Yanez may be the first Olympic boxer in Dallas history but he did graduate from Duncanville High. Being a Duncanville graduate myself, I know that many Dallas residents attend Duncanville schools.
If I was a UFC fighter I would have feared Tyson in his younger years. He took a ear off when he was boxing so you could imagine what he would do as a UFC fighter.
Boxing has fallen because it's not organized. They should have 1 champion per weight class. Boxing should have 4 or 5 weight classes and have a commissioner. They should have all championship bouts on over the air or basic cable television.

Quick Clarification: Calling mixed martial arts "UFC" is like calling boxing "WBO." UFC is a league (more like a secluded club) and others are trying to break the monopoly the UFC has on the high end PPV market(and soon will). But the fighters are still mixed martial artists, not UFC Artists (despite Dana White's fantasy that he created mixed martial arts). Further, asking who would win in the opposite sport is like asking how Derek Jeter would look as a running back for the Jets. Not even comparable. Soon the public will wake up and get this straight. But probably not until the media gets it right....?

@Kije: I'm DHS, Class of '82. Attended the same junior high (Reed) as Yanez. Small world.

@Frank Ed Furter: I ask these questions as a neophyte, not an a-hole. So instead of saying I like UFC, I should say I like MMA? But, come on, MMA and boxing are much comparable than baseball and football. Agree?

@Kije: Any member of the Gracie family would have wipped Tyson's ass. That includes the females. What the hell does the ear biting have to do with i? Gimmie a good MMArtist over anything boxing half ass throws out.

Please.. Oscar De La hoya, Shane Mosley, and Floyd Mayweather made more money on 2007-2008 than all noted MMA fighters combined and doubled. Someone must still watch boxing. If UFC fighters are so superior, then why don't some of them go to the boxing ring and make some real money. The elite boxers make WAY more than these UFC amateurs. MMA is exciting.. just like cockfighting & dogfighting. MMA guys are tough etc... , but the skill level of a good pro boxer is so many light years ahead of these guys until it isnt funny. MMA is for the less pugilistically educated.

I'm a huge MMA fan. I used to be a boxing fan but lost interest. Maybe it's because they were all Hispanics towards the end??? Actually I think it came down to getting your PPV money's worth. The announcers started to suck. I stopped paying for fights and would only watch HBO fights. Eventually they lost their excitement.

I had watched old MMA fights and kickboxing fights and loved them, but it was really tough to have them on tv, much less know when they came on. Then the UFC comes along and modernizes the sport and launches The Ultimate Fighter. It was reality tv with a bunch of meatheads that got drunk, destroyed things, then beat the shit out of each other. There was entertainment along with tactical fighting styles. It was an instant hit.

The UFC fights started going on PPV and the more people watched them, the more they noticed all of the big named stars in the front rows (whether paid to be there or not) and the sport just grew. They blow boxing through the roof in PPV money. Their fans will pay $45-$55 twice a month (I do), where boxing will give you one fight for $75.

Anyhow, UFC is the perfect mix between boxing, wrestling and kickboxing.

Richie, don't worry about the UFC/MMA confusion. It's the brilliant marketing that Dana White does for UFC. It's more comparable to when someone says "would you like a coke?", instead of saying "would you like a soda". UFC IS the elite MMA organization.

When you compare boxing to MMA, it's not an apples to apples comparison, but there does seem to be some edge leaning toward MMA. With MMA, you have to be very well versed in wrestling, boxing, and some other form of discipline like BJJ, Karate, Judo, etc. You have to have many types of defenses and it takes years to learn these.

I'd put my money on the top MMA fighters outperforming the top boxers.

Who is even in boxing now? In the hayday is was Ali, Sugar Ray, Hearnes, Holmes, Spinks, Tyson, etc....

Now what? De La Hoya on the downside of his career and probably done, Hatton who is good but not elite and no one in the Heavyweight division that we can identify with.

With today's world of instant gratification, the 3, 5 minute rounds or 5, 5 minute rounds in championship fights gives you just that, instant gratification. In boxing you spend $50 to watch the main event and that's it. You sit around the tube and watch the referee break them up 15 times during a round, watch them play patty cake and wait for a judges decision.

With MMA you get just the oppostie. $50 gets you a minimum of 5 good fights and 1 main event. If the 5 prelim fights are quickies they give you the dark matches.

