Writer’s Note: I’m both a fan of boxing and MMA
Can we stop the boxing vs. MMA debate?
Both sports are healthy and regularly staging big events. Just look at Pacquiao vs. Hatton for evidence from boxing. Look ahead the UFC 100 card featuring Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir for MMA.
The dumbest of the boxing vs. MMA alleged “feud” took place this past Saturday in Alabama, a place that once allowed a brain damaged Meldrick Taylor to fight.
1988 Olympic boxing heavyweight gold medalist Ray Mercer was scheduled to fight former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in a boxing match. Despite it being a boxing fight, the bout was set to take place in a cage as opposed to a ring due the fight headlining a card of mostly MMA bouts.
However, the association of boxing commissions stepped in and prevented the bout. Mercer, entering with a boxing record of 36-7, with 26 KO’s, had an enormous advantage in experience over Tim Sylvia, who was scheduled to make his boxing pro debut, and the ABC likely didn’t want to see him get killed.
A press conference took place to announce the cancellation of the boxing match, only to see the fight suddenly tuned into a MMA rules fight. MMA has no regulation on a national level, so the fight could legally take place.
Tim Sylvia said that he was hoping to pursue a career in boxing and that Ray Mercer would be a “stepping stone”. He said an MMA fight with Mercer would be just “another win on my record”.
Not so fast.
Mercer, while clearly not as well rounded of an MMA fighter, knocked Sylvia cold with one punch, winning his official pro MMA debut against a former UFC heavyweight champion by 1st round KO.
Mercer had previously fought MMA just once, competing in an exhibition bout, and losing via 1st round submission to Kimbo Slice.
The boxing industry has not touted Mercer’s success this past weekend. The MMA industry has tried to ignore the embarrassment. One MMA website recently wrote a report about Sylvia’s next fight in August being cancelled due to him losing this weekend. It didn’t even mention who he lost to.
- What have we learned from the Ray Mercer – Tim Sylvia sideshow? Boxing and MMA are two different sports. Just because you’re successful in one doesn’t mean you’ll be successful in the other. Mercer lost to Kimbo, a very limited fighter, yet knocked out a former UFC champion in his next MMA bout. A Boxer will always have a punchers chance if the fight remains upright.
- MMA fighters who can’t take a punch should probably not enter the world of boxing. This isn’t to say that there are not any MMA fighters who couldn’t make the transition without some training. However, you can’t teach a good chin. You either have one of you don’t. Tim Sylvia should stick to MMA. Guys like Andre Arlovski probably should as well.
- On that note, boxers should probably stick to boxing unless they have some training in other fighting disciplines or hope to land that one big shot. For good examples of boxers going to MMA, see Marcus Davis and Jens Pulver.
