大象传媒

When i went to see David Haye at the 02 arena last month, i certainly felt that if he had entrusted Warren with the promoting Haye would have had a larger crowd, even if it would not have been best for Hayemaker Promotions.

Warren is certianly back with a bang and he looks to have set himself up for a good 10 years, if the olympians perform to plan!

Warren's team made a mistake with Khan's last fight but I don't see a similar story playing out in front of us with any of these 3 boxers. They'll be nurtured in the usual Warren way which is carefully and with the precise aim to make as much moeny as possible. That's the job of a promoter and I think Warren's excellent in his field. Yes these 3 will be fighting hand-picked opponents and working their way up slowly but after what's happened to Khan who can blame Warren for protecting them?

I for one always said FW holds his fighters back which is why Calzaghe, Hatton and others left but when it comes to getting a fighter into the limelight and the public eye are there many better than Warren? Boxer's need protecting and building up slowly to begin with, otherwise there's the danger they go the way of Khan which means they end up exposed at a time when they're not ready. I'm not blaming FW at all for Khan's defeat, it was the entire team that were wrong putting him in there, from the top to the bottom.

But Warren will have learned from that mistake and won't be putting one of his stars in with a virtual unknown again anytime soon. It means these 3 will have some fairly routine, probably mundane fights for their first few years but it will all be in planning for what they, and FW, hopes will be a prosperous future.

Another factor in Warren's annus horriblis is boxing's general decline in popularity and the rise of the UFC as a genuine drawing card. It is probable that Michael Bisbing is a bigger draw than anyone in British boxing outside of Ricky and Joe - he's been on cards that sold out the O2 and the M.E.N. Arena, which is more than you can say for David Haye, bright as his future may be.

What's more, the major media outlets have started to wake up to the popularity of MMA - the Star was first, then the Sun and now the Telegraph features regular coverage of UFC events (when will the 大象传媒 follow suit?). While no-one is arguing that boxing is about to die a death, it must be worrying for Warren et al that the next generation of fighters will be more inclined to train in MMA than boxing. After all, David Haye has. And who was sat in the front row at the last big UFC event in Vegas? Ricky Hatton.

Oh, I spelt Bisping wrong. Curse the lack of editing tools.

It's interesting to hear these olympians parting shots to the ABA. Most of their gripes are to do with not getting medal bonuses, i've even heard one or two of them suggesting legal action, talking about themselves in the 3rd person and backing themselves as world champs in 4 yrs.
Warren's certainly hedged his bets here, taking a huge slice of publicity with 3 fighters who's futures don't even look as bright as Khan's did at this point.
Don't get me wrong I hope they all do well, just wake me when they're about 20-30 fights in.

Nice point about UFC and MMA, I wonder if Warren has started to tap up future talent in this sport.

May I be the first to congratulate the forthcoming WBO champions at [insert weight here].

And that cynicism is Warren's biggest problem. There's no doubt that Frank Warren can make somebody a star. The problem is - it has to be a star the Frank Warren way. Start off slowly; get plenty of TV coverage - at top of the bill or main support - whilst facing very mediocre, carefully selected opponents; build up a following at the Tewksbury Megadome (or whatever your local 'arena' is called); after 20 fights or so (inevitably at 20-0-0 or 19-1-0 at worst) move into 'contention' for the WBO title, maybe fighting an 'eliminator' against a boxer that the general public might recognise... from ten years ago when they got sparked out by Calzaghe, Benn or Hamed.

And heaven forbid that you might want to try to break that cycle and do your own thing. Because you'll go from being the best boxer at the weight - ignored or ducked by those nasty Americans - to being a waste of space who could barely lace up their gloves.

Still - good luck to De Gale, Gavin and Saunders. To be frank, if I was ever given the choice between the unappreciated slog of the Amateur circuit or a guaranteed six figure plus Professional contract, I'd be headlining the Tewksbury Megadome without looking back.

