Do you think the morons MMA fans who denigrated boxing are starting to see how effective boxing is in MMA?

Question

I mean a couple years ago you could find MMA fans who were so ignorant as to think boxing was an unnecessary in MMA training. Now with guys like Penn, Torres, Faber, GSP all including heavy doses of boxing training it is clear how important it is. The thing about boxing is that it is the combat sport Americans have historically been best at. The greatest boxing champs have been from the U.S. So with the rich boxing history America has no wonder that American and other fighters are so successfully adding boxing skills to MMA.

Answer 1

Put a Boxer and a Wrestler in the cage and see who wins. Yes, boxing is a good foundation for stand up game but what happens when you are on your back?

Answer 2

First the moron fans that do the denigrating are 99% boxing fans. Second boxing didn't work in the earlier days of MMA because the stance of a boxer was to upright for MMA and lead to them being taken down almost at will. Now you'll see that lead leg back a bit in the stance to account for a sprawl and keep your balance to throw leg kicks.

Answer 3

All those guys spend more time on the ground. Boxing has always been one aspect of mma. I don't really get your point here.

Answer 4

Boxing is clearly the best style for pure punching, and I agree that it is essential for success at the highest levels of MMA.  However, I would still denegrate boxing as a sport, because it is so incredibly boring!  

Do you want to watch guys with ridiculously oversized gloves punching each other in the arms for 10 rounds without doing any damage and hugging every 5 seconds?  No thanks!  The vast majority of boxing matches I've seen have followed this pattern.  (And yes, I realize that professional boxers are highly skilled and that they would knock me out in 30 seconds or less, but that doesn't make their fights any more interesting to watch!)

Answer 5

MMA fans never were ignorant about boxing, we were bored with it, there are no good boxers anymore. boxing is a key strategy for MMA fighting

Answer 6

Alex, I would recommend you let somebody wearing "ridiculously over sized gloves" whack you in the arms for a few rounds. Then see if you can hold up your arms any longer--you won't be able to. Then you will get popped in the chin and down you will go. Boxing is a great sport, if you are intelligent enough to understand it and to understand just how much strategy and work goes into setting up your opponent and getting him into a spot where you can drop the hammer. Are some boxing matches boring? Sure. And the average MMA fight is more exciting than the average boxing match. But you also don't seem to really understand boxing.

To respond to the question: It is a stupid, straw-man argument. MMA fighters have been training at boxing for years, and it has always been acknowledged as one of the critical building blocks of a well rounded MMA game. I don't know who you ever heard claiming otherwise, but they didn't have a clue what they were talking about and did not represent legitimate MMA fans and athletes.

Answer 7

I just finished giving c**p to a twit who thinks if he was bigger he could take out Randy Couture.  Why?  Because he knows a little kung fu/karate and all Couture knows is stupid wrestling and boxing.

I agree, boxing is highly effective because of the live training.  Of course St.Pierre isn't American...

Answer 8

I agree with you to a certain extent.

It is important to realize and understand the evolution of MMA across time. One aspect is the rules. Most importantly the inception of wieght classes. Without the weight classes, boxing was not an emphasized technique because it lends itself mostly to guys of similar size.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that currently to an MMAritst boxing does not refer to what Frazier and Tyson did. Boxing for them has evolved into a combination of several disciplines like Muay Tai and Kickboxing in order to put together several combinations of strikes.

So while more and more fighers are utilizing a stand up game, the technique of pure boxing is not becoming any more prevalent.

Answer 9

it helps in MMA yeah. most of these guys learned some other martial art before practicing boxing, not that they actually practice boxing as you say it, they just practice hitting bags and people at their MMA gym. this is just practicing hand skills as far as im concerned

i agree with the other guy

boxing is boring

yeah its boring when guys go to ground wrestling

thats why standup is more fun :-) just not standup with ONLY punches and way oversized gloves

full fledged striking is far more fun to watch than half ground game

Answer 10

boxing is just one of the many facets of mixed martial art, its good for a standing attack, but so is karate, Muay Thai, and kickboxing, but once the fight goes to the ground your boxing isnt going to help you a lot, especially if youre fighting a guy with wrestling, BJJ, and submission grappling, so you cant really just use boxing , because its not a boxing match.

Answer 11

Your question reveals you level of ignorance.

MMA fans years ago knew the importance of cross-training.

Casual MMA fans, or TUF Noobs are the ones who don't know the difference.

Answer 12

Quite honestly I have a lot of respect for boxing. I have sparred with an Ex golden gloves heavyweight and anyone who thinks it is not a legitimate fighting style needs to meet on at their rules.

For Alex- You say boxing is boring, but how does that compare to 2 guys laying on the ground for 15 minutes? I realize that if you know BJJ it can be exciting because you are able to see all the little details, but to the average person it seems pretty boring as well. I dont think that for the average person boxing is as boring as the ground work in a lot of fights.

Answer 13

1. Americans have a boxing tradition, so there are a lot of superb boxing gyms right in any local working class neighborhood.

2. Boxing is a ring fighting style like Muy Thai, so boxing adapts well to the MMA prize fighting environment (yet boxers still get reamed in a street fight).

3.  MMA ring-fighters are really not that technically skillful in the martial arts.  MMA fighters are trained to win shiny trophies in front of screaming ticket buying fans$$$$$$$

4. Western boxing is utilized because you're not allowed to do eye jabs, spear hands, wrist locks, small joint manipulations, or pressure points in MMA prize fighting as you would use in a street fight. MMA is not really martial arts.

Answer 14

Boxing has played an important part since the days of Don Frye.  It is easy to rip on boxing because of the poisons the promoters have unleashed on boxing.  Had guys like Don King never Killed boxing then people could enjoy both of them.  I do watch boxing, but not as much as MMA and on your feet just punching there's no way you can rule out boxing.  Everyone who rules out boxing is stupid...I think it is a dying sport because it has gotten incredibly boring and dramatic, with the exception of a few fights.