I get a good chuckle when idiots like you say that both can "coexist". If boxing is so much better why would you want to coexist with us thugs? If boxing is so much higher than mma, why would you be willing to coexist with such neanderthals? Because boxing is dying off. You dont believe me, read on.......
https://www.cleveland.com/sports/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/sports/117256885876500.xml&coll=2&thispage=1
Mixed martial arts knocks out boxing
Young males embrace Ultimate Fighting
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Joe Maxse
Plain Dealer Reporter Where has all the boxing gone?
What was once one of this country's mainstream sports is now most often buried in the back of sports pages.
Just look at Cleveland. Three recent shows sum up the state of boxing in this town:
Promoters reduced a Dec. 9 professional card at Public Hall to all of three bouts, mismatches at that. The crowd of about 400 received refunds.
A week later, the national amateur championship qualifier at the Salvation Army Boxing Academy on Hough Avenue produced eight entries and three matches.
On Feb. 10, a women's title bout featuring Northfield's Vonda Ward headlined a pro show at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center. Four men's undercard matches ranged from less-than-mediocre to ridiculous.
A different scene will unfold Saturday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
The Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championships will showcase its brand of mixed martial arts matches in "UFC 68."
The event will take place in front of a sold-out crowd of 15,000 and produce a state-record gate approaching $2.7 million. The pay-per-view television buys will fetch millions more.
The monthly UFC mixed martial arts shows - featuring punching, kicking, martial arts and wrestling in a fenced-in octagon, with pounding rock music and video to boot - have become the rage, especially among males 18-35.
In 2003, UFC got a huge boost with the addition of the "Ultimate Fighter" reality show on cable's Spike TV, with an estimated 2.2 million viewers tuning in. One night last fall, an ultimate fighting show drew more young male TV viewers than a Major League Baseball playoff game. The UFC pushes the Internet and feel-good glitz, with competitors appealing to a suburban crowd that is into physical fitness and martial arts.
"More people are involved and watching [UFC] on TV," said Marcus Marinelli, who trains mixed martial arts fighters at Strong Style Martial Arts and Training Center in Independence. "People are looking for entertainment.
"I think boxing is in trouble. They are the last converts."
Boxing remains a city game. Most boxers come from poorer backgrounds, and it has been that way since the days of Irish, Italian and Jewish immigrants, now giving way to blacks and Latinos.
Fewer boxing promoters are putting on small "club shows," the training ground for would-be champions, because there is little money to be made at that developmental level. So would-be fighters have little incentive to stay in the gym.
USA Boxing's Lake Erie Association, which ranges from Youngstown to Lorain and Cleveland to Mansfield, had registered 268 athletes in 2006. According to association president Clytee Dunn, that is about half the registrants from 10 years ago.
Two years ago, the historic Cleveland Golden Gloves tournament was nearly canceled for lack of entries. This year's Golden Gloves are April 13.
"You can't put your finger on one thing," said Dunn, who has been involved with Cleveland amateur boxing for 40 years. "Kids are going to make decisions, and sometimes they make the wrong ones. Some guys can't give up the street corruption.
"Kids are loyal to the program up to 14 or 15. Then they get girlfriends and don't come to the gym."
Joe Delguyd, a Cleveland lawyer, helps run the Old School Boxing Club on Perkins Avenue and East 36th Street. On any given night, 20 to 30 fighters go through the age-old rituals of skipping rope and rapping the speed bag. They are strictly boxers, amateurs and pros, staying in shape in case a bout should come along.
According to Delguyd, it costs between $35,000 and $40,000 to maintain the converted warehouse, with the winter's heating bill eating up a big chunk. He said money from a county anti-crime grant ran out in 2005, and that he is in the process of securing federal money.
"We're talent-rich, but not rich in numbers," said Delguyd. "We've got a nice big gym that's well equipped to hold the kids' interest. I'm almost at a loss to explain it. We just don't have enough shows."
And the emergence of UFC-style mixed martial arts fighting has given would-be boxers another option.
"It's a different sport catering to a different crowd," Delguyd said. "We're in the inner city, and a lot of our kids, I can't even get myself to charge them dues. The [martial arts] guys pay for classes."
On a recent night at Strong Style, located in a former tile warehouse just west of I-77 in Independence, nearly 50 guys went through mixed martial arts workouts.
Boxing equipment was available, including nine heavy bags and a small ring, but so was a large matted area and an octagonal ring. Karate kicks slammed into the bags and head-geared battlers practiced wrestling-style holds and takedowns on the mat.
On Saturday in Columbus, 26-year-old Jason Dent will make his second UFC national appearance when he takes on Gleason Tibau, a black belt from Brazil. Dent runs the Griffonrawl Thai Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Mentor and occasionally trains at Strong Style.
"I would have liked to [box], but there were no local gyms," said Dent, who attended Ledgemont High in Geauga County and is considered a lightweight in UFC at 155 pounds. "I've never been knocked out. To me it's more natural to put a knee to the head. It's not a street fight, but it's raw. There are so many ways to win."
Roughneck origins for a new game
When mixed martial arts fighting started to gain popularity in the early 1990s, U.S. Sen. John McCain compared it to "human cock fighting." Rules were skimpy at best, weight classes did not exist, and opponents commonly stomped on their opponents and kicked them in the groin. Most states were not prepared to handle this "anything goes" fighting, and many banned it.
The Ohio Athletic Commission, which regulates professional boxing, was cautious when mixed martial arts fighting was proposed here in the late 1990s. Gradually, the commission realized that these "renegade" shows were taking place and sought to bring them under its jurisdiction.
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