A true joke comment by b2bpaul, who by the sounds of it is a paid employee of the UFC. No one knows who Bisping is, while the biggest rival to UFC has just gone bust.
What has this story got to do with MMA?
When was the last time one sport had 1st and 3rd in Sports Personality of the Year, while twice in the last 13 months there have been crowds of more than 50,000 for boxing matches.
MMA has no crossover appeal, while boxing gets huge coverage in all the papers and not just Joe and Ricky. The Olympians, Haye, Khan all get huge coverage, even Froch, Woods and Witter get coverage that UFC could only dream about.
If MMA was such a big success, its followers would not need to try to constantly hijack boxing articles on websites.

Stan, completely agree mate.

B2B - Boxing in decline? Are you deluded? Can your beloved MMA (from what i've seen has no aspect whatsoever of martial arts as they throw a few PUNCHES and then they roll around on the floor) boast PPV figures as reguarly as boxing does? De la Hoya vs FMJ and now Pacman, Cotto v Margarito, Hatton vs FMJ.. the list goes on and on. UFC has it's 'novelty' value still, and even that is now on the wane hence why Elite XC went bust (i think that was the main rival to UFC, but correct me if i'm wrong as i'm not sure).

Why does it need all these different organisations...? Bears a striking resemblance to another 'sport' wear men wear tight shorts... namely WCW et all!! I'm not sure that any UFC fighter would earn the $15m for a fight like De la Hoya & co can command either. All in all shut up.

As for the Olympians, i do honestly wish them the best of luck. I can't see the light-heavy doing much to be honest, and it'll be interesting to see what weight Gavin fights at having not made the weight at the Olympics. As for Degale it's been proved once by Fraudley that Gold doesn't mean the pro ranks will be easy.

Am also looking fowards to a past Olympian fight this weekend in De la Hoya v Pacman, a fight that is sure to live up to it's promise.. and luckily i won't have to contend with them rolling around on the floor hugging each other for minutes on end...

So much of Boxing is about reputation whether it's deserved or not. And Warren can build these fighters' reputations better than any British Promoter.

If Warren builds their reputation with impressive looking records and plenty of knockout wins in profitable fights then big names will want to fight them. From there it's up to them....

Fair play to them all. Personaly I'd rather see 3 British undisputed champions than 3 gold medals in 2012.

The previous few comments mirror my sentiment exactly, the UFC,as popular as it's become (lord knows why!) will never displace boxing from the very summit of officiated hand combat. It is a slightly more realistic version of WWF (as I used to know it) in my opinion.
I acknowledge the UFC as boxing's biggest competitor but to suggest it has caused an adverse affect on the popularity of it is rather foolish.

As for these three,well, as the old adage goes 'only time will tell'. I personally can't see any of them making an impression on the world stage.
DeGale, although the brightest star with gold in Beijing benefited hugely from the Olympic scoring system. Like his predescessor Khan, his speed and accuracy allows for quick point scoring without really getting into a 'fight'. I take nothing away from the boy, an immense achievement but not one a future world title prediction can be based upon.

As for Saunders,well, a bit of a punt from Warren is all this can be described as. I'm not expecting a great deal from the lad, I bet he couldn't believe his luck when someone shoved a contraact of that magnitude under his nose. Surprised Warren still got his hand!

Lest we forget Gavin, an interesting one in a sense of- the talent is there but the drive just isn't. I was completely stunned that he didn't make the weight at Beijing, the biggest competition of his career so far, coming in as favourite for Gold, you just make the weight.That's it. There can be no excuses from anyone,a massive let down and you can only question his motivation after that.
The most talented of the three for sure, let's just hope the colour of money is more of an motivator than the pride of an Olympic medal.

I was an amatuer boxer. I got started by going to the gym with two friends that had been boxing since they were seven. I was about 14. I had played football, lifted alot of weights, and fought a few guys at school, I was very muscled, and thought I was pretty tough.

