Just a reminder that the future credibility of boxing is at stake when AJ fights Ngannou

TheMaster

TheMaster

Take The Road To Reality
@red
Joined
May 25, 2002
Messages
8,159
Reaction score
9,883
A boxing novice knocking down the reigning HW champion and arguably winning on points, then beating one of the other 3 biggest names in HW boxing over the last decade, with the knowledge that he could whoop both of them all in a real fight anyway, probably even just standup, effectively ends boxing as an elite combat sport that can be taken seriously compared to MMA.

I don't agree with all of this, but like it or not it will become the popular opinion if Joshua doesn't prevail.

 
(First off I didn't watch the whole video)

Chael Sonnen is just big mouth trying to get clicks for his channel.

But I don't think it defines anything even if Joshua loses. I'll just give credit to Ngannou for what he did if he does prevail.
Ngannou is no joke, there a reason he was the HW champ in the UFC. He has the power, the ability to learn and get better in whatever discipline. Also, anything can happen in a fight especially when you have large men fighting.. The credibility won't be lost in boxing because of Ngannou if he wins. He's a big guy with power, so you can't underestimate him.
 
Dude, you’ve stated several times you never watched boxing because it wasn’t real fighting like Wing Chun, yet every time an influencer or MMA fighter has a boxing fight, you come here to make a thread like this.

I’m more concerned about your mental health than about the future of boxing at this point.
 
Mostly this is nonsense, but there is a small faction of boxing fans who will suffer significant psychological damage if hell freezes over and Francis wins (he won't).

These are the ones who have constructed an insane delusion that boxers are superheroes who can regularly defeat elite MMA fighters without having to train MMA (note the word 'regularly' - an elite boxer always has some chance in an MMA fight, that's how MMA works). So an MMA fighter coming in and reversing this extraordinary delusion would be shattering to some.

Even though most mental adults will just recognize it as Big Frank being a unique talent.
 
I dunno about that....


Combat sports have small talent pools at the end of the day. It stands to reason that when you have several sports that involve people punching each other in the face, all with small talent pools, there are gonna be fighters who can cross over. Joshua himself started boxing late as well. Combat sports are the best kinds of sports imo but they arent all that "elite" in terms of how big of a mountain you have to climb to get to the top.
 
MXZT said:
But I don't think it defines anything even if Joshua loses. I'll just give credit to Ngannou for what he did if he does prevail.
Ngannou is no joke, there a reason he was the HW champ in the UFC. He has the power, the ability to learn and get better in whatever discipline. Also, anything can happen in a fight especially when you have large men fighting.. The credibility won't be lost in boxing because of Ngannou if he wins. He's a big guy with power, so you can't underestimate him.
Click to expand...
Thats a nice way of framing it but it's potentially extremely damaging.
Mike Tyson went from being "the baddest man on the planet" and considered the most dangerous unarmed man alive, before MMA got popular. Now we have an MMA guy crossing over and possibly whooping the elite of boxing in the one area of combat they are supposed to be superior at, in their own rules and conditions. It maybe doesnt come across so bad now because of how far boxing has already fallen in the public mind regarding combat in general, but since I remember the pedastal it was held to its clear to me how risky this is to the entire business.

StopDucking said:
Dude, you’ve stated several times you never watched boxing because it wasn’t real fighting like Wing Chun, yet every time an influencer or MMA fighter has a boxing fight, you come here to make a thread like this.
Click to expand...
Nope, never said anything like that since I have watched boxing since I was a kid. Its not a complete version of a fight but its still good in its element. My defending Wing Chun has never had any bearing on me being able to appreciate and watch boxing.
 
That narrative doesn't hold up though if there isn't a huge amount of MMA fighters suddenly flooding the sport and dominating. Because if Ngannou winning proves it's easy then everyone else should be trying too but we know that's not going to happen. Maybe a few heavyweights but nobody lighter wants to challenge top boxers.
 
Most boxing fans wrote AJ off a long time ago. No doubt it'll be a great accomplishment if Ngannou pulls it off but I honestly wouldn't see it as that great of an upset. I mean, yes, it'd be an upset but not unimaginable. Joshua tends to freeze a bit if he gets tagged, could happen in this fight.
 
Eh ... Vitali was a kickboxer who crossed over. I've never doubted crossover fighters still have more inherent potential than others who have no combat experience. Also it's a really shit HW era. It has more name value present than the K2 era but there has been an appalling drop in standards in this division.
 
