Roy jones on Floyd Mayweather vs. UFC

[Tsaunders]

He makes some good points...


Roy Jones' Take on Floyd Mayweather vs. UFC - Boxing News



Boxing does take way more skill than mma

[Tsaunders]

Mabye not way more, but it does take more talent

[CaptainAwesome]

im not sure how one could make the argument that boxing requires more talent or skill. however, the argument that top level boxers are more talented than top level MMA fighters does have merit. since there is (or has been) so much more competition in that sport because of its general popularity over the years you would need to have beaten out more people to get to the top. thats just something thats going to be changing as MMA takes over in popularity.

[JayC]

Mabye not way more, but it does take more talent

How wrong you are my friend. I've got nothing against boxing and it takes much talent and skill but seriously, it's one form of striking... when MMA fighters have to be talented in Boxing and BJJ and Kick boxing/Mui Thai, and wrestling, etc, etc..

[mma-mad]

more talent to box ...
ummm dunno about that
i'd say 4 skills take more time/work/talent to perfect
than 1 skill does.
this is maybe why MMA fighters arnt as good at the boxing YET..
they have 3 other skills they are tryin to perfect along with there boxixng .
but to say one takes more talent is a bit loose.
if anything i'd say it takes more talent to compete in mma .

[CaptainAwesome]

plus mma is so much cooler. it actually would work in real life. boxing is retarded. i cant believe i was once a fan of that ridiculous sport.

[JayC]

plus mma is so much cooler. it actually would work in real life.

great point! Another reason why the UFC and MMA as a whole will become more dominant in the world of sports. Its real and people are becoming sick of the phony, fabricated, glam-rock, hollywood-esque sports of today.
I think thats another great move by the UFC... they've showcased real, everyday, hardworking guys who yesterday were sitting in the cube next to you or changing your tires and are now competing on TV.

[Tsaunders]

How wrong you are my friend. I've got nothing against boxing and it takes much talent and skill but seriously, it's one form of striking... when MMA fighters have to be talented in Boxing and BJJ and Kick boxing/Mui Thai, and wrestling, etc, etc..

ya, boxers have to have more talent cause thats all they do, they only do one thing. In mma its different, if your a great wrestler ur prolly gonna want to tackle someone and lay on them for 20 minutes. You wont compete with striking, so obviously, in boxing it takes more talent.

[Tsaunders]

great point! Another reason why the UFC and MMA as a whole will become more dominant in the world of sports. Its real and people are becoming sick of the phony, fabricated, glam-rock, hollywood-esque sports of today.
I think thats another great move by the UFC... they've showcased real, everyday, hardworking guys who yesterday were sitting in the cube next to you or changing your tires and are now competing on TV.

Id like to see someone put someone else in an armbar on their back laying on concrete

[Tsaunders]

more talent to box ...
ummm dunno about that
i'd say 4 skills take more time/work/talent to perfect
than 1 skill does.
this is maybe why MMA fighters arnt as good at the boxing YET..
they have 3 other skills they are tryin to perfect along with there boxixng .
but to say one takes more talent is a bit loose.
if anything i'd say it takes more talent to compete in mma .

I really doubt that any mma fighters could compete with elite pro boxers in striking. Anderson silva, but thats a big MABYE.. pro boxers hands are so much superior

[josh81]

There are several golden glove boxers who have come over to mma (marcus davis, stephan bonnar). I don't recall seeing any who have actually dominated in mma yet.

[Reap]

They all have skill, but I agree that watching MMA is way better nowadays. Shits just more realistic of what happens in a real fight. Sure...if you put on gloves and disallow legs, than a pro-boxer is more skilled in the art of hand strikes. Allow legs and takedowns, then the mma fighter is more skilled overall.

[Tsaunders]

There are several golden glove boxers who have come over to mma (marcus davis, stephan bonnar). I don't recall seeing any who have actually dominated in mma yet.

Just because stephan bonner who was a golden glove boxer, whatever the hell that means, and marcus davis was a pro on the new england circuit, whatever the hell that means doesnt mean they were up there with good pro boxers. Sean sherk used to be the champ and he would lay on people for 20 minutes, what kind of talent is that? Same with hughes, would lay on people for 20 minutes. Ive never seen anyone in the HW division with hands like lennox lewis, mike tyson etc.. Same goes for every other division.

You dont see people who turn 22 and then decide right then and there they want to start training to be a pro boxer, and then decide right then and there that theywant to be one of the greatest boxers ever. That doesnt happen, but in mma, for example rich franklin who started training mma seriously at 22, he goes on and becomes the middle weight champ for 3 or 4 years or however long it was. I would rather watch mma i agree with you, but it takes more talent tobe a pro boxer than it does with mma.

[mma-mad]

T you have some valid ponits there , granted its ezyer to get to a title fight ,on the mma circut . due to the infancy of the sport imo . Boxing has many years of growth behind it = big talent pool of skilled fighters .
Which mma is lacking ,in 10yrs when we are watching the 15 year old kids
of today competing, its going to be a different story . And in 30 yrs from now when ppl who havnt even been born yet , are fighting (3rd and 4th genration mma fighters) its gunna be a spectical.
I dont think you can really compare boxing v mma , like whos a better fighter x name boxer v y name mma . They are two different sports with loads of variables. like baseball players and golf players , they both hit balls but they are worlds apart

[Tsaunders]

T you have some valid ponits there , granted its ezyer to get to a title fight ,on the mma circut . due to the infancy of the sport imo . Boxing has many years of growth behind it = big talent pool of skilled fighters .
Which mma is lacking ,in 10yrs when we are watching the 15 year old kids
of today competing, its going to be a different story . And in 30 yrs from now when ppl who havnt even been born yet , are fighting (3rd and 4th genration mma fighters) its gunna be a spectical.
I dont think you can really compare boxing v mma , like whos a better fighter x name boxer v y name mma . They are two different sports with loads of variables. like baseball players and golf players , they both hit balls but they are worlds apart

I agree with you there. I think mma in a number of years will be elite and world class, with guys who have been training all aspects of mma since they were kids, similar to boxing. MMA will and mabye has overtaken boxing now, but i think the best strikers are going to go where the money is at now, and that is boxing. I know mayweather made about 20 MIL for his last fight, and guys like anderson silva are bringing in mabye 250k each fight. I am not saying that is a bad thing for mma, cause i think it keeps the fighters hungry, and keeps them going. I do think you have to have more skill for boxing, as of right now, but mma is by far a lot tougher than boxing is.