I realized real fast how much difference there was between me and the experienced boxers. At first I thought, 鈥渋f I got them outside the ring though I would undoubtebly win鈥�. After getting in the ring, I realized, they could have put me out of there and it would not have made much difference out of the ring. They were taking it easy on me.

Once my more experienced friend, got tired of me saying how, if a boxer got taken down they鈥檇 get beat. He challenged me to try it. We were friends but went pretty much full speed, and I saw then that you don鈥檛 just take a boxer down. You are going to get hit hard and fast, you will may be still standing but your stunned.

Boxers are more skilled in other areas than people think. They are strong, fast athletes that have usually had many fights in and out of the ring鈥�.there usually damn tough guys that can knock you out with one punch that you will probably never see. Try charging and taking them down, they will simply bend their knees, get down in their stance with more power, and hit you with an uppercut that will break your jaw.

I鈥檓 talking about amatuer open class boxers. I kept going and fought off and on well into my thirties. I had about 35 matches, became an open class fighter, and sparred and fought guys that went on to be world champions. I got in some scraps with guys that thought they were tough and I usually finished it within a couple of minutes, and they were usually twice my size, but I would be nothing compared to a professional world champion, and neither would Chuck Liddel, and alot of other MMA fighters.

When someone like Mike Tyson, Klitchko, Bernard Hopkins, hit you, bones in your face break! They hit unbelievably hard and have it down to a fine art. I鈥檝e seen MMA fights where they say the guy was a boxer, but he was never was even ranked, or had maybe 10 fights, or over the hill and washed up.

Liddel would not even break the top 20 in his weight class in professional boxing. Alot of the MMA guys have been fighting and had 10 or 20 fights. Most world champion boxers have had over 75 amatuer fights. They don鈥檛 spar by rolling around, they go full speed and maybe pull their punches a little. S

Sometimes guys that were black belts in Karate would come to the gym, and they didn鈥檛 even realize the boxer they sparred with was just toying with them and could have knocked them out easily鈥nd these were very good amatuers, not professional world champions. The Pro boxers training and skill level right now is usually way above the MMA. Its like comparing a college football player to a pro.

Having said that, I can see the skill level going up in MMA, and with its becoming more popular than boxing (I believe it is) it will continue to do so, and maybe they will reach the level of a REAL top pro boxer, but right now they are not at that level, they would get hurt (seriously). Dana White, being around boxing knows that, and although he talkes like he would welcome boxers to MMA, he really does not want that, because it would really hurt its popularity when they see what a champion boxer would do to the average MMA fighter with those little gloves on. When people try boxing, they don鈥檛 like it because they usually get the crap beat out of them, actually punched, but they think like I did, that if it were out of the ring it would be different. So when they see MMA, its more appealing to them, helps reassert the masculinity. Moreover, they usually mix it up more in MMA, where as in boxing one punch will put you out, so they have to be defensive and careful, which can make for a boring fight.

I do believe that the boxers that depend on staying away from a guy and relying on speed and don鈥檛 have much power would have a harder time, and might get taken down and lose (Maywheather), but even they hit harder than it looks like, and its so fast you don鈥檛 really know what happened, and their teeing off now while your stunned! So yes sometimes an MMA guy would win, but a real pro boxer would win 8 out of ten times, and it might not even should be legal, cause like I said its like putting an amatuer against a pro. I can attest boxing does work very good in street fights as well, but it would be good to have a skill to get someone off the top of you if they some how end up on top!

MMA is great and I love to watch it! I would love to see a good pro boxer in his prime get in there with them, and I don鈥檛 care which side would win, but I would be surprised if it was the MMA guy. If they could just get the prize money up to what a champion boxer makes. I believe Mike Tyson got 40 mill for one fight, and thats getting to be a long time ago.

In closing, the fighters I trained in the gym with are Donald Curry, Steve Cruz, were the most notable, watch Curry on UTube, he was great in his prime.

Its is utter insanity to knock MMA like that!

