Letting the Inmates Run the Asylum
Let's step away from boxing and MMA for a second and take a look at every other major sporting league out there like the NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL and ask ourselves a few common sense questions.
Q: Do players and their agents decide which teams they are going to face during the year?
A: No, of course they don't. The leagues set out the schedule of games and decide when the games will take place.
Q: Take the NBA for example. Do players and agents decide who in particular they are going to defend during the game on any given night? More succinctly, do they decide which players they are going to avoid entirely to make sure that they can't be held responsible in case that guy goes off for a triple double?
A: Again, of course not.
I could go on and on like this, but the answers are going to be the same. I hope you see where I'm going with this. Right now, the Inmates (boxers and their managers) are running the Asylum (the sport of boxing) right into the ground with corrupt and out of date business practices and poor promotion of the sport causing it to lose its global appeal. In boxing, managers like Don King, and groups like Golden Boy promotions like to build fighters up as these larger than life characters that are bigger than boxing. They garner these grandiose fight purses by trading off of paper championships to make their own guys appear as though they are so significant that the sport would be lost without their presence. Everyone is proclaiming that their guy is "the greatest", and his fighter (e.g. Floyd Mayweather Jr.) is the reason why we watch fights in the first place. Now that may be true to an extent, but by now the public has grown tired of tuning in to see a name fight, if at most, 2 times in a year. What the hell are they supposed to do the rest of the time? Watch mediocre contests on ESPN2 on Friday nights hoping that in 10 years one of these scrappy guys will amount to anything?
The lessons that Zuffa has learned from boxing failures have been invaluable in the promotion and growth of MMA. People tune in to watch UFC cards because they want to see exciting, quality fights. While different fighters like Georges St. Pierre, Anderson Silva and, to a lesser extent, Jon Jones, are still capturing the public's attention when they are on a particular pay per view card, the UFC is consistently doing solid business on all of its events regardless of who is headlining. That's because Zuffa has turned MMA into the brand rather than focusing on one particular fighter. M-1 global has tried to take the traditional approach in their promotion of Fedor Emelianenko, but the sport has passed them by. MMA, and more specifically the UFC, is bigger than any one man. The UFC has survived the retirement of Chuck Lidell, and will survive the impending retirement of Randy Couture, as well as the loss of every other great champion in the future when they choose to hang up the gloves because the sport is what people enjoy watching. They tune in for the competition, just like they do when they watch any of the other 3 letter sporting organizations year in and year out.
Boxing used to be able to be about the man. But now "the man" just isn't enough to carry the sport anymore. Boxing's only way to save itself is to go through the process of downsizing. They must contract the 4 sanctioning bodies down into one consolidate organization and reduce the number of weight classes. Once done, the sanctioning body can then conduct and operate a tournament fight system consisting of the top 8 ranked fighters in each weight class competing over the course of 2 years to create unified, true champions. Once accomplished, the new sanctioning body can then do the right thing, which is setting up the fights that the fans want to see. No more talk of who I want to fight and don't want to fight. You fight who we tell you to fight. Sounds nice and plausible.....but it won't happen.
Like I said, the Inmates are running the Asylum and it's never going to change.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Why is Professional Boxing dying while MMA is thriving? - Reason #4
The Death of the Great American Heavyweight
Let's face it, the Heavyweight Championship of the World is probably the most highly regarded and coveted title in all of sports. It's the crown jewel of individual accomplishment in sports, and has been ever since John L. Sullivan first held the title during a ten year reign from 1882 - 1892. James Braddock, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, and of course, the great Muhammad Ali are all great American heavyweights that have held the unofficial moniker of "baddest man on the planet." But, it has been more than 20 years since an American has held an Undisputed crown and more than 10 years since we've seen a legitimate heavyweight contender emerge from the US.
Despite the recent championship runs of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones Jr., boxing's biggest stage and marquee division remains at Heavyweight. Heavyweight boxers capture the public's attention due to their size, ability and raw power. Fight fans watch boxing to see the knockout. We can talk all we want about back and forth wars, technical battles that boxers have in the ring and this and that, but at the end of the day people fill the seats to see someone get their lights turned out. And to be fair, the Klitschko brothers are still knocking people out. But without a US heavyweight pulling the trigger, the public in this country just isn't going to be interested in watching. This problem, unlike some of the other ones that plague the sport, will probably be corrected in the future. It's cyclical in nature. The talent pool goes up and down, and it's in a downward trend right now. It is just a matter of finding and grooming new talent, then using good promotion to build him up in the public's eyes.
