2010
20
Jul
Boxing is dying on the vine. They may not be in a state of panic yet but they have been struck with indecision to say the least. Paralysis through analysis is plaguing the sport. I may be wrong but the actions of Boxing’s top brass must be saying “What if he lost” to often.
In the sports glory days you had a round robin of fighters competing against each other. If your fighter lost, but the fight was competitive, you brought them together to fight again. Hopefully it was competitive again with each fighter winning once, now you have a trilogy!
Boxers are now protected by their promoters and networks. They would rather protect the reputation of the fighter and market him to be a star. In the old days fighters fought their way into the fans hearts. Fighters in the 80’s like Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Marvin Haglar, Thomas Hearns all fought each other. None of them were worried about their reputation being tarnished with a loss. They would have rather fought valiantly and lost than avoid fighting a worthy opponent.
The UFC has learned from Boxings mistakes and top 10 fighters can be seen fighting each other on every single card. One look at how the UFC has handled Brock Lesnar will show you they aren’t interested in protecting fighters. If you’re going to be a star in the Octagon the formula is simple, win.
If the UFC wanted to protect Brock Lesnar for a few fights that would have been understandable. His pursuit of becoming an MMA fighter was highly publicized and they could have used that to manufacture a star without risking him losing. Instead they put him in with former Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir in his very first fight in the UFC and followed it up with MMA veteran Heath Herring. Then came Hall of Famer Randy Couture, and a rematch with Mir.
Brock then came down with what was considered a career ending illness and was out for a year. In his first fight back he deserves a break right? Nope, your a champion and this is MMA! He fought Shane Carwin who was a perfect 12 - 0 and had never seen round 2.
Why spend all your time protecting a fighter when you can simply promote the fighter who beats him? Giving the fans what they want to see is a recipe for success and the UFC knows it.