MMA destroys boxing in every concievable way, and this is just the start. I used to watch boxing, but since MMA hit the scene, every other combat sport seems one dimensional and just plain boring.

Like boxing, fans of MMA also need to understand the techniques used before you truly learn how to appreciate the skills involved. Grappling is now my favorite part of the game when it involves highly skilled BJJ artists (Nick Diaz, BJ Penn, Karo Parisyan, Tyson Griffin, Roger Huerta etc.). Like in any sport, of course there's boring match-ups, but no-one said every single fight in MMA was explosive and action-packed from beginning to end. Get an understanding of what goes on on the ground and understand that conventional boxing does not work at all in MMA (hard to make it work when you have to watch out for kicks to the body, takedowns etc.).

The boxing people who dismiss MMA have obsiously not made an effort to get into it, at all. Their opinions are always ignorant and shows more of a loyality to "their" sport than anything else.

MMA fights are chess games where it can end in so many ways, it just makes it the most exciting sport out there right now. You can see the talent just growing from month to month, which just gives me chills when thinking about where this sport will be at in 5-10 years when kids start training MMA instead of boxing or other sports from a young age.

Plus, MMA is safer than boxing accord to a study done last year. That's a big plus IMO.

The one thing that is nice about MMA is the number of fights on during any given event. Most of the fights are relatively competitive, and there is always a chance that either combatant can win.

Coxy and Stan If you think learning takedowns and submissions is easier than learning the basics of boxing? ill stop listening to you now, youve clearly never trained in either and quite honestly your ignorance surpasses all the positives (if any, probably not) in your 'argument'.

I'm a huge MMA and boxing fan and I have to say that I'm taking the side of the MMA fans who have posted on here. Why? Because it's abundantly clear that people like Coxy0001 and 1886dialsqauregreats have not watched enough of the sport to form a good argument!!

That rolling around on the floor as you called would be Brazilian Jujitsu, a martial art which evolved from Japanese jujitsu. perhaps if you read a bit more about it you wouldn't just say they rolled around, try and I'm sure you'll realise very quickly how tiring it is as well.

Now to say that the UFC is just a more realistic version of the WWF is just plain rubbish, and wrong! Again I can only assume you haven't watched enough of it and have only seen the fighters who have crossed over from the two promotions and assume that this must mean that it's a more realistic form of the WWF.

I've trained in boxing and other martial arts that form a lot of the fighting techniques used in MMA and I can tell you that these guys CAN hit. You forget that they are training in many different martial arts so it is to be expected that they are not as strong strikers as a boxer who has only ever learned how to punch in a devastating fashion as they have to learn wrestling and submissions also.

Anyway I've got my rant out of the way :-), I hope these three do well, from what I've seen Gavin looks to be the most likely to succeed, would people agree?

You would imagine Degale and Gavin would be fast-tracked the quickest due to their age and ability.

But I must say I was highly impressed with Billie-Jo Saunders at the Olympics. His first fight was an absolute beauty to watch, hand speed, footwork and even power was amazing for someone of 18 years of age. His 2nd fight he was beaten by a cute Cuban and his inexperience and youthful exuberance was exposed. But hardly a disgrace in that. Very excited to see him in action.

Boxing will never be as good as UFC until it either merges the three or four governing bodies into only one, or scraps two or three of the governing bodies and goes to only one of them. This IBF, WBO, WBC crap has to go. UFC works because there is only one governing body. Too many cooks spoil the soup.

Unfortunately, boxing will never do that and we'll never get the best fights because ironically, that would supposedly take away too many jobs and then the agents and the Don Kings of the world (who least deserve the money) would no longer get theirs. Boxing needs to quit pandering to the damn promoters and the governing bodies and actually make sure that the fans get what they want instead. It's a simple concept that UFC understands, and that boxing will never get again if it keeps on the path it's going down right now.
The real reasons boxing is falling off the map and mma is getting more popular. The thing with boxing is that the whole thing feels rigged and bogus. How many fights over the past couple of years have ended in controversial decisions?
Did Hatton really beat Collazo?

