Larry Merchants Comments on Kickboxing/MMA

Anyone who watched the Marquez/Pacquiao fight saw an undercard fight with a former Muay THai fighter "Jandaeng" fight a decent fight, but came up short on the decision.

ANyway did anyone catch Larry Merchants comments on Kickboxers/Martial Arts fighters? He said he spent some time recently in Bangkok and watched several Muay Thai fights. He complimented MT Fighters on their strength and leg kicking but said they have no balance when it comes to boxing. Later on in the fight, he then said that all professional Martial Arts fighers have no proper balance in boxing at all. Basically saying MMA fighters/Martial Arts fighters can't box.

Agree/Disagree?

I can sorta see his point but at the same time he just sounds like a fuckin douche.

Comments?

 

shit doesn't even make sense

 

I watched that fight, it was a good one. Jandaeng has one hell of a chin, he ate so many jabs!

Anyways I don't think Larry Merchants was trying to say martial artists can't box. When it comes to boxing, MT fighters and other martial artists all use different stances, none of which are proper boxing forms.

The argument could easily be switched around by saying boxers don't have good muay thai stances.

 

Boxers box, which is why it is called boxing.

Boxing commentators with a limited view on boxing will always be limited. Of course MT guys hands are underdeveloped, because they have other primary wepons, ie; kicks, knees, elbows, ect.

You can't relate different sports even if they both involve fighting. What if i were to say a boxer has underdeveloped takedown defense, or underdeveloped knee skills, does that mean the MT guy is better?

Its a stupid argument, and one that needs to stop--boxing is a sport, the sport of fighting with your hands, organized MMA is a sport--with different rules/boundries!

 

Yeah, it was a good fight. Jandaeng has mad power and he did knockdown that guy I think in the 3rd solid Left. Seemed like the other guy was running away the rest of the fight knowing that Jandaeng couldve knocked him the hell out at any time.

I understand where Larry was coming from like I said. I just couldnt help but think he was trying to hate on everything that was NOT boxing.

 

Agreed. Just wanted to know what you all thought. Good posts.

 

Larry is pro-boxing and anti-mma. If a former MMA/MT guy won a title fight he would attribute it to a great boxing coach.

Quite a few of the old time boxing guys feel MMA is spoiling the sport. They will never evolve into MMA fans; unless Zuffa hires them...

Absolutely no difference in that and MMA guys saying a boxer will not survive a "real" fight.

 

well why would i want boxing balance if im primarily kicking?? lol

there's nothing wrong with what he said, it's true... just like most boxers don't have muay thai balance

 

I watched the fight and having a boxing background myself I think Larry was more making a fundamentals argument. Balance in boxing, is basically a fundamental you pick up early, which Great Boxers start boxing in the Jr. Olympics like at 12.

That argument I agree with.

I've seen good old school fighters in the 70's and 80's who I consider "very good" boxers in the sense they have solid foundations and implement it into their martial arts repertoire (the Joe Lewis's, the Benny Urquidez's etc). Those guys had boxing.

Could they handle a life long veteran boxer with 20+ years of boxing from a young age?

Maybe, Maybe not.

Fundamentals wise? Balance, Timing, etc? Probably not.

Just my opinion.

 

So in a nutshell, Merchant said boxers are better boxers than MMA and MT guys. What's new? The earth is round?

 

Heh. Half of sherdog probably never even stepped foot in a gym. If people actually spent time to study different martial arts, they would actually have respect for the different styles.

 

LOL! i agree.. some of the MMA'ers have terrible boxing skills..

 

oh I agree

But I just don't understand his terminology with "balance". Using that word makes it seem like MTers lack something fundamental that boxers have.

 

I'm no expert, but from my experience, balance in boxing and balance in other sports is different. I know guys in my gym who wrestled before and some MMA guys who take boxing to get better at striking. Wrestlers and grapplers in general obviously have incredible balance, right? No. In boxing you can get off balance from throwing punches. I see new guys who tip their body to the side when throw a cross and unbalanced. Some new guys have too narrow of a stance so when they throw combos, they're stumbling all over the place. Former wrestlers or judokas may have excellent balance when somebody is trying to toss them around, but they lose balance when throwing punches because they're not used to it.
Same thing for MTers. They're good at keeping themselves balanced while throwing kicks or knees, but they may not be used to elevating low for body punches or using boxing footwork. A boxer with great balance may stumble around when throwing a kick for the first time.

Its a different game.

 

kk said more or less what i was thinking. ive definitely experienced this as someone who first did striking in the form of kickboxing/muay thai. i constantly have most of my weight on one leg or another, because my kicks are faster. i also tend to have straighter legs for the same reason. as a result, i can string punches and kicks together pretty well, and use the kicks themselves to promote my footwork. however, in boxing i cant do the same things at all. for a long time my boxing coaches would tell me to sit down more and that i was off balance. if i throw a power punch with most of my weight on one foot, i do find myself off balance. it took some getting used to.

 

i think hes just saying that the balance is different, and it is.

 

If your talking about boxing, then yes MT does lack something Boxing has.

its pretty simple, people just take it out of context (not suggesting the TS did, but others who have posted have). I highly doubt he meant anything bad but he could be refering to silva trying to box in his next fight. although silva is amazing in mma, and his MT is strong, boxing is a whole diffrent world. much like if he were to fight MT, although thats what hes strong in, mma is a bit diffrent for the obvous reasons.

You dont just train your hands and foot work for punching in mt, so i would have to assume our balance and hands and foot work is not as good as boxing. could someone who trains MT become a great boxer? sure but as stated you will have to unlearn things and probably learn new things.

they are diffrent sports no need to cry foul.