Boxing: The Most Underrated Discipline in Mixed Martial Arts
 

Would you all agree with what I wrote in my article?

I am an amateur boxer and feel very strongly on the issue.

MMANews247.com - Boxing: The most underrated discipline in Mixed Martial Arts

(Edited to provide a teaser for the rest of the article.)

Are you sure Rashad Evans was a pro boxer? boxrec has no record for him and I don't see how he would even have time, given that he was a star collegiate wrestler right up to the time he started doing MMA in 2004 and it was only a year between his MMA debut and his appearance on TUF 2.


A couple of examples of accomplished (although not world class) pro boxers that are also successful MMA fighters would be Marcus Davis or Chris Lytle.

You make some good points, I have only recently started Muai Thai and haven't alot of experience in martial arts but I think you could be right here, MMA fighters could learn alot from training substantially in boxing they would notice opening that fighter who use kick knees and elbows might just miss cause there watching more of the body in saying that though I believe alot of top MMA fighters do train in boxing and with some of the best boxing coaches in the world.

I feel people are avoiding this post cause they feel its a MMA vs Boxing post which is what i thought it was and only opened it to see all the people ripping into it :) was glad i did though

oh . . just realized there more to the article :/

I must have been mistaken. I was under the impression he was for some reason.

And Sduff05, yeah, this is in no way MMA vs Boxing. More of MMA with Boxing.

And classic boxing can help a lot in muay thai.

I love boxing and I agree that its not used as much as it should be. But it shouldn't be about wanting to see a guy get punched in the face and knocked out.
Thats unforunately the attitude that imo makes the sport look bad.
I use what ever is going to work at that time. If I feel I need to take them down then thats what I will do. If I feel I can stand up with them then I'm more likely to box (my kicks are not exactly the best as Im tall for my class so my legs flail around ready for a single leg)

All I'll add in is that once you're wrestling in a match it can be hard to get away and then box. But you can in theory stop a boxer boxing by taking him down and wrestling. It's almost like a warm up I take it, even though how predominant it can be in a match.

I don't think boxing is under used or rated in mma at all.

Many (if not most) mma fighters have boxing coaches and had the striker skills and footwork of boxing to their game.

GSP the most notable recent addition, working with Freddy Roach (not to mention BElfort, Silva and Rampage all working hard on boxing)

The thing is only elements of the boxing discipline can be effectively used in an mma fight so I assume when people train their boxng skills they do so in a fashion that suits the type of fighting they will be undertaking, so it may not be overtly obvious when you watch a fight that someone is applying their boxing skills.

But this does not mean they are not and have not improved their punching techniques via boxing training because they have to also focus on factors such as low kicks and take downs all of which are alien to a pure boxer.

I disagree , i think boxing is equal with all other disciplines , wrestling is however rewarded to highly.

I liked the article, but I don't know if boxing is necessarily underated, perhaps by fans, but I don't think by the fighters themselves. Cain, GSP, Edgar are three current champs that use or used classical boxing, GSP more so as of recent, but Cain and Edgar certainly merge their wrestling/classic boxing as their primary arsenal and BJ Penn supposedly banked his reign on his marvelous jab and counter punching. I believe Mir got into boxing quite extensively as well, as far as fighters that go beyond the general term of striking, but train in classical boxing.

Granted, leg kicks and TD's are an obvious threat to a boxing high guard, but wrestlers or people who tend to throw kicks also have a very low arm guard which makes them vulnerable to proper boxing. It's all give and take. Good article though :thumbsup:

This is because in 95% of instances, the wrestler has scored a takedown, and then scores additional points by controlling his opponent or thru GnP. Very few judges give fighters any points from their back unless they are threatening with multiple submission attempts and/or throwing some damaging 'bows from the bottom. Fighters need to be extremely active from the bottom to score points.

I don't think boxing is underrated -- it's just that boxing is still developing in MMA and we haven't seen very many world class boxers that can't be picked apart in some other area of the game. Once we see a world class boxer who can hold his own in all other areas of the game, we will then see how effective boxing is with 4oz gloves.

The stance alone plays a big role, and a pure boxer with a traditional stance is going to get taken down, or his lead hacked to death with kicks. Switch to a more square stance and the traditional boxer loses power in his hands -- it's simply a tough set of circumstances to overcome.

* and some have already mentioned, many fighters have boxing coaches. GSP showed us how effective the jab can be -- Kos eye was a train-wreck, and the weren't overly powerful jabs. Just well timed and well placed. I don't think we've seen the jab used that effectively before, and plenty of other fighters have heavy hands that can end the fight with one punch. If somebody like Bisping had half the wrestling skill as GSP, Kos or Lesnar, we would be in for a real treat.