Prior to the last 10 years, boxing has been considered the world’s premier combat sport. From the days of the 1940’s with stars such as Jake Lamotta and Willie Pep to the 80’s with the likes of Sugar Ray Leonard and Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxing has always been the most watched and talked about combat sport. However, within the past 10 years, boxing’s popularity has been surpassed by a new monster know as Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Mixed Martial Arts has gained the edge on boxing due to the quality and quantity of fights, as well as the superior promotion of the sport.
Over the long and storied history of boxing, one constant has always been quality fights. Boxing’s superstars have seemingly never been afraid to fight each other. A great example of this is Jake Lamotta and Sugar Ray Robinsons’ epic rivalry from 1942 to 1951, during which time the fighters met an unprecedented six times. Despite the fact that Robinson won a remarkable five out of six of these bouts, neither he nor Lamotta ever backed down from each other. This is one thing that the sport of boxing is dearly lacking today; great fighters who are not only willing, but eager to fight other great fighters. Floyd Mayweather, Jr. arguably the number one pound-for-pound boxer in the world today, is as guilty as anybody of this. Mayweather has been rightfully criticized by many for handpicking his opponents and avoiding any fighter who poses a legitimate threat to him. A perfect example of this was seen recently when he chose to fight Juan Manuel Marquez. Despite the fact that Marquez was considered by many as a top five pound-for-pound fighter, he had never competed above the lightweight limit of 135 pounds. Mayweather was used to welterweight class of 147 pounds and is a natural for that division. The fight between Mayweather and Marquez was a catch weight bout originally to take place at 144 pounds, but eventually occurred at a limit of 146 pounds because of Mayweather failing to make the original limit. From the opening bell it was evident that Marquez did not belong in the same ring as Mayweather. The additional eleven pounds was just too much for Marquez to overcome, as Mayweather easily earned a unanimous decision. Instead of taking the fight against Marquez who had to rise up two weight classes, Mayweather could have chose to fight someone who is also a natural welterweight, like Shane Mosley or Paul Williams.
The sport of Mixed Martial Arts has none of these problems. In Mixed Martial Arts, the best of each weight class routinely fight each other. A great example of a fighter who embodies the willingness to fight anyone at anytime is Chuck Liddell, who is commonly referred to as “The Iceman.” Liddell has never ducked anyone in his career, quite a contrast to someone like Floyd Mayweather, Jr. Liddell has fought a “who’s who” list of fighters such as Quinton Jackson, Randy Couture, Vitor Belfort, Tito Ortiz, and Wanderlei Silva, just to name a few. Another reason why MMA has seen a rise in popularity over boxing is due to the higher number of times its superstars fight. In boxing it is typical for stars to only fight twice per year. In Mixed Martial Arts it is common for a superstar to fight three times a year. For example since 2002 Mayweather has only fought three times a year once, while Liddell has done it four times. While this may not seem like a significant number, it is. This means that the fans have more opportunities to see MMA fighters fight in the prime of their careers, which helps to boost Mixed Martial Arts’ popularity as a whole. Yet another reason why MMA has dominated boxing over the past few years is the superior promotion of Mixed Martial Arts cards over boxing cards. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is the premier MMA organization and is a great example of MMA’s superior promotion. In general, the UFC holds one pay-per-view card per month. This gives the viewers many opportunities over the course of the year to watch their favorite fighters and to get to know the up and coming fighters of tomorrow. The quality of the pay-per-view cards is also very important. UFC cards typically have five fights if there is no championship bout, and four if there is one. There are also many great fighters and recognizable names on the undercard bouts. Compare that to boxing, where pay-per-view events are scattered throughout the year, and don’t provide undercards worth watching. It is easy to see that you get more bang for your buck with MMA. A final comment about promotion is that MMA greatly benefits from having agreements with network and cable television channels such as CBS and Spike TV. Strikeforce, another MMA organization, broadcast a free event on CBS on November 7, 2009. This event featured Fedor Emelianenko who is considered to be the one of the greatest MMA fighters of all time. This could never happen in boxing, as all of the events featuring superstars are either on premium channels such as HBO and Showtime, or pay-per-view.
In conclusion, Mixed Martial Arts has taken over boxing as the world’s most popular combat sport. They have achieved this success through a combination of superior promotion and visibility. However, boxing has also contributed to MMA’s rise due to its lack of big time fights. If boxing ever wants to be on top again it should look to not only it’s storied past, but also to what MMA is doing right now as firm examples of how to succeed.
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