A year of training for the boxers would be a serious difference maker imo. Thats hundreds of hours of training to defend kicks while already having a significant edge in the pure boxing department. Its not like transitioning into MMA where they'd have to train for grappling as well plus all the weird little nuances like the cage and the smaller gloves.
But putting the two together requires different techniques etc. Not as easy as you make it sound. Elite level guys like Hoost have stopped other world class fighters by Leg kicks. Not a Boxer in history with 12 months of training will take them like that.
Kickboxers would beat most of them tbf. The boxers couldn't take the leg kicks, they would kill them. There legs wouldn't be conditioned to taking them... Far too many advantages for the Kickboxers to bridge any natural ability gap.
If you allow them a year to change how they fight to defend kicks then they are no longer the traditional boxers we are referring to with these fantasy matchups
That youtube fight is a good example of the dishonesty of you kickboxer types. At the time of this fight, the kickboxer Ignashov was rated one of the top heavyweight in the world at the time and some say one of the best heavyweight kickboxers in history. They matched him up against a 38 year old career cruiserweight in Arthur Williams. Ignashov used to get in the ring at 260+lbs. He was also in his prime. He must have outweighed Williams by 50 pounds in this fight. This would be like if boxing wanted to 'prove' it was better than kickboxing by putting a 35 year old, 200lb kickboxer in the ring against a prime Lennox Lewis, then bragging about how he got the knockout easily. What separates boxing from kickboxing and these other sports like MMA is that boxing does not feel the need to put on these pathetic exhibitions to humiliate other styles of fighting.
I posted that particular video because of its conciseness, and the ease with which Ignashov demonstrated his superiority. To deny that high-level kickboxers have a distinct advantage when it comes to inflicting debilitating injury at range without the risk of being countered is disingenuous. Any top-level kick-boxer would salivate at the opportunity to challenge a boxer in their prime, I wonder why that opportunity never seems to present itself? Here is a list of some of the kickboxers that have defeated boxers: Musashi vs. Ray Mercer, Francois Botha - Masato vs. Vince Phillips, Satoru Suzuki, Yong Soo Choi, Virgil Kalakoda - Genko Sudo vs. Michael Lerma - Mike Zambidis vs. Satoru Suzuki - Chi Bin Lim vs. Satoru Suzuki - Alexey Ignashov vs. Arthur Williams, Mike Bernardo - Cyril Abidi vs. Francois Botha - Remy Bonjasky vs. Francois Botha, Ray Mercer - Mighty Mo vs. Francois Botha - Ray Sefo vs. Francois Botha, Yosuke Nishijima - Yusuke Fujimoto vs. Francois Botha - Buakaw Por Pramuk vs. Virgil Kalakoda - Andy Souwer vs. Virgil Kalakoda - Nieky Holzken vs. Virgil Kalakoda - Albert Kraus vs. Virgil Kalakoda - Hiroki Shishido vs. Virgil Kalakoda - Peter Aerts vs. Mike Bernardo, Yosuke Nishijima - Andy Hug vs. Mike Bernardo - Jerome Le Banner vs. Mike Bernardo - Ernesto Hoost vs. Mike Bernardo - Mirko Crocop vs. Mike Bernardo - Mark Hunt vs. Mike Bernardo - Daisuke Uematsu vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe - Cheon Jae-Hee vs. Kazuhisa Watanabe - Hiromi Amada vs. Butterbean - Montanha Silva vs. Butterbean
More deception from the kickboxing liars. 80% of this list are the same 3 or 4 kickboxers who took a few boxing matches. The other one were washed up 45 year olds getting a quick payday.
Ex-kickboxers make inroads into boxing often enough that I wouldn't dismiss their chances in a kickboxing match against boxers. Miller, Vitali, Skelton, and others are examples that come to mind. Take it down to the lighter weight classes and you're also looking at MT guys who win boxing titles.
Would it honestly make much difference if it was an elite in prime boxer? if you cant defend kicks you cant defend kicks, and your chances of landing a KO punch against someone that already trains boxing as part of their sport before their kicks hurt you bad are pretty low. Now, if a boxer trains beforehand and learns how to defend kicks? maybe they'd do well. But then if a kickboxer drops the kickboxing and just focuses 100% of their training on boxing they'd obviously improve as a boxer too.
"Basically, boxing only involves punching and the use of footwork for movement." Boxers are famous for dancing around the ring
A kickboxer is able to throw punches like a boxer but they can also use kicks and knee strikes as well, hitting their opponent's head, body, and legs
This content is protected Best recent example of a boxer vs. kickboxer that I can think of. although.... Ruenroeng does have extensive Muay Thai experience. Tenshin is a wunderkind. I don't doubt he could win a world title in boxing if he decided to make the switch.
Botha, who wasn't even a high level boxer, did just that, so I don't see why much better boxers couldn't. This content is protected