The real problem for boxing is that during this lull more and more fight fans are migrating over to MMA while boxing searches for its next great heavyweight savior. It's marketing is leaps and bounds ahead of boxing here in the US, while it's stable of fighters is largely made up of young, athletic American prospects. One other thing to note is the explosion of dominant college wrestlers that are making the transition into MMA to continue their athletic careers. Before MMA exploded into the public consciousness after the first season of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter, amateur wrestlers truly had no venue other than the Olympics or World Championships to display their abilities. Now that we've seen successful champions and fighters in MMA that have that wrestling pedigree, the sport is never going to be short of talent here in the US. Internationally, boxing may still be ahead of MMA, but your popularity here in the US is what will ultimately determine your place among the sports world. If the American public isn't tuning in to watch you fight, then essentially nobody's watching. That's not me being biased, that's just fact. Our media, our fans, our money drives the sporting world.
And right now, 4 of the 7 MMA divisions have US champions, with 100 more waiting in the wings for their shot.
Let's face it, the Heavyweight Championship of the World is probably the most highly regarded and coveted title in all of sports. It's the crown jewel of individual accomplishment in sports, and has been ever since John L. Sullivan first held the title during a ten year reign from 1882 - 1892. James Braddock, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, and of course, the great Muhammad Ali are all great American heavyweights that have held the unofficial moniker of "baddest man on the planet." But, it has been more than 20 years since an American has held an Undisputed crown and more than 10 years since we've seen a legitimate heavyweight contender emerge from the US.
Despite the recent championship runs of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Bernard Hopkins, Oscar De La Hoya and Roy Jones Jr., boxing's biggest stage and marquee division remains at Heavyweight. Heavyweight boxers capture the public's attention due to their size, ability and raw power. Fight fans watch boxing to see the knockout. We can talk all we want about back and forth wars, technical battles that boxers have in the ring and this and that, but at the end of the day people fill the seats to see someone get their lights turned out. And to be fair, the Klitschko brothers are still knocking people out. But without a US heavyweight pulling the trigger, the public in this country just isn't going to be interested in watching. This problem, unlike some of the other ones that plague the sport, will probably be corrected in the future. It's cyclical in nature. The talent pool goes up and down, and it's in a downward trend right now. It is just a matter of finding and grooming new talent, then using good promotion to build him up in the public's eyes.
The real problem for boxing is that during this lull more and more fight fans are migrating over to MMA while boxing searches for its next great heavyweight savior. It's marketing is leaps and bounds ahead of boxing here in the US, while it's stable of fighters is largely made up of young, athletic American prospects. One other thing to note is the explosion of dominant college wrestlers that are making the transition into MMA to continue their athletic careers. Before MMA exploded into the public consciousness after the first season of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter, amateur wrestlers truly had no venue other than the Olympics or World Championships to display their abilities. Now that we've seen successful champions and fighters in MMA that have that wrestling pedigree, the sport is never going to be short of talent here in the US. Internationally, boxing may still be ahead of MMA, but your popularity here in the US is what will ultimately determine your place among the sports world. If the American public isn't tuning in to watch you fight, then essentially nobody's watching. That's not me being biased, that's just fact. Our media, our fans, our money drives the sporting world.
And right now, 4 of the 7 MMA divisions have US champions, with 100 more waiting in the wings for their shot.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Why is Professional Boxing dying while MMA is thriving?
Reason #3 - Fighters afraid to get into a Fight
Every fighter wants to be a champion, because of what that very word signifies: greatness. By winning a championship, you are trying to declare to the world that you are the very best at what you do. But, there are those fighters that transcend that greatness and seek to become even more. For them it's not enough to just be the best welterweight, they want to be the best pound for pound fighter in the game. They want people to look at them and say with absolute certainty, based on sheer skill and ability, that they are better than everyone else in their entire sport.
Right now, the sporting world is split: Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Depending on who you talk to, you'll get a different answer. Regardless of which side of the fence you're on, there's no denying that these two athletes are ranked #1 & #2 in the sport on the pound for pound list. But the debate that will rage on forever until you get these two guys in the same ring with each other. You would think that wouldn't be a problem and that both men would be eager to prove who truly was the best, but you'd be wrong. What keeps this fight from happening is one of the most common practices in boxing, protecting the brand. Mayweather has an image of invincibility to protect. His claim to the title of pound for pound champion rests mainly on his ability to protect his untarnished record. Keeping his record clean keeps the cash cow going. Keeping his record clean means he'll always have that edge in the debate and is what will keep him and his camp from committing to the bout. They can't risk losing that image. Boxers compile grandiose records against second rate competition and work to build a brand name rather than build a top flight resume worthy of the hollow championships they hold. This tragedy of promotional control trumping the voice of the fans is one of the main factors responsible for boxing's decline.