You get more blood, which equals drama, more action and more overall skill. Boxing is all but dead. Those late to the party with MMA, come on it, you won't be disappointed!

Sincerely,

MMA Blowhard

There are Skilled athletes in both MMA & Boxing. People try & compare them way to much. If boxing is gonna die then it gonna die. Its been dying for a long time now! Most Hispanic fighters are fun to watch cause they have heart and are willing to mix up & trade. I'm 28 and grew up watching boxing & since the UFC came out I defintely like it also. Ufc fighters/fans need to RESPECT BOXING because it's the Grandfather of combat sports.There have been countless memorable fights from boxing, young kids that like the Ufc just dont know about them. Ufc did a good job in marketing the ufc by targeting 21-28 white males. Boxing is more of a minority sport and that could be the reason kids that started to like the ufc never did their homework on the sweet science of boxing. i respect the ufc and fighters or ANYONE who will step in the cage but their needs to be respect on BOTH sides.

How many MMA/UFC fans recognize all of these sophisticated defense techniques that it takes so many years to learn ? Do they understand the diferences ? Do they know the regional styles of training ? I have many many friends who are die hard fans of MMA and they have little idea about technique, training, different disciplines etc..... all they know is that two bad asses are going mess each other up.. that is the mentality that the sport appeals to. BTW, MMA revenue has stalled domestically and many of the attempts to invade the European market have straight failed.. don't overestimate the staying power of the fad, its still a fringe craze and it looks to no longer be expanding as quickly. Top boxing talent is on a much greater talent level than than these guys.. Brock Lesnar with a few fights and he's already a champ.. please... boxers that started training at 16 & 17 years of age & they are at or near the top of the sport ? In boxing, a 16 or 17 year that just started is a waste of time in 99.9% of all cases. MMA is more accessible to average little tough bully..

Look, U CANNOT COMPARE BOXING WITH MMA!!!!
as far as an mma fighter crossing over to boxing and vice-versa, boxers have tried mma in the past, some do well but most fail because they have no ground game, look at former wbo champ Ray Merciless Mercer, Francois Botha, both boxers who got crushed in mma! But haver anyone ever seen an mma fighter get into the squared ring? They'd prolly get knocked out quick, boxers train to hit a moving target(the head) w/out being able to use legs/elbows ect., there i feel the boxer has a better chance at beatting an mma fighter via KO where as a boxer will always have a 'punchers chance' against an mma fighter IF they can avoid the takedown long enough to get off a nice combo to the head. But look guys, both sports are prcticed by real warriors who put their life on the line to entertain us and make a living, so lets just respect both sports becaus ethey're both here to stay!

@Richie's Elf
The point I was making is that you should fear the crazy person in a fight. I've seen a street fight where(size is equal) a very skilled MMA fighter got his ass kicked by a crazy man. All the spectators thought for sure that the MMA guy would win easy because of his reputation as a fighter. The crazy man beat the hell out of him because he didn't fear for his life. That's why you should take a full grown chimpanzee over the strongest man alive, no matter what skills they have.

Give me MMA/UFC or whatever. When I have watched boxing, for the most part you very rarely get a payoff of a good match. It is usually pretty damn boring. MMA almost always gives you a payoff with an ass kicking.

@ Kije

I still think Lesnar could take down a full grown chimp. Now, granted, Brock would have to have some luck on his side and keep the chip at a safe distance. But if Lesnar landed one punch on the chimp's temple it would be game over.

Of course the same could be said if the chimp got in close and started clawing/biting/etc. Regardless, give me Lesnar over the chimp by way of knock-out.