[Reap]

T you have some valid ponits there , granted its ezyer to get to a title fight ,on the mma circut . due to the infancy of the sport imo . Boxing has many years of growth behind it = big talent pool of skilled fighters .
Which mma is lacking ,in 10yrs when we are watching the 15 year old kids
of today competing, its going to be a different story . And in 30 yrs from now when ppl who havnt even been born yet , are fighting (3rd and 4th genration mma fighters) its gunna be a spectical.
I dont think you can really compare boxing v mma , like whos a better fighter x name boxer v y name mma . They are two different sports with loads of variables. like baseball players and golf players , they both hit balls but they are worlds apart

I think in 10-20 years from now, the earth as we know it now will not even exist. All signs point to this being the end. Thats a whole nother topic though :-D

[ManOfMuscle]

Tsaunders sometimes likes to be a contrarian douche even when he knows he's wrong.

[CaptainAwesome]

i think he just isnt wording his thoughts properly. seems like he agrees that mma takes more skill but like i said since boxing is a much more widely practiced sport, it takes more skill to get to be a top boxer than a top mma fighter. its like if you have to beat out 1,000 guys for the title you probably arent going to be as good as the guy who has to beat out 1,000,000 guys for the title. also, i believe this is quickly changing and will continue to change as mma gets more popular.

[Tsaunders]

i think he just isnt wording his thoughts properly. seems like he agrees that mma takes more skill but like i said since boxing is a much more widely practiced sport, it takes more skill to get to be a top boxer than a top mma fighter. its like if you have to beat out 1,000 guys for the title you probably arent going to be as good as the guy who has to beat out 1,000,000 guys for the title. also, i believe this is quickly changing and will continue to change as mma gets more popular.

no i didnt, i said i like to watch mma more and i do believe mma is a lot tougher sport. I did not say that mma takes more talent... Some fights you have a wrestler laying on people for 20 minutes, what kind of talent is that?


MoM, its obvious that if you see someone like rich franklin that starts training mma at 22 and then becomes world champ that it doesnt as much talent as a pro boxer RIGHT NOW. I have never seen a 22 yo decide he wants to be a very good pro boxer. Those guys start when they are 10 years old. But 20 years down the road who knows, I think MMA will be where the elite strikers are.

[CaptainAwesome]

no i didnt, i said i like to watch mma more and i do believe mma is a lot tougher sport. I did not say that mma takes more talent... Some fights you have a wrestler laying on people for 20 minutes, what kind of talent is that?


MoM, its obvious that if you see someone like rich franklin that starts training mma at 22 and then becomes world champ that it doesnt as much talent as a pro boxer RIGHT NOW. I have never seen a 22 yo decide he wants to be a very good pro boxer. Those guys start when they are 10 years old. But 20 years down the road who knows, I think MMA will be where the elite strikers are.

so MMA doesnt require talent now but it will in the future?

and nowadays just laying on a guy isnt allowed. to me it seems to clearly take more skill to fight MMA simply because you need to be familiar with more fighting techniques than boxing alone.

[Tsaunders]

so MMA doesnt require talent now but it will in the future?

MMA takes talent. But in 20 years will we see mma to be a lot sharper, with better and more talented fighters? Yes, id imagine so, cause the game of mma is evolving. MoM made an interesting point about how matt hughes cant win anymore. Mabye cause hes past his prime? Or mabye because the elite fighters are adapting and getting better in the world of mma . It is the same as any other sport. Look at the nba or anything else, look at where they were 30-40 years ago and look at where they are now. Its a whole different game. Same will go for mma in a number of years

[president_fad]

i think boxing is boring.

[Tsaunders]

i think boxing is boring.

same

[JayC]

You dont see people who turn 22 and then decide right then and there they want to start training to be a pro boxer, and then decide right then and there that theywant to be one of the greatest boxers ever. That doesnt happen, but in mma, for example rich franklin who started training mma seriously at 22, he goes on and becomes the middle weight champ for 3 or 4 years or however long it was. I would rather watch mma i agree with you, but it takes more talent tobe a pro boxer than it does with mma.

More or less your explanation is saying that there is more "competition" in boxing then MMA, which is true, 100% agreed.. boxing has been around longer and has a bigger "pool" of individuals.. but when referring to "talent", I define that by the individual and not the actual sport. So yes, there are more boxers then mma fighters hence MORE talent in that pool but to say one sport takes more talent then the other doesn't hold water with me. sorry.. just my opinion.

[ManOfMuscle]

His whole argument is stupid because he's using guys like Matt Hughes are Rick Franklin who are now obsolete in the sport of mma, and are getting blown out of the water by the next generation of fighters. Hughes and Franklin are phenomenal athletic specimines but they are not complete mixed martial artists. There is no boxer more talented than Anderson Silva, there is no boxer more talented than BJ Penn. Their mastery of striking and submission grappling blows away the talent level of any boxer you want to bring up.