An Open Letter to Sean_Hef and Blake, or How the Sweet Science Soldiers On

To My Esteemed Co-Editors:

Who is your guys' dealer? I want to try whatever it is you're smoking. Pacquiao/Mayweather on a major network? If and when that happens, it will be the most lucrative fight in history.  All the ad dollars in the world won't be able to replace the PPV cash that fight would rake in.  Why does boxing put everything on Pay Per View? Because they can. People will pay it and if Dana White keeps trying to take on the sweet science head to head the UFC will go the way of Elite XC. Have you guys checked out network ratings lately? NOTHING is a guaranteed draw.

Boxing is on PPV because die hard boxing fans will pay to watch it. Real fans won't let anything get in the way of them seeing a marquee matchup. These diehards are the only ones who would watch the fight anyway. Boxing is technical and brutal, making it damn near impossible for the sport to have casual fans.

The "one big night a week" idea died with Friday Night Fights at MSG in the 1950's when football started to rule the sporting scene - long before Don King's greed corrupted and revolutionized the sport at the same time. A network fight would fail harder that Kimbo Slice's debut (seeing any parallels here fellas?). I'll go so far as to predict that within a decade, MMA will be viewed in the same light as Mr. Blake's beloved WWE.  Fun, but not taken seriously in the sporting world.  I, for one am looking forward to the 2021 debut of VH1's "Tito Knows Best" featuring the zany exploits of the Jameson-Ortiz clan.

Waiting until the 21st to see the fight?  Fine, but you're not a real fan and boxing doesn't need you.  What's the point of watching a sporting event (other than the Miracle On Ice) once you know the outcome?  Will you be as excited when Cotto goes down in the second or as shocked when his wife left the arena after the ninth as those of us who watched on Saturday night?  It will be a hollow experience with no tension that you have for the sake of watching some violence - sounds an awful lot like MMA.  You want to know why The Natural is fighting on Spike?  Because he's old.  In his prime, he fought on PPV just like Pacquiao.  The UFC tried proving they were the bigger game by putting up a mediocre Pay Per View package against the Maywether fight  and lost in a landslide.

If boxing is obscure, MMA is screwed.  Think of all the great fighters: Marciano, Dempsey, Joe Lewis, Frazier, Ali, Liston, Foreman, Holyfield, Lennox Lewis, the Klitschkos, De La Hoya, Robinson, Leonard, Mosley, Gatti, Ward, Maywether, Pacquiao, the list goes on.  Try to name just five MMA'ers with that kind of star power.  Ortiz, Ice Man, The Natural, Shamrock, Lesnar?  Kind of a stretch, no?  If boxing is obscure, who's suffering? The fans?

Everyone who wanted to see that fight either went to Vegas, shelled out $50 to HBO or found a friend or a bar that did and watched the spectacle that can only surround a matchup in the squared circle.   The fighters?  Paquiao and Cotto split a purse of over $30 million.  The promoters?  This is one of the single largest money fights in boxing history and set the stage for an even bigger one in the potential for Pacquiao/Maywether.  The 24/7 alone will break ratings records on HBO and the fight could be the largest watched world wide in history.  I don't see a problem here.

The bottom line here is that boxing's fan base has been maxed out since the days of the Rumble in the Jungle - it's not going to get any bigger - and it doesn't need to. Saturday night's fight was watched by "millions around the world" from San Juan to Manilla, with damn good ratings here in the States. It may appear that boxing has fallen off in America, and maybe it has, but with the constant bombardment of televised sports from paintball to darts, a smaller market share stateside is to be expected.

The fact remains that Pacquiao, Cotto, Marquez, Hatton, Lewis and the Klitschkos are national treasures and treated as royalty in respective homelands. They're not roided out white boys from middle class, Inland Empire suburban backgrounds fighting in the octagon because they couldn't get into Cal State Long Beach and were too lazy to learn how to box. These are warriors fighting for their lives, fighting for their countries. Fans around the world live and die with victories and losses of their fighters.

I've watched dozens of MMA matches and to be honest can't really think of one that stands out as "great" but there are a handful of boxing bouts that took place both in my lifetime and before that I consider myself lucky to have witnessed. Why do MMA'ers fight more often than boxers? Because fights are shorter, they rarely (if ever) go the distance and a technical submission is far less taxing on both the victim and the fighter who administers it than a late round knock out or 12 rounds of pure punishment.

Look, I love MMA. Watching two rednecks kick the shit out of each other is fun. The inbreeding of disciplines is great to watch, and as I've said before, I support the opportunities to earn it afford wrestlers and martial artists. Bruce Lee had it right, combining disciplines makes for a more effective way to attack. But a more exciting sporting event? I'm not so sure.

What's great about boxing is the science, the technical nature of the sport, the psychological advantage a fighter can gain with just one punch. And I defy anyone, with the possible exception of the NFL to replicate the pomp and circumstance surrounding a title fight. Boxing knows how to market itself, and more importantly who to market itself to. Dana White is throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks, trying to make as much money as fast cash as he can. Why does the UFC advertise so heavily? Because as Too Short tells us, "you should be gettin' it, getting it while the gettin's good" and it ain't gonna be good for long.

Boxing has a sustained history going back hundreds of years.  Private high schools and colleges still field teams.  Quarreling brothers still settle their arguments with 8 oz. gloves.  True fans of the sport still appreciate a great fighter, a great matchup.  There's no way to know a great matchup in the octagon.  The sport is flooded with headliners and the fights are short.  Results are inconsistent and the term "star" has become convoluted.

Dana White and the UFC are no less exploitative that King in his heyday, while boxing has improved the way it cultivates talent by leaps and bounds in the last 30 years.  Like baseball, football and any other American sporting institution, boxing will have its trials, its tribulations its ups and downs, but it will always hold a special place in the hearts of sports fans.  No matter what comes along to challenge, Boxing will soldier on.

Finally, since I may not post again for a while, an early happy birthday shout out to founding Bomber and UFC enthusiast Blake, who turns 25 tomorrow.  Happy birthday buddy.  I'll do an extra shot of Jack for you tomorrow night.

-Wild