Floyd Mayweather JR: Why Boxers Don’t Last in Mixed Martial Arts
By Sean Farrell
As mixed martial arts continue to soar in popularity, the only resistance left is that of the mainstream boxing community. The reason for this is unclear, but many suspects a fear of the unknown are the main cause for boxing fans and writers lacking in interest.
Boxing fans love “the sweet science”, so much so that they feel MMA fighters aren’t the best boxers. What boxing fans do not end up realizing, is that of all the MMA fighters who are bad boxers hold other skills such as being an Olympic wrestler or even submission specialist. Boxing purist mentally tune out, change the channel, or turn-off the fight whenever an MMA fight hits the ground, and are unable to ever appreciate the skill and art required for ground-fighting, which in its own right is more effective than boxing, just ask James Toney.
I can personally admit boxing is easy compared to ground-and-pound and ground fighting, which is an extremely rough art. MMA fans who have an understanding of the ground game, take in just as much action and satisfaction from a good ground war just as they would a stand-up one.
The debate is far deeper than that however, If you look at the dynamics and fundamentals of striking in MMA it is vastly different than boxing, for numerous reasons. What brought me to this was that every time I watched pro boxers making the switch to MMA they were getting out-struck.
One of these cases was with pro boxer turned MMA fighter Jens Pulver who fought Takanori Gomi in the now defunct PRIDE FC, Pulver was a rather successful boxer winning pro boxing bouts and knocking opponents out. There was just no way in hell that Gomi could stand with Pulver but to my surprise Pulver was outgunned by Gomi in the stand up. There was another boxer named Yosuke Nishijima who was a former NABO Cruiserweight Champion and held a pro boxing record of 24-2-1 who tried his hand at mixed martial arts and he went 0-4 in PRIDE FC. One fight of his that stuck out was when he went into the clinch with Evangelista “Cyborg” Santos and was throwing body shots and dirty boxing while Cyborg threw knees which were much much heavier.
Why are boxers rendered useless in the stand-up aspect of MMA? Easy answer, MMA isn’t boxing, or kick-boxing, or Muay Thai MMA it’s its own entity and its own sport. Let’s start first off with the gloves, in MMA your not wearing marshmallow pads or pillows on your fist your wearing 4 ounce gloves that cut VERY easily, and they add (let me use an old boxing term) “a puncher’s chance.” of scoring a knockout. With 4 ounce gloves on everyone is considered heavy-handed and flash knock-downs happen almost all the time.
In boxing, defensive stylists like say Winky Wright can catch a boxer’s punches on their gloves, but that won’t fly in MMA, not with the little gloves your getting hurt if you try that in 4 ounce gloves. Even if you look at other styles of defense like James Toney’s defensive masterpieces, the shoulder roll and catching shots on the top of his head, won’t work either you get clipped your probably getting hurt. There is an old saying that goes “boxers learn to roll with the punches” which is very true, and can eliminate of disperse a lot of the power when you get caught clean but in 4 ounce gloves, rolling with punches is minimally effective since there’s not much to roll with at all.
The more important significant difference between MMA and boxing is range, and MMA holds the biggest modifier to choosing range, the take-down. The most common and most decisive attack in all of MMA, the take-down and defending it are SIGNIFICANTLY important in the outcome of the fight. You can’t “stand in the pocket” and shoulder-roll, and bob and weave unless your opponent is willing to do so, because your opponent usually will drop down and “change levels” and just simply take you down, end up on top or with dominant position, and KO or submit you. To avoid being taken down, you have to keep your distance and be ready to “sprawl” or “stuff” the takedown to keep your legs away from an opponent’s grasp.
Beautiful, flowing, fluid combination punching like Joe Calzaghe, Manny Pacquiao, Shane Mosley, and Floyd Mayweather leaves you in range to be taken down and rendered useless. You can’t take a wide stance, or plant your feet like Tyson or Bowe and throw bombs without increasing the danger of your legs getting snatched out from under you or kicked out from under you. In fact, the number one difference in striking is the rules, without boxing’s strict rules about things like the clinch, combination punching might NEVER have evolved to where it is at today.