Did Mayweather really beat Luis Castillo?

Did Lewis and Holyfield really Draw their fight (when you see how Lewis dominated Holy)

What of controversy in Delahoya Sturm, and Delahoya Mosley 2

I can go on and on.....

These judges are almost never on the same page and many people are sick of seeing these awful scoring cards. Also, more and more boxing matches are going the distance lately.

Fans ( you and i) wants to see knockouts. That's the thing with mma, most fights do not go to a judges scorecard and thus are totally free of controversy. People love to see a clear cut winner, not pay 拢25to see someone get robbed.

I'll say this....a great boxing match is better than a great mma match, but, great boxing matches are so few and far between nowadays that people just stopped watching. Some things to consider for making boxing better......

1.Post the judges scores after each round for all to see. This would make judges more accountable and let boxers know where they stand in the fight....

2.Clearly give the guys who move forward and make the fight the edge when scoring. These defensive boxers are boring and ruining the experience. Defensive/Style boxers need to stand and fight at some point in the match if they want to win.....3. Charge less for these pay per view fights. 拢15 (sky setanta )would be a lot better and I think people would watch more....

4. Do a better job at unifying the belts or just have one belt per division. It's too complicated nowadays with all the different belts. Nobody knows who...

As it stands I think these lads Olympians would make more of a name themselves if they went to MMA
MMA is getting more popular every day, every minute and as we are talking and as we are talking Boxing is dying a slow death.

I think people like Frank Warren are whats wrong with Boxing.
Thats what the UFC has done well. The marketing and the way the sport is organised is what Boxing needs to learn from.
I have trained in neither, I'm a casual fan who likes excitement. Thats who boxing should be trying to capture, and as far as I can tell thats exactly what Frank Warren will avoid doing with his 3 new charges.
They will be overly protected to beef up their records, before any sort of meaningful fight takes place.
Thats not what people want to see.
I wish all 3 the best, but I fear I know whats coming, and it wont be worth watching any of them for at least a year or two I would think.
I would rather go watch Haye, or even Amir Kahn now that other boxers will target him after his loss, that should make his future fights much more exciting.

Firstly good luck to the 3 Olympians in their pro careers, i wouldnt knock them for signing with Frank Warren, yes they will be guided through, but rather that than they get sparked out by an experienced rugged pro in their 10th fight which destroys their confidence, or god forbid another Audley Harrison. (Have the 大象传媒 recovered their 拢1m from license fee money from him ?)

For a young pro starting out they will need an experienced hand behind them as boxing is a murky business, Warren whether you like him or not, is one of the most experienced people in the game, and knows the system and more importantly has the contacts - something Audley and his 'advisors' did not.

As for the MMA v Boxing (sorry Ben) I recognise the rise in MMA and particular UFC. The reason behind it, is that UFC are doing what boxing used to do - have competative bouts, and the top contenders fight each other - Nobody avoids anyone. Hence why their big PPV's are sell outs.

Boxing has to seriously look at its competitor and adjust its approach. On its day nothing can match a big fight atmosphere and capture the imagination. UFC has not managed to do that...yet.

I would pay to see Audley Harrison in MMA.

I think I recall a relatively recent piece by you Ben, that was all about the rise of MMA and decline of boxing... hoisted by your own patard and all that?

To be honest, I can't understand why any boxer would remain amateur for 4 years to wait for an olympics when promoters are willing to throw this type of money at them. Accidents can happen and you're only ever one punch away from an ended career or worse regardless of how much precaution is taken.

Good luck to these guys. Make the most of the talent while you've got it.

Ben - I see what you're saying about not mentioning UFC or MMA in your piece, but perhaps seeing the groundswell of debate over that issue you could consider doing a piece on it?

As a relative ignoramus regarding fighting sports I for one would appreciate a good blog on the subject.

Ben D - Sorry but it's lunchtime and i can't resist..