Conversely, within each of the major MMA organizations there exists a group of puppet masters. They are the matchmakers that pick who is going to fight, where they will fight and who they will fight against. In Strikeforce, it's Scott Coker. In the UFC, it's Joe Silva. He, along with the UFC brass decide the match ups and make the fights that the fans want to see. This system prevents fighters and their managers from loading up their records with cheap wins. In MMA, there's nowhere for a fighter to hide. If you're good enough to get the hype train behind you, then you will be forced to back it up in the cage. The perfect example of this dynamic is the ascension of Jon Jones to the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones rolled through his first 7 opponents in the UFC, compiling a 6-1 record with only a disqualification loss in a fight he was dominating to keep him from perfection. He was pulling off moves that people had never seen a fighter his size attempt with relative ease and was dubbed a phenom. And after only 13 professional fights, he was given a shot at the belt against Shogun Rua, who was considered one of the top 5 fighters on the planet. And what did he do? He demolished him in the worst loss of Shogun's 9 year career.
There's the difference. MMA bigwigs get it, boxing purists don't. Fans want to see the best possible match ups at all times. Fans don't care about wins or losses, they want to be entertained. Watching Mayweather jib and jab an ancient Shane Mosely for 11 rounds is not entertainment, it's boredom. Unless boxing magically changes its ways and starts to match the best fighters against each other on a consistent basis, then more and more fight fans will look to MMA for what they used to get from boxing: dominant, deserving champions taking on relevant and talented challengers who fight for the crowd as much as they do for themselves.
Every fighter wants to be a champion, because of what that very word signifies: greatness. By winning a championship, you are trying to declare to the world that you are the very best at what you do. But, there are those fighters that transcend that greatness and seek to become even more. For them it's not enough to just be the best welterweight, they want to be the best pound for pound fighter in the game. They want people to look at them and say with absolute certainty, based on sheer skill and ability, that they are better than everyone else in their entire sport.
Right now, the sporting world is split: Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr. Depending on who you talk to, you'll get a different answer. Regardless of which side of the fence you're on, there's no denying that these two athletes are ranked #1 & #2 in the sport on the pound for pound list. But the debate that will rage on forever until you get these two guys in the same ring with each other. You would think that wouldn't be a problem and that both men would be eager to prove who truly was the best, but you'd be wrong. What keeps this fight from happening is one of the most common practices in boxing, protecting the brand. Mayweather has an image of invincibility to protect. His claim to the title of pound for pound champion rests mainly on his ability to protect his untarnished record. Keeping his record clean keeps the cash cow going. Keeping his record clean means he'll always have that edge in the debate and is what will keep him and his camp from committing to the bout. They can't risk losing that image. Boxers compile grandiose records against second rate competition and work to build a brand name rather than build a top flight resume worthy of the hollow championships they hold. This tragedy of promotional control trumping the voice of the fans is one of the main factors responsible for boxing's decline.
Conversely, within each of the major MMA organizations there exists a group of puppet masters. They are the matchmakers that pick who is going to fight, where they will fight and who they will fight against. In Strikeforce, it's Scott Coker. In the UFC, it's Joe Silva. He, along with the UFC brass decide the match ups and make the fights that the fans want to see. This system prevents fighters and their managers from loading up their records with cheap wins. In MMA, there's nowhere for a fighter to hide. If you're good enough to get the hype train behind you, then you will be forced to back it up in the cage. The perfect example of this dynamic is the ascension of Jon Jones to the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Jones rolled through his first 7 opponents in the UFC, compiling a 6-1 record with only a disqualification loss in a fight he was dominating to keep him from perfection. He was pulling off moves that people had never seen a fighter his size attempt with relative ease and was dubbed a phenom. And after only 13 professional fights, he was given a shot at the belt against Shogun Rua, who was considered one of the top 5 fighters on the planet. And what did he do? He demolished him in the worst loss of Shogun's 9 year career.
There's the difference. MMA bigwigs get it, boxing purists don't. Fans want to see the best possible match ups at all times. Fans don't care about wins or losses, they want to be entertained. Watching Mayweather jib and jab an ancient Shane Mosely for 11 rounds is not entertainment, it's boredom. Unless boxing magically changes its ways and starts to match the best fighters against each other on a consistent basis, then more and more fight fans will look to MMA for what they used to get from boxing: dominant, deserving champions taking on relevant and talented challengers who fight for the crowd as much as they do for themselves.
Why is Professional Boxing dying while MMA is thriving?