Of course, kicking and kneeing also changes the range in a fight, and punching in MMA becomes a little more like jousting, you’ve got to come in with straight punches and get out, your jab is really the only thing effective until you can land an unseen hook or uppercut. Quinton Rampage Jackson’s striking is pretty much the best in MMA at 205 pounds, and boxers look at him and think he looks terrible but in all actuality, Rampage is the closest thing you can get to a traditional boxer in MMA and he is far from being just a boxer.
Most boxers express their ignorance publically, such as Floyd Mayweather who has stated that the “UFC ain’t nothing but a fucking fad. Anybody can go out there and street fight. If they think Chuck Liddell is so good, we should take Chuck Liddell, take a good heavyweight under Mayweather promotions….”
Mayweather even offered a million dollars of his own money, but did nothing but reveal Mayweather’s ignorance, because Chuck’s style is emphatically not boxing, it is karate… huge difference.
The biggest factors with Liddell are his keen understanding of power and leverage, finding angles on his punches, taking excellent angles with his feet and body, and most importantly his accuracy and power. Liddell has one similarity to a boxer, and that is he throws winging shots and wide looping punches as hard as he can, the difference between him and the boxer however is Liddell is a sniper and will land it. Liddell is also almost impossible to take down, and he comes with a barrage of hard accurate punches the moment he gets an opening. His form is only open because MMA striking is an open game.
Mayweather couldn’t beat ANY elite mixed martial artist at 135, 145,155, or 170 in anything other than boxing and is ignorance is amusing.
Chuck Liddell is a good striker in MMA but he’s not the best striker in the world by far. Any boxer in an MMA fight will end the same way James Toney did against Randy Couture, even if you place Vitali Klitschko in there with sub-par MMA heavyweight, Vitali may last two minutes on his feet, before he’s on his back falling asleep of tapping out.
Mayweather can send anybody he wanted, but unless there are boxing rules to save the boxer he’s getting beat and beaten badly and here is why. How many Boxing fans thought James Toney had a shot against Couture? MANY. Now how many MMA fans thought Randy Couture was going to take Toney down ASAP and render him useless? ALL OF THEM. Boxers don’t make good mixed martial artist because they lack one major asset, “mixed”, being one dimensional as a boxer is great if your a boxer, but if your trying to fight a mixed martial artist, he isn’t dumb enough to box a boxer he simply just moves to the best thing in the “mixed” arsenal to negate boxing, taking it to the ground.
Too much pure boxing is actually bad for fighting or defending yourself in general, since you get used to the close range and relying on your arms only, you get into the mentality that you can “take one to give one.” Gloves allow for a specific level of development in striking, with both the quantity of punches and the quality of the technique being utilized which far exceeds the more direct, lethal striking of MMA. Imagine bringing a knife to a gun fight and there is the difference point blank. This doesn’t make the knife less effective or useless, nor does it make high-level knife professionals less sophisticated, but a guy with just a gun isn’t going to last long if the rules say it’s a knife fight only and vice-versa. Just because something is the wrong tool for the job in certain situations, the variety of leverage, distance, and decisiveness in different fighting styles is where “Mixed” becomes the difference.
Boxing is more beautiful and elegant than MMA, mainly because of “use,” boxers spend their whole lives working on essentially toe-to-toe, trying to hit without getting hit. They become masters at “the sweet science”, and evolve and move into the realm of the greats like Muhammad Ali and are considered “poetry-in-motion.” The right tool for the job is what matters in MMA, and in MMA the right tool is often quite different than that of boxing. Because of the main factor of distance, MMA needs the big overhand punches, the wide hooks, which in boxing with its close range and quicker combinations are considered “too slow”. Boxers see that big overhand right working in an MMA fight, and immediately think “those guys can’t punch” when really the range is entirely different than anything they have ever seen in a boxing match. Also in MMA, you’ll never see a tight boxing hook land all that often, because if someone’s that close to you throw an elbow, clinch and look for knees or simply score a takedown. Boxers simply don’t last in MMA without a second or third or fourth option to go to if boxing doesn’t work and the track record proves it.
