Not to get too far off topic, but to follow up on the your point about the UFC vs. boxing, I think that it all comes down to marketing. The UFC not MMA in general, but the UFC has done an amazing job, along with the spike network of building up it's fighters and bouts. Most UFC competitors are simply more outgoing, and more marketable than boxers have been lately, either because they're predominantly white Americans, or because they're more extroverted, or a combination of the two.
The fact remains, though, that the UFC puts out an inferior product, especially in light of boxing's recent renaissance. The entire heavyweight division in the UFC is a wasteland - How many times has Tim Sylvia held the title? The current champion is a smallish 42 year old. My problem with watching UFC fights is that I believe all the cross-training actually leads to inferior fighters. While most MMA guys do have some pretty legitimate wrestling backgrounds, the rest of their fighting repetoire is lacking. Except for a few guys who had amateur or professional boxing experience, nobody in the UFC can throw a damn punch right. The exalted Chuck Liddell wouldn't even win a local Golden Gloves tournament at the open level. Personally, I'd rather watch two combatants battle it out in a milieu in which they are both excellent than watch two guys who are both kind of good at a lot of different things try to fight. How many great UFC fights have there been in the last year? The epitome of a great UFC fight is usually held to be the Griffin/Bonnar fight at the conclusion of the Ultimate Fighter 1, but what's the difference between that fight and Castillo/Corrales, Pavlik/Miranda, or Gatti/Ward except the skill level of the participants. If UFC fans are holding up a slug fest as the shining example of the action and brutality of their sport, they might as well watch a boxing match. At least then they'd be watching two guys who actually know how to throw a punch.
That said, I'd love to see boxing unified and marketed by a guy as smart and visionary as Dana White and made as accessible as the UFC is on Spike.
The fact remains, though, that the UFC puts out an inferior product, especially in light of boxing's recent renaissance. The entire heavyweight division in the UFC is a wasteland - How many times has Tim Sylvia held the title? The current champion is a smallish 42 year old. My problem with watching UFC fights is that I believe all the cross-training actually leads to inferior fighters. While most MMA guys do have some pretty legitimate wrestling backgrounds, the rest of their fighting repetoire is lacking. Except for a few guys who had amateur or professional boxing experience, nobody in the UFC can throw a damn punch right. The exalted Chuck Liddell wouldn't even win a local Golden Gloves tournament at the open level. Personally, I'd rather watch two combatants battle it out in a milieu in which they are both excellent than watch two guys who are both kind of good at a lot of different things try to fight. How many great UFC fights have there been in the last year? The epitome of a great UFC fight is usually held to be the Griffin/Bonnar fight at the conclusion of the Ultimate Fighter 1, but what's the difference between that fight and Castillo/Corrales, Pavlik/Miranda, or Gatti/Ward except the skill level of the participants. If UFC fans are holding up a slug fest as the shining example of the action and brutality of their sport, they might as well watch a boxing match. At least then they'd be watching two guys who actually know how to throw a punch.
That said, I'd love to see boxing unified and marketed by a guy as smart and visionary as Dana White and made as accessible as the UFC is on Spike.