The Death of Boxing

With the fast rise of MMA in the world of sports and entertainment, many people are saying that boxing is dead. In terms of pay-per-view, mixed martial arts bouts are steadily gaining more sales. Both sports are competitive and scientific in nature. Both have their own respective superstars. Despite the surge of MMA fans, boxing still remains more prestigious and popular as a sport.
Some of the notable differences between the two sports in terms of entertainment is the schedule of matches and the matchups. MMA fights appear to be more regular compared to boxing. And we're not talking about mediocre MMA fights. When people purchase pay-per-views of MMA fights, they will get around three hours of pure action. In this aspect, MMA beats boxing because boxing is not always explosive and exciting to watch. When it comes to the match-ups, MMA tops boxing again. MMA is all action from the undercards to the main event. Compared to boxing, undercards are not always good. Boxing fans oftentimes don't care about the undercards as evidenced by the half-filled venues before the main event. MMA venues are crowded right from the beginning until the end. Another notable difference between the two is the pay-per-view price. Basically, cheaper pay-per-view fee means more access to the fight.
Boxing has several sanctioning bodies compared to MMA. There is the WBC, WBA, WBO, etc. The presence of several bodies of authority works to the detriment of great fights. For example, a WBC champion can opt to ditch a fight with a mandatory challenger. In UFC, the next fights are made as soon as a fighter wins. With only one authoritative body, there is only one way to go in the ranks. Challengers have to earn the right to face the champions and champions cannot refuse mandatory title fights.
Boxing also involves more money compared to MMA. For a fight to be made, promoters must first negotiate several aspects of the fight like purse, ring size, weight and just recently blood testing. This makes boxing more complicated in negative sense compared to MMA. The best example is the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight, which is considered to be the most anticipated boxing match in boxing history. The whole world wants to see the unbeaten and former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. face current pound-for-pound title owner Manny Pacquiao. One may wonder that with such demand for a fight, how come the fight remains a wishful thinking? Both fighters have nothing left to prove to their fans and the only logical thing left for them is to face each other. The first wave of negotiations did not push through because of the drug testing issues. Everything from the size of the gloves and rings, as well as the purse, were agreed upon except for the random blood testing that Floyd Mayweather Jr. wants. For boxing fans craving for the best matchup in the history of the sport, this is a very disappointing setback. Compared to MMA fans, boxing fans are bereft of a great fight that many believe will save the dying sport of boxing. As of now, the fight is still under negotiations and the public is still left with doubt as to whether the fight will continue to push. With Pacquiao agreeing to his opponent's demands, Mayweather still has until the end of next week to save boxing and restore the sport's reputation as the best fighting sport in the world.