debate ? I mean, people always want a easy anwer for everything..... either it will be "boxing is dead" stuff, not thinking that what happened in Fury vs Ngannou is not new (Bob Sapp beat ATG kickboxer Ernesto Hoost for example)... or Ngannou is the best talent ever... What will say you ?
It would just mean that Ngannou is an incredible talent and he should have started with boxing in the first place and made some serious money. 99% of mma fighters still wouldn't have much success at top level boxing. I'm not knocking them or anything.
First of all id be surprised. I expect AJ to win fairly comfortably. Then I'd congratulate Ngannou. Then I'd look forward to seeing him in some other exciting match ups. I don't think it would spell the end of boxing ... More highlight Francis as an exceptional fighting talent who should perhaps have got into boxing earlier.
It surely will show that mma is no joke but honestly : welcome ngannou in the club and hope for more exciting fights with him !
The list of MMA fighters that have crashed and burned in Boxing for some reason goes unrecognized. https://www.thesportster.com/ufc-fighters-went-into-boxing-failed/#mark-hunt-0-2-1
What do you mean? That's constantly mentioned on fight forums. I wouldn't say Mark Hunt "crashed and burned" in boxing though, rather he had a few fights with limited combat sports experience, and returned while an old man with still enough in the tank to hang around in some fun domestic/regional level dust ups. Prime Mark Hunt would have been a game HW. Maybe not world class, but I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to achieve contender status.
Ngannou winning is "forgivable" for boxing IMO. He has the kind of power that can win/change any fight so it's not that egregious though it will be presented as such. If Ngannou boxes AJ's ears off that's completely different
Okay on these forums yes we have very knowledgeable people here. But you hear these MMA fighters professional MMA fighters repeat Joe Rogan propaganda talking points. It's just ridiculous. I missed the part where being an MMA fighter meant you were this unbeatable Marvel superhero. When even in MMA submission experts and wrestlers get knocked out with punches constantly. There have been a number of boxers who have gone and had some success in MMA and there have been a number of MMA contenders and champions who use boxing as a base art. There have also been a number of MMA fighters who have gone to boxing and lost. I mentioned these different points because for some reason they don't get enough attention. We see people like Conor McGregor saying when will a boxer come over to our side? And I'm there screaming saying Connor boxers have been coming over to your side since the beginning of MMA and since the beginning of UFC.
There's absurdities from both communities regarding the other. But this debate has been settled a long time ago. a boxer has little more than a punchers chance against MMA fighter if he hasn't cross trained adequately, likewise most MMA fighters have little more than a punchers chance against a top level boxer in the boxing ring.
I 100% agree. It would be absolutely absurd for a pure boxer, only a boxer who had no other training to enter some sort of mixed rules or mixed arts contest. It would be ridiculous. Randy couture certainly didn't want to stand and trade any punches with James Toney so he did the smart thing. It would be absurd also for a wrestler with no hands to enter any sort of boxing match as we saw with Ben Askren.
Toney was looking for a payday, and obviously the MMA community back then had a chip about the notion that MMA fighters were all frauds and that a boxer could simply waltz into their sport and walk through top level fighters - So the fight had a fairly broad appeal to casuals and hardcore fans alike. In hindsight it was all very sad and cringe, especially with how Coutures corner gave him a black belt for submitting a punch drunk boxer who is like a fish out of water on the mat. But there was this feeling in the air at the time that MMAs reputation was at stake and that Couture was defending it. I think a lot of people also simply wanted to see loud mouth Toney humbled.
I can see what you're saying especially in relating to the casual fans. I think all knowledgeable (I don't know if I'm necessarily in the knowledgeable category) But all knowledgeable fans agree that not much was really proven that we didn't already know. A submission artist and wrestler is going to do everything you can to submit a striker in a sport that quite frankly probably favors the submission artist. It wasn't proven that Randy was a better puncher. It wasn't proven who could take a better punch. It was simply proven that you can submit a striker who didn't appear to train in any other discipline. I think we already knew that going in.
Would be a horrendous occasion. And yes would make the boxing vs mma debate even harder to participate in as a boxing fan.