, work his way into a submission, and end the fight in less than a minute.
What is the point of boxing and MMA getting their knickers all in a twist over the presence of the other, or whatever remarks are made on either side? I've never understood this whole thing. It's baseball and cricket -- two sports with mild similarities that really should not be compared head-to-head. There's room for both sports.
If it happens, give me Sherk with an early submission, and an embarrassed Kermit Cintron, plus legions of gloating MMA fans (the not so able-minded ones) going on and on as if there aren't boxing fans that understand that boxers can't walk into MMA and succeed just because they can fight with their hands standing up.
I love both sports. Can't they just get along to some degree?
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