See where you err in your assessment of MMA and the skill involved... is by using Kimbo Slice as your point of reference. Kimbo IS a street thug much like Tyson was. Someone saw an opportunity to make some money off of Kimbo by getting him into a ring. He will never amount to more than a sideshow freak much like Butter Bean was back in the day with boxing.
I decided to look up the Mercer v. Slice video just to see what exactly you are talking about. At the end of the fight Mercer tapped out of a submission hold... after the ref stopped the fight, Mercer moved as if to strike Kimbo. That is why he got pushed away and to the ground.
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Originally Posted by highthief
I don't see that as accurate anymore - I see a lot more gyms and dojos catering to MMA than to boxing. In fact, in my town population 75,000, there are a bunch of MMA type gyms (along with traditional dojos catering to Tae-Kwon Do and Karate) - I cannot think of a single boxing only gym. I see more "fitness" boxing than actual fight training.
I'd bet that in North and South America, and perhaps Asia as well, boxing is now in second place to MMA in terms of overall interest and participation.
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I live between Philadelphia and Atlantic City. Philly was always known to have good boxers so I generalized based on what I knew growing up. I think if anything boxing and MMA are (at this moment) on an equal level. MMA is on its way up and boxing is on its way down as far as numbers of people participating. This is just me guessing and I have no data to back it up.