‘Boxing is boxing and MMA is MMA’
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Reporter
THE much-hyped and anticipated “crossover” encounter between boxing superstar Floyd “Money” Mayweather and mixed martial arts champion Conor “The Notorious” McGregor was successfully held at the weekend with the former emerging victorious in the fight done right up his alley by way of a 10th-round technical knockout.
General consensus after the fight, which took place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday (Manila time), was that while it hardly was a boxing purist’s delight, it nonetheless exceeded expectations for being competitive and entertaining.
Such sentiment was shared by local fight analyst Nissi Icasiano even as he said that at the end of the day, what “The Money Fight” showed was that boxing and MMA are still categories all their own.
“Of course, it’s surprising to see that a boxing novice such as Conor McGregor lasted for at least 10 rounds with a master boxer and a defensive genius like Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather did what everyone thought he would do against a guy boxing professionally for the first time, only it took a little longer. His age and two-year inactivity might have played a factor…,” said Mr. Icasiano when asked by BusinessWorld for his thoughts on the fight.
“But I am not revoking anything from McGregor because he had to do what he needed to do to make it at least competitive for the first four rounds. McGregor did give it a go and went to work early as Floyd tried to figure him out. Once the opening round began, it was McGregor who found his rhythm. He constantly fawned at Mayweather with his right hand, using his reach to keep the undefeated 40-year-old at an uncomfortable distance… Mayweather got his groove around the sixth round. At that time, Mayweather was already comfortable delivering some hard rights,” added the analyst, who writes about and follows both boxing and MMA.
Mr. Icasiano went on to say that the fight further underscored that while boxing and MMA have some commonalities they are still different in various respects.
“In the end, the boxer won the boxing match. It was a different turf for McGregor, who was not used to fight beyond 25 minutes and was huffing and puffing for dear life. He was already in the abyss when he reached the seventh and eighth frames of the contest. And like I mentioned before, going the distance has been McGregor’s problem. Boxing and MMA definitely belong to the category of combat sports, but they’re entirely two different sports. McGregor was wiped out, clearly out of his league in a fight lasting this long, obviously having used up all of his energy early,” the analyst said.
As for the question which won in the whole crossover affair that is The Money Fight, boxing or MMA, Mr. Icasiano said MMA no doubt got a major boost but boxing, too, gained traction.
“Like what I said before, mixed martial arts is the real winner of this event. It got the exposure that it needed in order to be put on a higher pedestal. But the big lesson is that no mixed martial artist should just barge in and expect to beat someone who is once considered as the best boxer on the planet. For boxing, it had the last laugh. It had a good turnout in terms of revenue and reception. It was also an opportunity to showcase the sweet science in other sports’ fan base,” he said.
But will he recommend more of such events to be staged in the future? Mr. Icasiano said he would rather see the two sports concentrate on their respective ends and try to develop and enhance the level of competition on each field.
“I would rather see cross-promotion bouts in both sports. The best of Golden Boy Promotions to go up against the best fighters from Mayweather Promotions. And conversely in MMA, UFC vs. ONE Championship or Bellator vs. Professional Fighters League. Events like Mayweather vs. McGregor is a production that we can’t do often. I hope both sports will instead focus more on how to upgrade their individual levels of competition, and groom new stars from whom they will benefit in the future,” he said.
