By Dean Parr - In December of last year, it was revealed that Welsh cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli was thinking of making the jump from boxing to the world of mixed martial arts. This begs the question: could he do it, and in general are MMA and boxing seen as compatible.

To boxing, MMA is like the distant cousin it doesn’t talk to and wishes had never been born. The star of mixed martial arts has been on the rise since the mid ‘90s, and there has been nothing the sport of boxing has been able to do to stop it. MMA has aimed to steal the younger fan base that boxing would have automatically got before, as there wouldn’t have been the competition. By having short, explosive fights (even championship fights in MMA only last 25 minutes at the very most) with a feeling that MMA is the closest one can get to watching or participating in real fighting, the buyrates for UFC pay per views have at best exceeded the one million mark. As UFC analyst Joe Rogan puts it, ‘boxing is very limited’ as there is a ‘silly agreement’ in place where one can only use their fists, whereas in MMA, while there are still rules (eg. No biting, gouging or low blows) the use of knees, elbows, kicks and submissions is all legal, which represents what would happen in a real fight to a further extent than boxing does, as this could all happen in a real fight.

Don’t take this the wrong way – I am not saying that I don’t like boxing, nor am I saying that MMA is better than boxing, but an undeniable fact is that boxing must evolve to steal back some of the audience that it has lost to MMA.

One thing that boxing could do without is scandals and controversies which dampen the aura around the sport. Boxing sometimes suffers from people throwing fights, a la Michael Gomez in 2006, when he all of a sudden stopped fighting in the middle of the 5th round against Peter McDonagh, a fighter he was expected to beat. Gomez supposedly placed a bet of £10,000 on himself being stopped in the 5th, and there was a huge amount of controversy surrounding this fight. Whether Gomez actually placed a bet on the fight or not is unknown, and he stated that he ‘came to a decision in there that’ he ‘needed to retire from boxing full stop’. However, this was still extremely suspicious behaviour for someone who prided himself on being a warrior in the ring and was known for never wanting to give up. A more recent example of boxing being brought into the news for the wrong reasons is that of a certain court case involving a certain undefeated Mr. Calzaghe and his former promoter Frank Warren. When boxing is involved in incidents like these, it just makes you wonder sometimes if fights have been fixed, or if there are dodgy dealings going on behind the scenes. This isn’t a way to attract a new audience, and when its business rival MMA isn’t usually creating a stir for the wrong reasons (there is only one scandal I can think of which is the recent Elite XC bonus payments controversy), boxing needs to make significant strides to rid itself of this stigma.

In addition, the best need to fight the best. Why do you think MMA fighters don’t always have great records on the surface (eg. Randy Couture is 16-9)? It is because competition is much more evenly matched in MMA, and fighters aren’t spoon fed opponents to decimate. Take Amir Khan for example, his first 15 fights were easy for him. This shouldn’t happen! Promoters shouldn’t have the ability to hide their fighters from potential banana skins. However, they do, and still using the example of Amir Khan, why has he not fought the British champion in his division, John Murray, when many say Murray might even stop Khan? The answer is simple, Frank Warren wants to bleed as much money as he can from Khan, and he doesn’t want another Prescott sized risk. In my opinion, this is the biggest problem with modern day boxing. Think of the interest that was generated when it looked like David Haye might get the chance to fight one of the Klitschkos. However, now it looks like it won’t happen because of all of the different people involved in trying to strike the deal and are none the wiser as to who’s to blame for the deal failing. Come on boxing, it should be simpler than this for fans to see a fight they want to see.

If boxing did these two things, I think it could start gaining ground again. However, it needs to begin the process now as MMA is catching up popularity wise, and it isn’t showing signs of slowing down.

One thing boxing mustn’t do though is send boxers over to the world of MMA to try to prove that they could knock out cage fighters. While Enzo Maccarinelli is evidently tempted to try his hand at MMA (and he will be even more so now after he was recently stopped by huge underdog Ole Afolabi) I strongly suggest he doesn’t. As David Haye pointed out at the end of last year, Big Mac has no experience on the ground. This would be exploited immediately, as should Maccarinelli come up against a wrestler, he would be in big trouble as he wouldn‘t even get the room to strike. Boxing must now try to concentrate on being a sport as opposed to a fight, and accept that MMA exists, as otherwise the inevitable will happen, and a reputable boxer such as Maccarinelli will be thrown into an MMA contest with huge media interest and fail – purely because they wouldn‘t have the experience of some MMA guys who have been training on the ground for years. This has the potential to make boxing look pathetic.

The one thing I must concede boxing has done well since the rise of MMA is bring in shows such as the Contender as Prizefighter. For youngsters new to the sport, these shows are an all action introduction to the world of boxing, and this could be the key to bringing in more fans at an earlier age – what the sport desperately needs.

In conclusion though, boxing needs to focus more on the actual boxing. The Don Kings and Lou Di Bellas of this world have become too involved with the game and it really puts a dampener on boxing as a legitimate sport. The viewer needs to feel assured that they are watching something special, just like Ali vs. Foreman felt special and the sport needs natural twists and turns, as opposed to having to think about what’s going on behind the scenes. While the amounts of money revolving around MMA aren’t huge competition for boxing at the minute, it is increasing in popularity day by day, and if boxing carries on like this, it can only be a matter of time before MMA overtakes it.

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