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Moland - Contrary to your sweeping statement i have boxed, albeit sparring with lightweights when (before lazyness led to podgyness) i was around the middleweight class (only to provide an exercise on them getting past the jab off an oppo with a much longer reach).

I'm going to ask a very simple question...

How is it you find 2 guys wrestling around on the floor exciting?

For me, 2 guys standing toe to toe throwing punches is entertainment.

Will MMA hit the heights GLOBALLY of boxing? Now the new boxing promoters (Golden Boy etc) the big fights are being made, MMA should be the ones scared as they took advantage when the big boys in boxing weren't taking each other on. You talk about kids going to train in MMA... ok.. what about all the South American guys (who make up a vast quantity of the lighter weight classes), or the Europeans (especially the Eastern bloc)?? It seems to me that it's the Americans that provide most of the fighters, and i won't mention the laughing stock that is guys from WWF now competing in MMA.. says it all really doesn't it?

2 ways of looking at comparisons is:

1) An MMA fighter gets into a boxing ring and has to box within the usual rules against a top 10 ranked boxer. They wouldn't survive more than probably 5 rounds.

2) A boxer gets into an MMA ring and would probably get taken down and beaten 80/100 times, the other 20 times they would land a clean shot and probably win (I'm basing this on a boxer using 14lb gloves against the 6lb gloves MMA uses.. lighter = quicker than they normally are, which is pretty sharp)

MMA would have far more plausibility among it's haters if it had one joint WORLD division, not all these silly little spin offs.

About Frank Warren... It's very rare nowadays that boxers will get to world title shots before 20 or so fights - They're not being protected as such, more building up their credentials to have a pop at one of the 4 major belts. How many guys have gone in for the WBC etc belt when they've had a couple of handfuls of fights? But Sky wanting us to pay 拢15 PPV to watch Khan was a joke!

I think Frank Warren has shown a bit of nouse in signing these three guys .He will benefit heavily from this as he will hand pick fighters with no chance of winning againist these guys .but hopefully we are not waiting too long for a new british /european champion. He will never do an amir khan again and throw them into the unknown . But not being miserable i hope at least one of them can reach the heights of a hatton or calzaghe and pick up the baton from these 2 absolute legends .

With reguards to UFC being the new boxing !! What a load of dogs turd . Boxing is an art whereas ufc or rolling around and cuddiling as i call it will always be in boxings shadows !!!!

Come on everyone get behind Carl Froch and get another world title back in britain !!!

RULE BRITANNIA !!!!!

Shut it Dirsy!there's a debate going on.Its not like its your blog.

(I'm basing this on a boxer using 14lb gloves against the 6lb gloves MMA uses.. lighter = quicker than they normally are, which is pretty sharp)

MMA would have far more plausibility among it's haters if it had one joint WORLD division, not all these silly little spin offs.
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Sorry Ben, I can't let this lie!

For the record I much prefer boxing to MMA, always have done and will do.

What about all the sanctioning bodies in boxing?
14lbs? 6lbs? hahaha, i'd like to see that.

Woops! Ok, hands up i can't cook and getting measurements muddled up may be a reason why!

As for the sanctioning bodies: They IBF, WBC, WBA & WBO don't have fighters contracted to fight other fighters in that category. They may impose mandatory defences but once you get to the big boys and mega PPV stuff it's more about who you are and what you've done i.e. the boxers at that stage are quite prepared to let their belts go (Malignaggi is the most recent one that springs to mind).

And Dirsy, stop moaning and find out for me if Hide is in fact going to be fighting Macca on Saturday! For me that would be a far better fight to watch than the Khan one..

Hi Ben, like your blog and the discussions that follow!

I just hope that these guys can make a successful transition to the pro game, and adjust accordingly. They are incredibly talented, and a good asset to the UK pro ranks.

On a side note, boxing is different to MMA, and I like both.

I find much comment on the pro's/con's of MMA/boxing is based on a lack of knowledge, and I'm not going to get into that argument here.