Throughout MMA’s history, there have been numerous boxers who have tried there hand at MMA, from the more popular and not very successful James Toney to the very respectable Marcus Davis. Even World Champion Boxers have failed to make a successful transition such as Francois Botha, James Toney, Ray Mercer and Eric Esch.
Out of all the boxers to transition into MMA few have had success without developing another skill or skills to go along with it such as Andrei Arlovski, Jens Pulver, Marcus Davis, and Anderson Silva but that hasn’t stopped others from trying. BJ Flores has left boxing and has signed with an MMA promotion, the reason for the transition according to Flores was “I’m beyond frustrated! All the cruiserweights in the world are just ducking me, what a bunch of cowards.” Flores stated in an interview.
Ricardo Mayorga was scheduled to make his debut May 15, 2010 against UFC veteran Din Thomas at Shine Fights: Worlds Collide: Mayorga vs. Thomas event, but boxing’s plague Don King filed for an injunction the week of the fight to prevent Mayorga from participating, claiming Mayorga had an exclusive contract with Don King Promotions (DKP). Shine Fights stated that Mayorga’s contract with DKP was for boxing only, and as such did not apply to the sport of mixed martial arts. A Judge named Marc Gold granted King the injunction just hours before the fight was to take place. Later the exact same day, Shine Fights’ officials conceded defeat in the matter and Mayorga was pulled off the card. He has since returned to boxing.
Roy Jones JR. has since been rumored to start MMA and German prodigy Pascal Krauss who had his passion for martial arts tapped when he started boxing at the age of 14. Krauss boxed for five years and the sport earned him a German junior boxing title and a second place in the International German Championships. The latter being the only loss in his 18-fight amateur boxing career, upon his decision to turn pro and become the next big thing in boxing, Krauss grew tired of boxing and looked for a challenge and started MMA which he is now unbeaten professionally in with his record at 10-0 including his most recent win inside the UFC.
Only one boxer has kept his one dimension to a point and has remained in MMA and is still fighting at 44 years old, that man is Eric Esch. Esch was considered a “freak fight” boxer who dubbed “Butterbean” for his bald head and 400 plus pound frame, he amounted a professional boxing record of 77-8-4 with 58 knockouts and was IBA and WAA champion at one time.
After boxing Esch fought in Japan and the greatest kickboxing promotion in the world K-1 where he was 3-4 within the promotion from 2003-2009. While fighting for K-1, Esch found his success in PRIDE FC in mixed martial arts holding a record of 16-8-1 and has an upcoming bout May 7th, 2011 against Dean Storey. The only thing that has made Esch a credible MMA fighter is his stature, he is an imposing figure that has to be chopped down like a tree but like most boxers once he is down he usually is submitted.
One day, a big name boxer will try their luck at MMA while still in their prime but the end result will always be the same. Boxers can box but they cannot fight successfully with that one dimension only, it will remain this way forever and the comparisons need to end once and for all. What makes MMA so compelling right now is the pace at which it’s evolving, both on the ground and in striking. MMA is now a sport moving out of its infancy and into adolescence, and the evolution has been remarkable to witness.
This is in fact what has separated MMA from boxing and left boxing to the purist, MMA is just more compelling, its in a constant growth and evolution much like boxing in the early 1900s when guys first came on the scene doing new things, like the bob-and-weave, or learning how to box going backwards.
MMA has only opened the door to new depths, and new fighters will take us to them. Just watch the fight between Anthony Pettis and Ben Henderson, when Pettis ran up the cage wall and pushed off landing a kick to the head of Henderson which became a historical highlight for all of fight sports. We’re seeing a sport, a real and legitimate sport like the NFL, becoming its own in front of our very eyes. Just sit back, relax and enjoy the ride as mixed martial arts is just an evolution of history, as the art of Pankration was the very first Olympic combat sport and MMA is just an updated version of ancient Greece’s ancient art.