TheMaster said:
Thats a nice way of framing it but it's potentially extremely damaging.
Mike Tyson went from being "the baddest man on the planet" and considered the most dangerous unarmed man alive, before MMA got popular. Now we have an MMA guy crossing over and possibly whooping the elite of boxing in the one area of combat they are supposed to be superior at, in their own rules and conditions. It maybe doesnt come across so bad now because of how far boxing has already fallen in the public mind regarding combat in general, but since I remember the pedastal it was held to its clear to me how risky this is to the entire business.
Click to expand...

Well it's pretty established nowadays that an MMA guy is the most dangerous person in the world. Just because they are versed in wide range of disciplines. So therefore it's not that far fetch at all to think an MMA HW fighter is the most dangerous man alive. Just because he's more well rounded and has broader skill set. In an MMA fight or a real fight I'm sure most would pick the MMA guy to win against any other fighters out there.

Ngannou is not really an amateur imo. Because he's been training and studying boxing since he first stepped into combat fighting. So he's not completely green, he's in fact experience striker/boxer. Just in training, but professionally until recently. People act like he just first walked into learning boxing and started boxing just the past year or so. When boxing has been in his arsenal since the beginning.

It's MMA that he succeeded in, so you got to be good at many things and boxing something he's been working on more than any other skill set I believe from the beginning.
 
Look, we WANT another HW monster in boxing. Fuck MMA vs boxing, we WANT another puncher who will let his hands go. If Francis can KO AJ, “Welcome to the top, Frank, we’ve been waiting!”

That’s it. We just sit and watch the best sport for the best action when it’s good and that’s it. We like people fighting with their fists. It’s exciting.
 
Seano said:
Most boxing fans wrote AJ off a long time ago. No doubt it'll be a great accomplishment if Ngannou pulls it off but I honestly wouldn't see it as that great of an upset. I mean, yes, it'd be an upset but not unimaginable. Joshua tends to freeze a bit if he gets tagged, could happen in this fight.
Click to expand...

Will be interesting to see if Ngannou can finish AJ if he hurts him.

Feel AJ’s chin has been unfairly maligned.

Personally think the smart money is on AJ winning 10-0 in a cautious affair or AJ getting a mid rounds KO.

Punching power is always a great equalizer, but in boxing Ngannou hasn’t proven much in that department.
 
It will be interesting to see how AJ handles the pressure. He seems to be doing better but the guy isn't exactly rock solid from a psychological standpoint.
 
Not only did you attempt to establish revisionist history, you got it wrong. Well done.

FIrst of all, you are making a big deal out of nothing. A big man punched another big man in the face hard and he went down. What a mother fucking surprise! I mean, who could possibly have seen that coming? And this "arguably won on points"? To who? You? Ngannou lost that fight, and if you knew anything about boxing you wouldn't even have tried claiming that. He put up a valiant effort, especially from a boxing novice and performed way better than most expected of him. That may have endeared him to the fans, but that is certainly not a boxing win.

Secondly, even if he does beat Joshua, so what? That won't ruin boxing or even take away from it and it won't make MMA better than boxing. Fans love the heavyweights, regardless of whether it's boxing or MMA, because they are big men who hit hard and quite often their fights end in spectacular KO"s. Sure, most of the times they are sloppier, have poorer cardio, and rely more on power than technique, but fans don't give a shit. They want highlight reel finishes. Joshua can be chinny and Big Frank hits hard, and he can take a punch. If Ngannou beat Joshua, I really wouldn't be all that surprised personally. Like in the Fury fight, I don't expect Francis to win, but it would be cool if he did. It won't disillusion the boxing world, but my fuck it will be funny to watch Dana squirm in the pressers after that.

Put most of the UFC lighter weight fighters in boxing matches against their peers of the same weights... what do you think happens? I would suggest the heavier the MMA fighter is, the better his chances are at pulling off the win, simply by virtue of being a little more durable and a harder hitter.

Put Henry Cejudo in a match against a top-10 boxer or champion of the same weight class, and he'd get annihilated. The smaller guys are much faster and far, far more technical. Their success comes via output and usually on points as they have less KO power than the heavier boxers.

If anything, Ngannou's winning will not diminish boxing, but it will make all the other MMA fighters have second thoughts about locking themselves into restrictive contracts and consider exploring other options to earn.

I am actually more excited for the Joshua fight than I was for the Fury fight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,237,112
Messages
55,468,122
Members
174,786
Latest member
plasterby

Share this page

Back
Top