By Brad Young
Posted 05/18/2007 at 01:03 AM

The boxing vs. mixed martial arts debate seemed to rise once again with the recent Oscar De La Hoya-Floyd Mayweather fight a few weeks ago. If Mayweather wasn’t taking shots at the Ultimate Fighting Championship, then it was HBO commentator Jim Lampley.

The best analogy I heard comparing boxing to mixed martial arts is from Brazilian jiu-jitsu master Renzo Gracie, who said it’s like chess to checkers. Boxers only have to worry about punches from jabs, crosses, hooks or uppercuts, while mixed martial artists have to be well versed in boxing, wrestling, muay thai, jiu jitsu and others.

Any weakness in any particular discipline will be quickly exploited. A recent example is the Rich Franklin-Anderson Silva fight last October. Franklin entered the Octagon in that battle as the middleweight champion, but was quickly disposed of in the first round by the Brazilian. Silva won the championship by dominating Franklin with his muay thai clinch with knees to the body and face.

The De La Hoya-Mayweather fight was interesting, but there was never that sense of an immanent knockout that kept you on the edge of your seat. A friend of mine at the event asked me what I thought of the fight, and I responded that I usually like my violence a bit more violent.

It was evident early on that the fight was going to go to a decision, with neither fighter in danger of being knocked down or knocked out. It was a technical fight that had its merits, generating a lot of excitement and money but little else.

Mayweather will never step into the Octagon because it would be a serious drop in pay, and it’s a lose-lose situation for him. UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk was at the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight, and he would dominate either fighter in a MMA event.

Sherk couldn’t compete with either fighter boxing wise, but as soon as the fight went to the ground it would be a different story. That’s how the UFC began back in 1993, to see which discipline is the best in a fight. All the UFC fighters are now skilled in numerous fighting styles, but the early events pitted practitioners of jiu jitsu against a kick boxer, a wrestler against a karate guy, etc.

Those early events showed that 90 percent of fights end up on the ground, and the best fighting style on the ground is jiu jitsu. If you can’t defend it, then you will quickly lose in a very painful manner. Royce Gracie was routinely beating opponents that were 80 pounds heavier than him because they did not know how to defend his submission moves.

I’m a fan of both boxing and MMA, and there’s plenty of room on the horizon for both sports. While the De La Hoya-Mayweather fight generated huge ratings, check out the Roger Huerta-Leonard Garcia fight from UFC 69: Shootout.

That fight took place at the same weight as De La Hoya-Mayweather, and it went to a decision. Huerta won by unanimous decision, but that matchup was one of the most exciting bouts of the year. Garcia took a ton of punishment, but fought hard in both the standup and ground game. I would take a rematch between those two any day over another De La Hoya-Mayweather pay-per-view.

There was a general excitement about the Huerta-Garcia fight that had absolutely nothing to do with hype, just their performances inside the Octagon. Mayweather and Lampley can complain about the UFC and MMA all they want, but they just sound punch drunk to me.