Does Boxing's respectability as a legitimate sport still exist at this point?

[BodyBagz]

Perhaps, in spurts. But one thing's for sure: with Mike Tyson around excitement was guaranteed, whereas Fury is just boring as fùck.

No denying that.

[BodyBagz]

Probably, but losing to an outsider is different than insiders going wild on eachother.

The hoopla will die down soon enough

[BodyBagz]

HW was **** in the Wlad era as well though. Maybe slightly better in terms of talent (even that is arguable) but with less main****** attention and star power. Literally HW MMA was a bigger deal than HW boxing in the late 00s/early 10s, thats the only time its been the case in the 30 years or so they've co-existed. Say what you will about Fury, Wilder, AJ etc but they managed to claw back some interest in HW boxing at least.

This era will not be remembered fondly.

[ELPacman]

It's heavyweight boxing. Anything can happen. Francis was a huge puncher and the style he brought obviously threw Tyson in for a loop. He didn't expect Francis to show some technical prowl to go along with his power. Once he got dropped, I think it definitely caused him to be more hesitant than usual as he was aware he could go down again if he slips up.

I don't take much from it. Overall, pretty lackluster fight, but at least the undercard was pretty solid. Blame Fury for wanting to go through with what should of been another circus bout in boxing, yet Ngannou showed he can compete with every heavyweight boxer as much as the next heavyweight. He doesn't look out of place.

Oh and lastly, does this make me want to watch MMA now all of a sudden? No.

[TMLT87]

This era will not be remembered fondly.

At this point no probably not. There was a time though, around 2018 especially, where things really did seem promising. Lots of wasted potential in this era, commercially speaking - AJ/Wilder made at the right time could have been by far the biggest HW fight since Lennox/Tyson, AJ/Fury would have been the biggest fight in UK history. Fury/Usyk would have been a pretty big one too. Even stuff like Wilder/Ruiz close to the time that Ruiz had fought AJ etc could have been a decently big fight. So many missed opportunities.

[PerfectJab]

I will always love boxing for all its faults, and will always watch it. Its got a great history and its aesthetically pleasing to watch and theres just something to the purity and simplicity of it. But I think anyone being honest with themselves knows that if we are judging it solely as a form of combat, or an arena where the best fighters prove themselves...once you realise that the best boxers on the planet would consistently get wrecked in MMA or even kickboxing/muay thai the big title fightsetc kind of lose a lot of their gravity and legitimacy This is why I laugh when people talk about how boxing has more "prestige" just because the belts are old or whatever. UFC title fights are genuinely crowning the best unarmed combatant on the planet at their weight.

And obviously this fight just now was extra bad because you've had a supposed "Jack of all trades master of none" surrender the ability to use most of his trades and STILL beat the **** out of a guy who was supposed to be the best HW boxer on the planet. Like what is Fury/Usyk even for anymore really? what does it prove?

This is just a really dumb take. I don't feel like going into all reasons why
Who the rules favor has a better chance of winning. Simple.
If Biting&NutcrackingMMA becomes a thing where fighters are allow to knee, kick, grab and twist testicles or bite anywhere they like and they are facing a 'regular' MMA'er, who do you think has the better chance of winning?
And is Biting&NutcrackingMMA not closer to 'real fighting' than regular MMA? I guess that would make them the best fighters in the world...

And for the record.
The score of fights between MMA/kickboxers and boxers is still overwhelming in favor of boxers...
But I guess when accomplished MMA'ers are send to la la land by someone who's expertise is putting out videos, suddenly they aren't MMA'ers anymore but just 'wrestlers' ...

jake-paul-tyron-woodley-rematch-10.jpg?resize=1024,683.jpg

[Marchegiano]

MMA can be a bit much, and, it is a useless sport. We've done it plenty of times in human history, it leads to boxing. Boxing in the chesapeake bay in the late 1600s was no holds barred and anything goes. So naturally guys lost their eyes and balls in fights because eye plucking or grabbing the nethers and ripping was a fine way to win a boxing match. That version of the sport got absorbed by LPRR by the mid 1800s because by then the rough'n'tumble fighters were all fist fighters anyway. There was no reason to try to kick a man or try to 'rassle him down because he's going to knock you the **** out.


And that's not even the first time in human history laxed rule, mixed rule, or no rules lead to the fist fighting sport called boxing.

Nope. We've done this before. Boxing will be fine. Ngannou isn't even Hyer yet.

[TMLT87]

Who the rules favor has a better chance of winning. Simple.

Yeah...the crucial difference here is boxing rules ban all the skills the other guy could use to easily win a fight. Whereas MMA rules allow the full range of a boxers skillset to be used, so do kickboxing and Muay Thai rules, and in those cases the boxers lose not because the rules artificially handicap them but because their actual fighting skillset is too one dimensional and has too many holes.

If Biting&NutcrackingMMA becomes a thing where fighters are allow to knee, kick, grab and twist testicles or bite anywhere they like and they are facing a 'regular' MMA'er, who do you think has the better chance of winning?
And is Biting&NutcrackingMMA not closer to 'real fighting' than regular MMA? I guess that would make them the best fighters in the world...

Yes but since biting&nutcrackingMMA is a completely fictional thing with a talent pool of exactly zero people outside of perhaps a Siberian prison or two, its a redundant argument. MMA exists, is a major combat sport, and has a now decent sized talent pool of people who would easily kick the **** out of boxers in any kind of fight that isnt a boxing match.

[ELPacman]

I didn't realize in my last post, I don't think I really answered if boxing's credibility was affected. I think as a boxing fan, you come to expect and live with these terrible decisions and move on to another day. This is another reason why I hate any fight being left into the judges hands because as long as you do, your potential career fate is in their hands.

If you were ever a boxing fan, nothing changes probably. If you were new to boxing or never really cared much for boxing, you probably say this is the last time I tune in.

[TMLT87]

Nope. We've done this before. Boxing will be fine. Ngannou isn't even Hyer yet.

Boxing will be fine in the sense that it will keep on going, will still have stars and big fights every now and then, plenty of people will still compete in it, it'll still pay very well at the top levels etc etc. But its never again going to have the kind of relevance in the sports world that it did in the last millenium. And in truth it hasnt been able to comfortably call itself the biggest combat sport for well over a decade at this point, it got overtaken by MMA in way too many areas, and that situation isnt gonna reverse. If anything things will go further in MMAs favour over time as one of boxings biggest assets over it (its history) fades further and further back out of first hand memory while the people that grew up with MMA get older and become big time media suits etc etc.