Well, I am writing this to my readers today with a partially heavy heart. I have long loved the sport and art of boxing; the "sweet science". I have watched boxing most of my 40 years on this earth ans even competed in a few bouts when I was much younger and far more stupid.
But I am here today to tell you all that boxing is dead. The new king of combat sports is Mixed Martial Arts, i.e. UFC, Strikeforce, et. al. I watched in utter amazement as Floyd "Money" Mayweather defeated "Sugar" Shane Mosley by doing little more than landing the occasional jab, mixed in with a total of three straight rights. Floyd was paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $22.5 million for this sham, and Mosley received a paltry $7 million.
I was physically ill watching the "fight", and I'm still nauseous thinking about it. One of my buddies, who was also watching the fight said, "How can two grown men beat on each other for over 30 minutes and not even look like they've been in a fight?"
My thoughts exactly.....
MMA is not perfect by anyone's estimation. However, what MMA does offer to the fight fan is a complete package of fighting skills. In boxing, the only thing that you have to worry about is your opponent's hands. In MMA, you must worry about your opponent's hands, his shins, his legs, his elbows; all of it. And anyone who states that MMA is "human cock-fighting" is simply ignorant of what the sport has become through proper sanctioning and training.
Last night some paid nearly $50 to watch "Money" artfully dodge all that Mosley threw at him for 12 boring-assed rounds. This Saturday, I will likely pay nearly $50 to watch up to five fights that individually will be better than the trash I watched last night, and collectively better than any pay-per-view boxing event since Tyson-Douglas. The great heavyweights are either dead, comatose, or retired in boxing. The smaller weights, such as welterweight and super welterweight are all that's left and nobody other than hardcore fight fans care anything about those guys.
"Money" can take is money and go away. He is no longer relevant in the world of combat sports. Good riddance. I would rather watch Spencer Fisher or Clay Guida fight any day of the week than that bum and twice on Sunday!!