@BeefSupreme
You made my point for me. Lesnar is going for the chimp's head and the chimp is goes directly for the genitals. He's not going to hit them he's going to bite them off. The fight is over before it starts.

another would be writer comparing apples to oranges and football to rugby- both sports can and will co exist, boxing is doing just great and this writer fails to mention that if ufc is so dam popular than why havnt networks like hbo, showtime and espn done anything with it? those are 3 major networks that boxing thrives on as ufc and i say ufc (because all the mma companies went out of business already) has to do every single show on ppv and spike because hbo and espn wont touch them and showtime dropped them just as nbc did when elite mma fighting folded- a pacman, delahoya, mayweather, cotto, hatton , klichko so on make more money in 1 night than any mma fighter sees his entire career!!!!!!!!! why wouldnt more mma guys try boxing to make real money instead of fighting for peaunuts? cause they would get killed is why just the same as a boxer in mma its 2 different sports!!!!!! pac man and hatton are splitting 60 million dollars may 2, so boxing is far from dead and thriving actually but a no knowlege writer like this would make you believe otherwise- last time there was a great boxing match u say? i huess u didnt see campbull vs fukell on hbo sat night which was a back n fourth drama filled doozy or berto vs collazo in jan on hbo which will be a candidate for fight of the year as will the feb 28 diaz vs marquez fight on hbo and the april 4 holt vs bradley fight on showtime, research before you write and i welcome your responce cause i know both industries and have great respect for boxing and mma fighters and will gladly debate whateva weak 1 sided opionions you throw my way

Richie Whitt's Elf says: Any member of the Gracie family would have wipped Tyson's ass. That includes the females. What the hell does the ear biting have to do with i? Gimmie a good MMArtist over anything boxing half ass throws out.

You keep believing that. A single punch from Tyson to the jaw or rib on any Gracie and they'll be dancing to the stars in la la land.

Boxing has a much much deeper talent pool. It is a timing sport that takes years to learn. MMA is popular as many fighters have only recently picked it up. I train in well known gym that has top fighters from both sports. I have enormous respect for both and any real fighter respects all fighters. Dana White is largely known for not paying his fighters and marketing himself and the brand "UFC" more than anything. He is former boxercise instructor who wanted to be a boxing promoter. I do give him credit for mixing a pro-wrestling environment with pro fighting. Most MMA fights are frankly sloppy and boring. Once in awhile you see a great one. Boxing the last couple of years has been full of good fights (love how the guy who writes the article apparently doesn't know that). You want to see wars watch Pavlik, Cotto, Mosley, Paul Williams, Hatton, etc. Many top fighters from all corners of the planet.

@Beef/Kige: Lesner vs. Chimp. I'd totally pay $49.95 to see that.

@Kirk/joey: If you'll read my post again, I never ever never claimed to be an expert on either. Quite the contrary. My British buddy made me watch a Ricky Hatton fight last spring and I was bored to tears. In my humble opinion it's more entertaining to watch Brock Lesner storm around a ring than one of the Klitschko twins. That's all I'm saying.

For me MMA is definitely taking over. And IT IS direct competition. Same young men, that would go to boxing in seventies, eighties and nineties, go to MMA now. The same people who used to watch boxing on tv, shift to UFC + boxing events are often on the same date that UFC, and UFC has usually better ppv revenues.

As for who'd win... Course MMA guy would 95% cases beat boxer fighting in mmma event, and boxer would WIN a boxing match. That's the difference. One is more of a sport, the other pure fighting.
The question: who would win if they really fought, is answered long time ago. Of course all-round mma fighter would in 95% cases submit boxer, and it happened in the first mma events, where we had a clash of styles, and matches won virtually exclusively by bjj practitioners and wrestlers.

And comming back to boxing - there are fighters I'll always watch. But in lighter weight divisions. like Mosley, Cotto, Abraham, Pacquaio etc.
Heavy weight division is probably in worst condition in history. Last time I watched HW title fight I felt asleep during 4-th round. Just wondering if it can get any worse.... and who and why is paying to see it.

