You may have read Paul Magno’s interesting take on Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez, with Paul arguing that last Saturday’s World Heavyweight Title match showed mixed martial arts in a bad light due to the heavily-hyped heavyweight champion being so quickly destroyed. Putting it bluntly, Paul states that “Brock Lesnar’s Humiliation Makes Case For Boxing”.
To me nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, the renewed strength of the UFC heavyweight division and the historic weakness of boxing’s once blue ribbon division means that in any comparision between the two sports’ heavyweight divisions, it’s the sweet science that comes off the worse.
As Chris Roberts wrote on Wednesday, UFC 121 was the culmination of what has been a year full of great moments and exciting fights in the UFC heavyweight division. From the very beginning of the year the division has captured the imagination of not just MMA fans but casual sport fans, with ESPN heavily covering not only Brock Lesnar’s return to full health but his battles with Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez. Both fights headlined in sold out arenas with fans going crazy for the all out, heavy-hitting action. They were also tremendous successes on pay-per-view with both being purchased by over a million people in North America and were watched live throughout the world. What’s more they were fighting for a title that had prestige, a title that most people within the sport of mixed martial arts recognize as the one that marks you out as the sport’s foremost heavyweight. And throughout the year the match-making was both clear and fair, with the UFC having arranged credible Final Eliminators months in advance to ensure that a worthy number one contender was waiting in the wings to face the new champion.
Let’s contrast that with the heavyweight scene for boxing. Not a single heavyweight title fight has been shown live or on same-day tape delay in the United States, with the Klitschkos having to scramble to get their two most recent title defenses on ESPN after repeated attempts to self-promote on PPV failed. WBA Champion David Haye has faired no better with his match against John Ruiz not being shown in America despite his own promoter Golden Boy running a PPV that very night. Of course both have had strong commercial success in their domestic markets although with the possible exception of Wladimir Klitschko (due to him fighting three times this year instead of two) its highly unlikely that they’ll come anywhere close to matching Brock Lesnar’s earnings this year.
Nor has the matchmaking given fans the matches that they wanted with the long delayed superfight between David Haye and a Klitschko Brother once again failing to materialize due to arguments about German television contracts. Worse, attempts by the Klitschkos to put together matches against Alexander Povetkin and veteran former champion Nikolai Valuev collapsed. The collapse of the Povetkin fight was particularly pathetic seeing as it involved his trainer, Teddy Atlas, saying that the man who became the IBF’s mandatory challenger two years ago was unworthy and unready of facing champion Wladimir Klitschko.
The Klitschkos’ scrambled something together but the one-sided nature of both their recent fights confirmed that the division’s two best fighters were struggling to find worthy opponents. David Haye, on the other hand, decided to defend his title against former Olympic Gold Medalist Audley Harrison, despite promising throughout most of the year that he would never do such a thing. For those outside of Britain that do not know much about the next man to challenge for a world heavyweight title, Harrison has fought only one full-length match since making his in-ring return after losing to a taxi driver named Martin Rogan. It’s not so much a case of an unproven fighter being given a world title fight due to the strength of his amateur career as a fighter that has repeatedly failed in the professional game being given yet another undeserved chance due to their amateur pedigree.
With the Klitschko brothers fast running out of fighters that are willing to face them, poor Wladimir had to reach out to unbeaten British and Commonwealth Champion Derek Chisora, a man who has fought in only three full-length contests, has been suspended for biting an opponent, and got into a pre-fight brawl after kissing his opponent at a weigh-in. While Chisora should be admired for going ahead with the fight so early in his career, it’s hardly a good sign that his promoter was publicly nervous about his chances in what will be a massive move up in class.
Thanks to such mismatches, the in-ring action has been poor with all three champions emerging unscathed from their combined five title defenses without ever moving into top gear. We had bizarre sights such as Emmanual Steward pleading with his charge, Wladimir Klitschko, to stop fighting so defensively and finish Eddie Chambers. We had David Haye repeatedly rabbit punching John Ruiz. We even saw poor Shannon Briggs enduring unnecessary additional punishment from Vitali Klitschko in a match that should have been stopped long before the actual finish. Away from the title picture, a shot Michael Grant gave strong evidence that the buzz surrounding exciting Polish heavyweight Tomasz Adamek may be just hype with Adamek struggling to cope even with Grant’s tentative jab.
All of this compares terribly with what has been a banner year for the UFC’s heavyweight division. While no one is denying that Brock Lesnar was fast tracked into the world title scene, no one can deny that he has been tested throughout his professional career with matches against two world champions (Randy Couture and Frank Mir), two undefeated fighters (Shane Carwin and Cain Velasquez) and a veteran division gatekeeper (Heath Herring). The fact that the UFC was willing to put their biggest pay-per-view star in against dangerous challengers such as Carwin and Velasquez shows an integrity in the organization’s matchmaking that is so often lacking in boxing. No one is going to confuse either world title fight with a technical masterpiece but they were fast-paced and exciting, two of the main things that Americans bemoan is lacking in the modern boxing heavyweight division. Lesnar showed genuine heart to comeback against Shane Carwin after a terrible first round, while Cain Velasquez showed tremendous skill to learn from Carwin’s mistakes and defeat Lesnar. In addition to that, the year has seen the rise of Junior Dos Santos with the Brazilian defeating two veteran heavyweights and popular The Ultimate Fighter winner Roy Nelson to earn a title shot.
And that is perhaps the best place to leave our comparison of the two sports’ heavyweight scenes. Whereas boxing is no nearer to settling who is the best fighter, with the heavyweight title split between three champions all of whom are struggling to find challengers that are both marketable and credible, the UFC is already set for its latest blockbuster championship fight. Straight off UFC 121 it has two fighters poised to fight for the world heavyweight title next year that are both on long winning streaks, having not only fought top competition but looked really good whilst doing so. Boxing is a great sport, and Wladimir Klitschko is a great heavyweight champion, but the humiliating mess that is the heavyweight division highlights so many of the reasons why more and more fight fans choose the UFC over the sweet science.