Reason #2 - Unity of Command
Quick review for everyone. There are 4 widely recognized and sanctioned boxing organizations: WBA, WBO, WBF and IBF. Each one has their own championships and each one deals with cross promotional bouts on a regular basis. That's a good thing.
Here's the not-so-good thing: these four groups will never consolidate into a single championship organiation, EVER!
Now boxing purists will call this very notion ridiculous and stupid, I know. As we already know, fighters have unified the belts in the past and made the claim as the "undisputed" champion of their particular weight class, but take a look at the world of boxing today. Out of the 18 weight classes, there are NO unified championships. The closest thing we have today is the stranglehold that the Klitschko brothers have over the Heavyweight titles. But both Vitali and Wladimir have already said that they will never fight eachother, so Wladimir will have to settle for 3 of the 4 belts if he can beat British fighter David Haye in their upcoming bout this July. Now, how can you realistically claim that you're the best fighter, the champ, if there are 3 other guys who fight in the same weight class that have a shiny piece of metal strapped around their waist as well? Logically, you can't! And remember what I said about guarding your brand??? That should tell you why unification bouts are the exception, not the norm.
MMA doesn't have this problem completely solved yet, but they are a hell of a lot closer to fixing it than boxing can ever hope to become. With Zuffa's purchase of rival Strikefore, it will not be long before those fighters and those belts are rolled up under the UFC umbrella. Just as they did when they purchased the Pride Fighting organization, they'll hold title unifciation bouts. And that will effectively end anymore debate about who the top MMA fighters are in the world. I've said it before, I believe we're no more than 18 months away from that happening. The UFC will become the next 3 letter organization synonymous with its sport just like the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. That gives it recognition and meaning to the casual fan, something boxing lost a long time ago and, by the looks of things, will never get back.
Look, I'm a military man, so this makes more sense to me than any of the other reasons put together. Unity of command is a term that we use to say that when it comes time to make the call, one person makes that call. One guy says yes we're doing this, or no we're doing that. That's what Zuffa is building towards; one organization with all of the best fighters under one roof, all fighting for the same title. When championship fights for the UFC are shown on TV, people will recognize the name and know that the belt carries actual meaning behind it. Boxing will never be able to do that, and it's probably the strongest reason as to why their sport's popularity is dying.
Quick review for everyone. There are 4 widely recognized and sanctioned boxing organizations: WBA, WBO, WBF and IBF. Each one has their own championships and each one deals with cross promotional bouts on a regular basis. That's a good thing.
Here's the not-so-good thing: these four groups will never consolidate into a single championship organiation, EVER!
Now boxing purists will call this very notion ridiculous and stupid, I know. As we already know, fighters have unified the belts in the past and made the claim as the "undisputed" champion of their particular weight class, but take a look at the world of boxing today. Out of the 18 weight classes, there are NO unified championships. The closest thing we have today is the stranglehold that the Klitschko brothers have over the Heavyweight titles. But both Vitali and Wladimir have already said that they will never fight eachother, so Wladimir will have to settle for 3 of the 4 belts if he can beat British fighter David Haye in their upcoming bout this July. Now, how can you realistically claim that you're the best fighter, the champ, if there are 3 other guys who fight in the same weight class that have a shiny piece of metal strapped around their waist as well? Logically, you can't! And remember what I said about guarding your brand??? That should tell you why unification bouts are the exception, not the norm.
MMA doesn't have this problem completely solved yet, but they are a hell of a lot closer to fixing it than boxing can ever hope to become. With Zuffa's purchase of rival Strikefore, it will not be long before those fighters and those belts are rolled up under the UFC umbrella. Just as they did when they purchased the Pride Fighting organization, they'll hold title unifciation bouts. And that will effectively end anymore debate about who the top MMA fighters are in the world. I've said it before, I believe we're no more than 18 months away from that happening. The UFC will become the next 3 letter organization synonymous with its sport just like the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL. That gives it recognition and meaning to the casual fan, something boxing lost a long time ago and, by the looks of things, will never get back.
Look, I'm a military man, so this makes more sense to me than any of the other reasons put together. Unity of command is a term that we use to say that when it comes time to make the call, one person makes that call. One guy says yes we're doing this, or no we're doing that. That's what Zuffa is building towards; one organization with all of the best fighters under one roof, all fighting for the same title. When championship fights for the UFC are shown on TV, people will recognize the name and know that the belt carries actual meaning behind it. Boxing will never be able to do that, and it's probably the strongest reason as to why their sport's popularity is dying.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Why is Professional Boxing dying while MMA is thriving?
