Boxing Thread

[DrJuice1980]

Watched the Arreola/Stiverne fight tonight. Great to see 2 big men not afraid to throw big punches. Arreola got one chin on him. After that knockdown in the 3rd he took some big shots and stayed on his feet and still delivered blows to Stiverne. Stiverne looked pretty tough, way better to see that style than 10 rounds of left jabs by Klitschko. Glad to see Stiverne call him out, I just want to see an exciting heavyweight fight, not some slow jabfest.

Anybody's thoughts on the mayweather/Guerrero fight? Not sure if I'm going to buck up the PPV money.

[JBMasterAngler]

I wouldn't waste your money. The fight will be completely one sided, and Mayweather will probably carry him the full 12 rounds. And the undercard is a complete joke!

[DrJuice1980]

Just looked at the undercard, nothing too exciting there. Ponce De Leon/Mares should be exciting but I'll wait for Showtime to rebroadcast this one. Done with the Money PPV fights, 12 rounds of sketchy defense holding the opponents left arm in with his right elbow doesn't make a fight worth the 50 spot. Only thing that would make it worse is if Cortez is the 3rd man in the ring.

[JBMasterAngler]

Boxing is a dead sport, and it lead to it's own demise! I was listening to Mike Tyson on Howard Stern this morning, and he even prefers watching UFC over boxing. And he gave a pretty good insight as to why fans like it more as well.

[DrJuice1980]

I'm glad you're backing Tyson. Great fighter, not the brightest bulb on the tree. That is a big joke you speak of. Boxing is still a much more exiting sport, you want to watch 15 mins of failed submissions go ahead. Just because there isn't a legit exciting heavyweight doesn't mean the sport is dead. There are PLENTY of exciting fighters in all classes, well 130 and up. The above mentioned fight was not a better show of spot than 4 mins of grappling and ending on a guy covering up? I seriously beg to differ the fact that 2 heavyweights exchange blows for 12 rounds isn't better than that. And these guys aren't even that big. Now start talking about guys like Canelo, Ward, Rios/Alverado, even though he lost Nonito, May, Pacman, Thurman, Marquez, Broner, so many others. The sport is not dead and never will be. It's the sweet science not some all jumbled together bar fight with wrestling mixed in with elbows to the temple, wow I want to watch. Just my opinion though. I also read a column about this Jon Jones guy a better fighter than Ali and that Jones is the greatest of all time. I laugh at the notion that any UFC/MMA fighter will ever be better than a boxer. Jon Jones has only 20 fights under his belt, how many times was Ali or any great boxer was challenged? These MNA guys don't last.

[The Grebe]

I watched some of The Ghosts fights and he looked pretty good. I always did like him, but never got a chance to see him fight. I've never seen Mayweather fight? I used to never miss a boxing match, even knew all the contenders in each weight class. Then it started getting boring with mismatches and lousy judging. Not all of them, but it seemed like most of them?

I started watching 'Tough Man' competitions and gradually swung over to MMA. I'll start watching a boxing match, but if one of the guys took the fight on 5 days notice, which is usually the case, or one guy has a record of 28-0 with 25 ko's and the other guy is 38 years old with a record of 4-46-0 AND, he hasn't fought in 3 years, well, I'll be switching to Diners Drive-ins and Dives real quick!

[DrJuice1980]

Grebe, the 5 days notice fights rarely happen, they do once in a while but near the capacity you think they do. Also the 4-46 comment is completely false. The old timers swan song is usually posting a record like 40-10. Hey, 40 wins they had to have faught and won a few above average bouts. I agree with the judging issue. There should be a better way to not allow judges who have had numerous bad appearances. Just like a bad NFL ref to continue to call games.

[JBMasterAngler]

The reason it's dead, and continues to sink even deeper is because there are too many dump PPV fights. WAAAAAAAAAAY too many alphabet titles. And the competition isn't what it used to be. Sure there's still some great talent out there, but fewer and fewer people are watching to care about it.

I used to be a boxer, and it was my favorite sport for the longest time. But it's just becoming more and more unwatchable with all the promotors and sanctioning bodies ruining the sport for the fans! The UFC is so much more fan friendly in every aspect!

With that being said, I still watch both. ESPN friday night fights is coming to Minneapolis in june, so I might look into that

[The Grebe]

Same here, I boxed for awhile back in the day. My only claims to fame were having done road work with Scott LeDeoux, boxing a few exhibitions and being a sparring partner for the state professional lightweight champ for about 6 months. A bad car accident ended any aspirations I might have had at the time.

Boxing used to be my sport and I never missed a bout if I could help it, went to alot of live shows also. But it changed and not in a way that I thought was good. I still watch boxing, but it has to be competitive or I switch channels. Watching some older fighter with bad legs getting his aze kicked by some young buck, isn't my deal. I think the MMA bouts are more evenly contested.

[The Grebe]

I think you missed the point on this? I know there is nobody with a 4-46 record. The fights for the most part, are far apart in skill levels.

[JBMasterAngler]

I haven't been following the lead up to the fight at all...I've heard that Mayweather's dad is working his corner, instead of his uncle. What's the deal with that? I'm guessing prison stint? That's too bad, uncle mayweather vs. daddy guerrero would've made for a great undercard bout.