Jan

boxing has made a huge come back the last few years with excellent fights pitting the top fighters against each other and its a direct result of mma making boxing step up its game and put forth more competive fights, in the early 2000s in boxing it was all about keeping that undefeated record so fighters were not matching up w the best and trying to keep that 0, thank god those days stopped and now we have the best fighting the best, the heavyweight division outside of the klichko bros, chris arruelo, and david haye is weak and rather boring but the rest of the sport is as strong as ever with many up and coming superstars like Alfredo Angulo , james kirkland, Yuriorkis Gamboa, the new ray robinson, chavez jr and possibly the next golden boy, brooklyns danny jacobs ( what a fighter!!!) pavlik, paul williams, chad dawson,andre berto all on the brink of being superstars and then the mega superstars like ricky hatton, manny Pacquiao, miguel cotto, shane mosley, bernard hopkins, antonio margarito, boxing is doing just fine and matchups every month like diaz vs marquez feb 28 on hb0, unification at 140 with kendall holt and timothy bradley april 4, and a beefed up espn2 line up w eddie chambers vs sam peter, and vitali klichko vs gomez both in march is incredible , lets not forget about versus which is a great network that has been bringing us great boxing the last 2 years and then the daddy of all fights this year pacman vs hattan may2!! which will be the biggest ppv of the year for any boxing or mma fight card, boxing is not suffering and i think its doing well enough were its a matter of time before its back on network tv, attendence is great as proved by last months mosley vs margarito fight which drew 21,000 fans to the staples center the biggest crows for any event ther ever including the lakers championships, pavlik fight this weekend in ohio sold out, the cotto msg fight this sat will have 14 thousand people in what is just a tune up fight for him and pacman vs hatton sold out the gym grand in what 20 min? mma is a fun sport to watch and some guys like gsp are very talented and they do well with there ppvs, boxing is and always will be a global sport huge in countries like germany, mexico, pueto rico, and all over the uk, might not be as huge as it was in the 50,60 in america but neither is any sport like baseball with all its problems and baskey ball is in the toilet and horse racing is a forgotten sport, let them co exist make money and entertain us all

UFC SUCKS! IF I WANTED TO WATCH 2 DUDES DRY HUMPING ON THE FLOOR FOR 15 MIN ID GO TO A GAY CLUB, ALL HYPE VERY LITTLE SUBSTANCE

First of all, it's like comparing baseball to football. Both fine sports, but completely different.

And as for the heavyweight boxing scene being a mess -- quick, who's the MMA heavyweight champion?

Trick question, because there are two of them. Is it Fedor or Lesnar. Dana White will tell you it's Lesnar, but only because he refuses to spend the money to put the best fighter in the world in his league. The rest of the world will tell you it's Fedor, as he is considered by most to be the best P4P fighter in the world.

As White gets rich and his fighters keep getting underpaid, watch the stars leave.

Boxing fans know that Wladimir Klitshcko is the heavyweight champion. Valuev and Chagaev are co-titlists that no one considers champions. Vitali Klitschko is like a co-champion, since he'll never fight his brother.

Boxing isn't going anywhere. As all of the 20-29 year olds grow tired of watching the same MMA "stars" fight each other over and over, boxing keeps turning out new blood. As long as all of your fights are on PPV (UFC), you won't be winning over new fans as easily as boxing, which is easily available (ESPN, Versus, HBO, Showtime).

They will co-exist, but boxing's business model is proven and successful. The UFC is being run by an aerobics instructor who will run it into the ground far faster than fans will even be able to choose to stay or leave.

There is plenty of market for both of them, so why even have a discussion about completely different sports.

The problem these days are writers such as yourself who have zero understanding of boxing today or even the so called glory days of boxing. You mention 4 heavyweight champs - well this is a problem and will hopefully be addressed as boxing is once again learning how to adapt. Remember - your pick of UFC as the sport is wrong. It is MMA and as such has many different leagues - UFC being one. So same issue comes about with multiple MMA champs. Actually Mr Dana White has a monoploy on most of this and as such takes much more revenue from the UFC fighters than does boxing. Do some better research and compare revenue from the top 3 boxing events this year to UFC? I came across a response to your article that mentions lost interest because of too many hispanic fighters. Boxing has always been a sport of immigrants and the poor class and a way up to a better life. Read about former heavyweight champ Gene Tunney and what he became after Boxing. Also, I live up in New England and the New England golden gloves in Lowell Ma just finished up. Record attendance, record increase of fighters and NO, they were not just hispanic. You had 3 and 4th generation Irish, French Candian, Portuguese, Greek, Italian along with the recent immigrant arrivals. The gyms up in this area are flooding with new young fighters. Boxing has been around much longer than MMA, has much history and will figure out and adapt to some of the new "trend" sports such as MMA (and poker). I actually like MMA and watch both - but your comment about who would win a match in each of these sports is totally ignorant. Please do yourself a favor and next time research your topic and provide fighters such as Yanez the respect they deserve when writing your columns next time. Ron.

umm..did anyone see the fight tonight? it's hilarious that alexander's strategy was based around getting a cheap win and kimbo still dominated him