But it is worth pointing out that MMA hands are different to boxing hands - different applications of punches, different guards and stances, and of course different stances.

An MMA sportsman must adapt his boxing skills to the game at hand. As would a boxer entering an MMA arena.

Just to point out that many MMAers are actually experienced in true boxing, and are also competing against boxers.

For example I am a pro MMA fighter, and beat Julius Francis in the cage without him punching me once. I did this by not playing his game, and got him to fight mine instead. And we all know he can punch. And it is worth pointing out I'm not the best in the UK at MMA.

I've also kickboxed (K1 UK event) at just 88kg agains Matt Skelton when he was at his K1/kick/Thai peak and weighed 118kg. Matt's kinda a good boxer, to say the least.

In my past I've beaten Lee Swaby under kickboxing rules, and he's matured into a lovely boxer - good luck at the weekend mate!

Over sport ju-jitsu rules and light continuous boxing rules I've also fought Pele Reid several times. (Interestingly, I was also matside when Pele knocked out Vitaly Klishko with a spinning kick to the jaw in Bulgaria in the early 90's.)

Further, I've beaten James Zikic under K1 rules, who not only is an accomplished boxer, but is also one of the world's best MMAers.

Talking about Klitchko again, I was also ringside when MMA legend Barrington Patterson fought him under kickboxing rules for the World Title, and Barrington almost took it.

I've spent the last year sparring each week with one of the best groups of boxers in the country.

In other words, MMAers generally know boxing, and how to fight boxers. And the conclusion is they are different sports.

Overall, the person that wins the game is the one that sets the rules. MMA is MMA, boxing is boxing, and both have something good to offer. Just different.

Just my opinon.

Smiler

"Coxy and Stan If you think learning takedowns and submissions is easier than learning the basics of boxing? ill stop listening to you now, youve clearly never trained in either and quite honestly your ignorance surpasses all the positives (if any, probably not) in your 'argument'"

Merv49.
How dare you address me by name while making no reference to anything I said, or try and put me down without any knowledge of my opinions or background. I made no reference to the difficulty of MMA, just that MMA did not come anywhere close to matching boxing's popularity or appeal and that MMA fans always tried to hijack boxing forums.
Point proven here, I think.

This is good for British Boxing, and it reminds me of the Main Events Olympian-fest in 1984. They snared the cream of the Olympic talent, and Tyrell Biggs!!!

I think the ABA are deluding themselves a bit if they expect those boys to hang on till 2012, but I also think the boxers are out of order to have a pop at the ABA claiming they've been short-changed.

It seems clear what the situation was about the bonuses and I fully take on board what the ABA said about how much investment they put into these guys in the run up to winning their medals. Throw in a 拢70000 annual salary and I'll bet you previous medal winners: Reid, Woodhall etc would tell them to grow up and stop being such a bunch of whingers.

Smiler - I saw your KO win against Tank Abbott on TV the other day. I didn't even know he was still fighting but top stuff!

I think you've hit the nail on the head, they are different and both do have something good to offer in terms of entertainment and I think comparing the two directly is pretty pointless really.

Why do idiots feel the need to turn every decent boxing discussion on the internet into UFC v Boxing? For people who like UFC i'm sure there's plenty of UFC boards to post on around the web. From what I can see this one is supposed to be about boxing!

The former sports minister Caborn betrays his total lack of knowledge of the boxing game in criticising the Olympians who have decided to turn pro. Just another politician blowing hot wind.
These guys have paid their dues as amateurs and it is time to move on. Four yrs is a long time, and there are no guarantees they would qualify for London 2012 anyway.
And why should the taxpayer subsidize them for another 4yrs? It's time to give the next generation of amateurs a chance.
DeGale and Co did their country proud in the Olympics and the pro ranks now beckon.
It is generally accepted that fighters are best turning pro when they are young enough to adapt their styles to the harsher environs of the paid ranks and not too set in amateur habits.