[DrJuice1980]

Can you even name the last fight that was lop sided? Please do because I would like to know how frequent you view occurs. You are way off, that rarely happens, it does once in a great while, but hardly. Odds are you vest no time in boxing and you're making a typical non educated assumption sterotype. The technical aspect of MMA doesn't show itself because there's too much of everything except crisp clean shots. It goes to the ground and then knees and elbows become involved and that to me is trashy bar brawl fighting. Watching a boxer slip and counter and line up clean shots against a foe that's at the same skill level in the upper rankings of the weight classes is something that is not seen remotely close to an MMA bout. MMA is way too inconsistently won and the guys don't last either.

JB, please name many of these dump PPV fights that regularly occur please because I don't see that. Name me 5 in the last year, then I will see how there's so many. We could also compare that to how many people view those PPV fights vs the MMA.

[JBMasterAngler]

The Pacquiao/Marquez IV PPV card was garbage. The main event itself was sensational, but the 3 hour bore fest beforehand was unbearable. Sergio Martinez/Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. One sided fight with only the 12th round providing any drama, rest of card...you guessed it...forgettable! Worth $55? Definitely not!

I remember growing up, and the PPV shows were awesome! You'd see a Chavez or Pernell Whitaker main event, and you'd have the likes of Terry Norris, Azumah Nelson, James Toney, and Felix Trinidad all on the same undercard! Now your lucky to see a couple fringe contenders and an up and comer against a no hoper!

I've been to 2 PPV fights out in Vegas (De La Hoya/Mosley II and De La Hoya/Hopkins). One had a great undercard (including Miguel Cotto), and the other sucked! It's one thing if you put a good card together on paper, and it turns into a stinker, but when promoters don't even make an attempt to put together a good card (which is the norm now). That's what really rubs boxing fans the wrong way.

[DrJuice1980]

You listed 2 fights and both had great main events. Last time I checked you don't order PPV for the undercards. Would you rather watch 6 hours of rolling around at the UFC undercards? UFC is full of tools and tools are attracted to it, that's the world we live in, the world where the average guys a dumba**. Have fun watching the super technical 'Bigfoot' what a joke.

[DrJuice1980]

Guerrero is a very busy fighter, I haven't seen Mayweather with a busy guy like that for a while. I think Mayweather will show his exceptional defense and come out with a W. Ponce de Leon v Mares should offer additional value.

[JBMasterAngler]

Fight went exactly the way I expected.

I'm a fan of both sports. But the fact of the matter is, the UFC puts a much better product out there for fans. Boxing is dead! There's no ifs ands or buts about it! It's evidence in our country's amateur program! Nobody wants to be a boxer anymore! All the kids want to play football, basketball, and MMA is growing immensely among amateurs.

Like I said, I'm a boxing fan. But all the ABC belts, the mismatches, the promoters, and horrible decisions have ruined the sport severely!

[DrJuice1980]

The sport is not ruined, your perception of reality is very flawed. You named fights from 15 yrs ago that had good cards, I could name a bunch from the last 3 years that weren't bad and I could name some great ones too. Fact is its not dead, why do so many people order the PPVs? Why did the movie theater in Eagan show the fight last night? Oh because it's dead right. Boxing has action, so does MMA, but again MMA rarely showcases the technical aspect of martial arts because 80%+ end up on the mat and it turns into a street fight with everything but pulling hair and gouging eyes. If that's what you like than that's your choice. You obviously only respect hackjob fights not the sweet science of fighting. MMA guys are few and far between with tactical fighting that is why they don't stick around, boxing is not that way or the boxers wouldn't stick around as long as they do. Watching a great fighter pick apart their opponent like Mayweather does (not a fan of his) is something the MMA can't come close to.

Here's another point: I'd rather listen to Lampley and Jones Jr call a fight than Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan, it should be left at that, when he's your announcer, sad. Enough said, total DB.

[DrJuice1980]

Top UFC PPV: UFC 100, 1.6M views

Top boxing PPV: De La Hoya v Mayweather, 2.4M

UFC 158: 1.1M buys

Wrestlemania 28: 1.2M buys

You have no argument JB

[harvey lee]

Boxing is a dead sport, and it lead to it's own demise! I was listening to Mike Tyson on Howard Stern this morning, and he even prefers watching UFC over boxing. And he gave a pretty good insight as to why fans like it more as well.

Not quite yet. If you saw what Mayweather got paid for this fight, someone is watching.

I agree the sport has been hurt over some of the actions by boxing but it will come back like all others.

If boxing is as bad as you say JB, why do you bother to even watch?

I watched the fight last night, could have cared less about the undercard as I wanted to see the main event. Too me, great match.

[JBMasterAngler]

I don't watch it much anymore. Lastnight's Mayweather fight went exactly the way I thought it would. And then you get the whole ordeal with the judge. Another reason boxing is a sinking ship. I'm sure the PPV numbers were huge, but that's 1 fight out of however many thousands of fight cards there are in a year. Mayweather's retirement will be the final nail in the coffin. There is one little bright spot for the sport however. As of now, it does appear that the new fox sports channel will put alot of attention on boxing, as well as UFC.

[mrklean]

Wasnt it in the range of $35 million for that fight?

[JBMasterAngler]

I had read he was guaranteed about $41.5 million, and depending on PPV bonuses, could get up to $100 million Mayweather has been the highest payed athlete at least 2 years in a row now, and it's certainly looking like this year will be lucky number 3.

[biff]

Well, so now that Mayweather has beaten alvarez whos next for Mayweather? Alvarez was really the only guy that looked good coming up. I would still like to see Mayweather fight Pacquiao but other than that its pretty meh. If there are no big fights out there for mayweather and he retires...not good for boxing.