The recent confirmation that last Saturday’s Floyd Mayweather Jr-Juan Manuel Marquez pay-per-view reached one million buys once again proves that the five hundred monthly “Boxing is Dead” articles that originate from MMA websites and ignorant members of the mainstream press are way off base.
Dana White, the figurehead of the UFC and one of the principal causes of the bitter rift between many boxing fans and MMA aficionados, was telling every available microphone that nobody wanted to see Mayweather and that the boxing show was an event that “nobody asked for” featuring Mayweather against a “what’s his name.”
Now, after seeing the end result of the first ever UFC vs. Boxing face-to-face pay-per-view war, the boastful anti-boxing stories should be rewritten and boxing’s obituary should be shoved back into the top shelf of the desk, next to the silly, “whose fighters would win?” debate.
The fact of the matter is that boxing outsold UFC 103 by more than 2 to 1 with a main event that many were openly criticizing and “the theater option” which provided a cheaper alternative to the hefty PPV cost.
Of course, none of this absolves boxing of its sins or excuses the often archaic nature of its business policies. Boxing still has to do some serious house cleaning and is in dire need of reform in everything from the sanctioning bodies to its subservient relationship to the TV networks.
But, what September 19th proved was that America, still, when given a choice, chooses to believe in boxing and, overall, prefers it over any other combat sport option. The key is to simply make an honest effort to put on a good show.
Let this serve as a lesson to Dana White and his posse of true believers: Boxing is not dead.
Let this also serve as a lesson to the boxing hierarchy of power: People want to support your sport; They want to be won over…They want to believe.
Let’s hope the fans have indeed been heard.
Last 5 posts by Paul Magno
- Jose Sulaiman on Margarito: “The CSAC attacked a Mexican fighter!” - September 9th, 2010
- Floyd Mayweather Jr Racist Rant Lacks the Class of a True Star - September 3rd, 2010
- An Open Letter to Randy Couture - August 29th, 2010
- Texas to Receive Antonio Margarito with Open Arms - August 26th, 2010
- Ivan Calderon vs. Giovanni Segura: Science vs. Violence - August 23rd, 2010
Zones:
Categories: Boxing () | Boxing Columns () | Top Story () |
Tagged as: Dana White (191) | Dana White vs boxing (1) | Dana White vs Floyd Mayweather (1) | Floyd Mayweather Jr (113) | mayweaher ppv buys (1) | mma vs boxing (4) | ufc 103 (33) | UFC 103 buyrate (1) |
Facebook comments:
Great article. Crappy main event for Mayweather, but i saw a glorified tune up coming. oh well. But yeah, boxing fans and experts, and MMA fans and experts, are both ignorant of the other sport. They are not mutually exclusive, and from a combat perspective, not even related. MMA is at least 3-4 generations removed from boxing. Boxing’s close relative would be professional kickboxing, k1 style, then there’s the unrelated judo and jujitsu and submission wrestling, then you blend kickboxing, ground fighting, and then either karate, muay thai, or some kind of specialization, then you get MMA. There should be no comparison of their combative elements. THat’s just stupid. As far as boxing fans thinking MMA is skill-less and just tough guys brawling and rolling and tapping out , they’re ignorant, as they’ve never given nor taken a roundhouse kick to the head, nor realized how hard it is to submit a live opponent (and how much skill it requires) or get out of a full mount position or arm bar. Those in MMA who feel boxing is dead or that boxing is just watered down MMA, or that good MMA strikers can compete at the highlest level of boxing are simply ignorant, MMA strikers, besides Machida, A. Silva, and GSP really are not that good of fighters. You’ll see the day Nick diaz gets exposed in a boxing ring. Holler! Great article!
Hey:
I know there’s lots of MMA fans who talk trash about boxing, and Dana white is a loudmouth boob, but where are the “500″ articles you’re talking about from the MMA press? I subscribe to most of them and didn’t see any. The thing I did see what Bob Arum mocking MMA for being by and for skinheads and guys rolling around “like homosexuals” (leading me to wonder what he’s been doing in his spare time, honestly). So where is this huge outpouring from the MMA press? I’m missing it. The fact that Belfort-Franklin, a catchweight non-title main event, may reach 400K buys is pretty surprising in and of itself and should be the real news. Mayweather-Marquez reaching a million, ok. Let’s compare it with Carwin-Lesnar.
@Garth
You must not subscribe to the same news feeder service that I do because I am literally swamped with such articles every week, especially when it’s time to start promoting the next UFC PPV. It’s a virtual bombardment during the week of a UFC show..and talk to Dana White or his pet dog, Rogan, long enough and you’ll get enough verbal swipes at boxing to fill a Brock Lesnar spiral notebook…Compare that to Bob Arum’s ONE comment.
Both sports can co-exist perfectly well…there’s absolutely no need for one side to rip the other.
compare Mayweather-Marquez to Carwin-Lesnar? Hmm Did MMA ever reach a million PPV buys? If so then where did all those money go? I know Lesnar the superstar of MMA was paid a chicken feed 400K+ dollars LOL i think that’s the amount Floyd pay his cut-man LMAO. IF MMA is so huge then why pay the superstar 400K? and if Boxing is so dead why pay Floyd 10M and Marquez 2M? The point is u know how big the sport is by looking at how the players are earning as simple as that….
I like UFC but I hate Dana White talking sh@t about boxing that way. Some guys I know will boycott SOME UFC PPV because boxing is a traditional sport. Its like a culture, YOU DON’T TRASH YOUR CULTURE. In any Martial Arts respect to your opponent is part of a culture too. Dana White is arrogant, nobody likes that, that’s being an asshole.
Dana White is really making boxing fans pist off. Alot of boxing fans like UFC but if he’s being an asshole about boxing, then forget about UFC. They can burn to hell. There’s something to learn about respect to other forms of Martial Arts and talking trash or using the same date to fight is really being disrespectful and an asshole. Another case in point is the Pacquiao/Cotto fight, UFC decides to fight on the same night too. Boxing promoters do not have that disrecpectful mentality to go head to head on the same night. UFC is like a little kid trying to get attention. Guess what Dana THERE’S ALOT OF CAKE OUT THERE AND YOU CAN’T HAVE IT ALL.
This is the reason why they want to hype boxing ppv, that boxing is better than UFC and boxing is not dead.
[...] Sorry Dana, America’s Not Ready to Bury Boxing Yet [...]
» Reports that Floyd Mayweather has been arrested
» In 2010, Heavyweight Boxing is an European Sport
» Jose Sulaiman on Margarito: “The CSAC attacked a Mexican fighter!”
» Bernard Hopkins: Boxing’s Kudzu
» Floyd Mayweather Jr Racist Rant Lacks the Class of a True Star
» Juan Manuel Lopez vs. Rafael Marquez Rescheduled For Nov 6
Loading ...
Wow, the ONE big boxing event of the year beat out the 12th best UFC PPV card of the yeay. GOOD JOB!!!!