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Friday, Sep 13, 2013

Full Contact Fighter’s “The Daily Takedown”: Boxing Owns UFC This Saturday With Floyd Mayweather vs. Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez

Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (Photo by Cory Olsen/The Grand Rapids Press)

By Joshua Molina

The sports world is talking about a super-big fight this weekend and it has nothing to do with the UFC or Dana White.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., (44-0, 26 KOs) the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, battles Saul “Canelo” Alvarez (42-0, 30 KOs) in Las Vegas, in a fight that will probably be the highest-grossing pay-per-view of all-time.

So much for boxing being dead. Showtime (those guys White always criticizes) is promoting the fight.

This fight is in some ways similar to the big Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman fight. Mayweather, like Silva, is the older, more experienced great fighter taking on the younger, next generation star.

Mayweather, however, likely won’t choke like Silva. He’s a great defensive fighter and has too much respect for his opponents to drop his hands and dare to be hit.

For as popular as the UFC is, boxing still owns MMA in the eyes of the mainstream media. This fight is getting a ton of press, which is not a good sign, just a week ahead of the Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson fight.

Boxing may not stage monthly pay-per-views that draw 250,000 buys, but what it does have is stars that are bigger than the brand. Mayweather is a household name. Jon Jones is not.

For now, the UFC has lost it’s mega-fight, now that Silva is back down to planet earth. The only huge fight that comes close is a potential Jon Jones vs. Cain Velasquez fight one day, but it’s doubtful Jones will win long enough to make that fight viable.

So this weekend, boxing is far from dead. In fact, it’s alive and breathing a lot easier than the UFC.

 

posted by JoshuaM @ 2:30 pm
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