Boxing provides a second chance for pugilists to become scholars

I recently heard from the Philippine news that Manny Pacquiao was going back to college. Wow, I said to myself, he's finally putting his hard-earned cash to good use instead of wasting it all on politics or gambling. That got me thinking, boxers get into the sport because of poverty early on in their life and instead of going to school, they train. They become successful, earn a lot of money (more than enough to pay for education), spend it all on some blings, girls, alcohol, or any other vices and then go broke.

Some people are born smart, but most of us need to go to school to be smart. The world is harsh and it doesn't take pity on anybody. A boxer might take a lot of punch, but out in the world, things are not just like boxing. If you don't know how to carry yourself in the real world then people are going to take advantage of you.

I've heard about how MMA guys have college degrees and good jobs before going into the sport and that's what I like about that sport. They are already well-off and not living off on MMA alone. Boxer's, on the other hand, do it backwards. Since they start off from poverty and can't go to school early in their life, they start off with boxing first. However, when they become successful, I believe they should go back to school: the thing that they were denied when they were young.

I know this doesn't apply to all boxers out there (Juan Diaz, for example, who goes to college), but that is what boxing is famous for: an escape from poverty. Lots of young minds are attracted to the sport because of its promise to take you out of the slums when you get good enough even without education. Most boxing stars come from poor countries (Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales, for example) But you can't go long without education. (I, myself, don't like school, but it is necessary.)

Your boxing career won't last forever and you must capitalize on it while you can. It is a dangerous sport where one can get a lot of damage, short and long term. It's gonna be hard on your body and if one can't go on anymore, education can open new doors.

Boxing's woes, MMA's gains (Part Two)

It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks and maybe that is true for boxing. But old things also have a lot of rich history that new things can learn from.

MMA maybe gaining in popularity, but it's a fairly new sport while boxing was there even before my great grandfather was born. It has also made its contribution in history with popular historic figures like Muhammad Ali. We have come to know some historic bouts from the sport like the Ali-Frazier, Gatti-Ward, Hagler-Hearns, and other famous trilogies. We have also come to know the bad boys in boxing like Oscar De La Hoya and Mike Tyson who is now a house hold name despite his infamous acts outside the ring. MMA still doesn't have those. On the other side, mixed martial arts is more on the modern side and is now attracting modern fans while boxing is stuck in its past. Boxing fans compare modern fighters to past fighters while UFC and other organizations are making their own history with their current line-up of modern fighters that their fans can't compare to anybody in the past.

One thing that boxing also lacks is media distribution. While UFC, Pride, and King of the Cage have fight DVD's that fans can own and watch when they want, boxing only has pay-per-views and your good ol' VCR to record those. Alas, VHS tapes can be bulky and some of us are too lazy to record it. There are some websites that do sell boxing fight DVD's, but they are limited and it would be better if there was an official boxing DVD seller like maybe HBO or something? Or each promoter could sell the fights they have promoted on DVD's.

Bottomline: it would greatly help if boxing, like MMA, catered to the younger generation and stopped looking at what has already passed. Take advantage of what is popular to the fans and what the fans like and maybe it'll gain more. Follow mixed martial arts' example of promotion. This is my take on this matter. Please feel free to post opinions.

Boxing's woes, MMA's gains (Part One)

I have been following MMA for a while now along with boxing and I have noticed a few differences between the two. While UFC is enjoying a lot of success, boxing has been declining lately. I think one of the many reasons for the decline is the numerous number of alphabet organizations that plague the sport. WBC, IBF, IBO, WBA, etc. Imagine having 3 or more world champs in one weight class all claiming to be the best. That's bogus, unless all the belts are unified! And it's hard to get those good match-ups nowadays because of the promoters' and organizations' conflicts.
Meanwhile, UFC is buying out the other MMA organizations like PrideFC and unifying them under its banner. Thus, creating dream match-ups like Liddell vs. Jackson or now that that's done with, Liddell vs. Silva that otherwise wouldn't be possible. And did I mention that they only have one champ in each division? Also, boxing isn't so nice to its fighters with all the fees they have them pay to them while MMA fighters have college degrees and such so they don't depend on the sport too much unlike boxers.
While all these things bring down the sweet science, there are also good things to it that MMA doesn't or not yet has. Watch out for Part 2 of this post.