Reason #1 - Less is More
Can anyone even name all of the titles and weight classes that exist in professional boxing off of the top of their head? I will bet anyone on the street $1,000 that they couldn't, on the spot, cash money. If you look it up, there are 18 different weight classes ranging from as little as 85 lbs (called Paperweight class....no joke) to Heavyweights. 18 different weight classes! And there are 4 widely regarded sanctioning bodies in boxing: WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF.
Now you do the math. That equates to 72 champions between the four major groups. 72 different champions! Granted, some boxers have fought for and won multiple organizational championships to try and unify the belt, but that is more of a rarity these days than it used to be in the past. I would up the ante to $10,000 if anyone can name me the IBF junior featherweight champion without having to use your iPhone or Internet search engine. Oh, one other thing to note. Of the 18 different weight classes between the four sanctioning bodies, the names of the weight classes are not even consistent. Case in point, the WBA, WBC, and IBF all use the title Cruiserweight to classify fighters in the division of 176 lbs - 200 lbs, while the WBO calls this weight class Junior Heavyweight. There are 9 other contradictions between the 18 weight classes in all. Confused yet? Yeah, me too.
On the other hand, MMA is much more simplistic in its approach. There are 7 major weight classes with unified weight limits across the sport. Now MMA is similar to boxing in the sense that there are multiple organizations that promote fights and have their own championships: UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator to name the most prominent ones. But all the weight classes are the same between each organization are the same. A middleweight in the UFC has the same weight limit as one in Bellator. And let's keep it real, now that Zuffa has purchased Strikeforce, it will not be long before that promotion and all of its fighters get rolled up under the UFC's banner. At that point, no one is going to argue who the true champions of the sport are. Bellator is already seen as a minor league promotion. Soon enough, their best fighters will migrate over to the UFC to test themselves and to get the recognition they feel they deserve. I give it 18 months at most until Zuffa will gobble Bellator up as well.
When that happens, and believe me it will, then there will be no debate about who the best cage fighter in the world is. As for boxing, their outdated and convoluted system is their own worst enemy. But unfortunately, the Boxing elite is too intent on holding on to its traditions rather than evolving with the times. Less weight classes would equal less confusion, and would in turn create more interest and better fights. It's how MMA has been able to market itself and its champions so well while keeping a large stable of fighters relevant and it's one of the reasons that boxing is dying.
Can anyone even name all of the titles and weight classes that exist in professional boxing off of the top of their head? I will bet anyone on the street $1,000 that they couldn't, on the spot, cash money. If you look it up, there are 18 different weight classes ranging from as little as 85 lbs (called Paperweight class....no joke) to Heavyweights. 18 different weight classes! And there are 4 widely regarded sanctioning bodies in boxing: WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF.
Now you do the math. That equates to 72 champions between the four major groups. 72 different champions! Granted, some boxers have fought for and won multiple organizational championships to try and unify the belt, but that is more of a rarity these days than it used to be in the past. I would up the ante to $10,000 if anyone can name me the IBF junior featherweight champion without having to use your iPhone or Internet search engine. Oh, one other thing to note. Of the 18 different weight classes between the four sanctioning bodies, the names of the weight classes are not even consistent. Case in point, the WBA, WBC, and IBF all use the title Cruiserweight to classify fighters in the division of 176 lbs - 200 lbs, while the WBO calls this weight class Junior Heavyweight. There are 9 other contradictions between the 18 weight classes in all. Confused yet? Yeah, me too.
On the other hand, MMA is much more simplistic in its approach. There are 7 major weight classes with unified weight limits across the sport. Now MMA is similar to boxing in the sense that there are multiple organizations that promote fights and have their own championships: UFC, Strikeforce and Bellator to name the most prominent ones. But all the weight classes are the same between each organization are the same. A middleweight in the UFC has the same weight limit as one in Bellator. And let's keep it real, now that Zuffa has purchased Strikeforce, it will not be long before that promotion and all of its fighters get rolled up under the UFC's banner. At that point, no one is going to argue who the true champions of the sport are. Bellator is already seen as a minor league promotion. Soon enough, their best fighters will migrate over to the UFC to test themselves and to get the recognition they feel they deserve. I give it 18 months at most until Zuffa will gobble Bellator up as well.
When that happens, and believe me it will, then there will be no debate about who the best cage fighter in the world is. As for boxing, their outdated and convoluted system is their own worst enemy. But unfortunately, the Boxing elite is too intent on holding on to its traditions rather than evolving with the times. Less weight classes would equal less confusion, and would in turn create more interest and better fights. It's how MMA has been able to market itself and its champions so well while keeping a large stable of fighters relevant and it's one of the reasons that boxing is dying.
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