Boxer interested in UFC?

[The Third Dukes]

From our colleagues at Yahoo! Sports:

Floyd Mayweather stands almost 5-foot-9, weighs 154 pounds, has a 72-inch reach and can drop most mortals with a single swing of either hand.

He's fast, athletic and dodges punches as well as anyone, maybe ever. In 13 world title fights, he won all 13. His next one is May 5 in Las Vegas, this time as a junior middleweight, against Oscar de la Hoya, as big a fight as boxing has seen in years.

His nickname may be "Pretty Boy," but he is one bad, bad man.

On Cinco de Mayo we'll find out if the heavily-favored Mayweather can beat de la Hoya – but could he beat a snarling, menacing, multi-skilled champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship?

How about lightweight (155 pound) champ Sean Sherk, who may stand just 5-foot-6, may suffer from a distinct reach disadvantage, but as a mixed martial arts master is schooled in "interdisciplinary forms of fighting that include jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling."

Could the best pound-for-pound fighter in the old combat sport (boxing) handle a champion in the new combat sport (UFC)?

"UFC's champions can't handle boxing. That's why they are in UFC." Mayweather said Tuesday from Las Vegas during a break in training. "Put one of our guys in UFC and he'd be the champion. Any good fighter, he'd straight knock them out."

Dana White, a one-time boxer and boxing instructor and current UFC president, laughs at that.

"Boxers couldn't become mixed martial artists. That's why they're boxers," White countered Wednesday from England where UFC has an event Saturday. "They are one trick ponies. Our guys can do everything. They can box, they can kick box, they can wrestle and do jiu-jitsu. They are much better athletes than boxers."

Mayweather may be right, but he'd have to be. Any boxer stepping into the UFC octagon would have to knock his opponent out before the mixed martial artist got a hold of him, because once the fight fell to the mat, where things get nasty, the boxer is all but finished.

But, as Mayweather points out, the often (by boxing standards) clumsy and lead-with-their-face UFC guys would have to walk through a hail of vicious jabs, crosses and hooks to get there.

"Take Chuck Liddell," Mayweather said of the UFC's biggest star and light heavyweight champion (about 205 pounds). "Put him in the ring with a (boxer) who is just 10-0 and Chuck Liddell would get punished."

So you'd punish a UFC champion, too?

"Come on, man. What'd you think? Am I just 10-0?"

Mayweather is 37-0.

Liddell, with six inches and 50 pounds on Mayweather, isn't possible, but someone like Sherk, someone his size? With that insane reach, unreal punching power and by UFC rules aided by small, light 4-ounce gloves would Mayweather carve up Sherk instantly? Or would Sherk fight throughout the barrage and get Mayweather in a clutch no ref will save him from?

"They wouldn't have a chance to grapple (us) because we'd knock them out," Mayweather said in general. "(The fighter) would be knocked out before he even touched us."

Of course, perhaps no punch is strong enough to stop a charging opponent.

No one really knows what would happen at such an elite level.

"I used to talk like Floyd Mayweather when I was involved in boxing," White said. "I talked just like him, until I educated myself about this sport. These guys are amazing athletes, Floyd Mayweather is one of the best boxers ever, (and) Sean Sherk will whoop his ass in under two minutes."

"Any day that Mayweather wants to put his money and his ass where his mouth is, I'm ready," White continued. "If he wants to step up, let's do it."

First off, Mayweather was talking mostly in general about his disdain for UFC – "Boxing is an art, UFC is a fad." But Mayweather has spent almost as much time this spring ripping UFC as de la Hoya, who he seems to consider as little more than a matinee idol useful for only increasing the purse.

"I never knew popularity to win any fight," Mayweather said. "I'll beat him and come home and watch basketball."

The UFC, though, is clearly on his mind. He brought it up on his own Tuesday. Earlier this month he cracked that "anyone can put a tattoo on their head and get in a street fight."

Mayweather may be a talker – loquacious doesn't begin to describe the 30-year-old – but he isn't dumb. So maybe he is setting up another big pay day in the event he dusts de la Hoya and boxing has little to offer. Or maybe he just wants to promote a fight involving others.

Of course, the economics of UFC would have to change to get Mayweather to participate. UFC fighters make a fraction of top boxers. As part of the family business, Mayweather, his dad and his uncle handle all aspects of his career. For the de la Hoya fight he'll earn millions.

"Why would I go into a sport paying hundreds of thousands when I'm in a sport paying $20 million?" Mayweather said.

Mayweather knows full well, though, that the pay per view money is there for the taking on something like this, a battle that would be intriguing at nearly every level. White would just about kill for this to go down, preferably with Mayweather involved as a fighter.

"I'm willing to put together a fight for Sean Sherk and Floyd Mayweather with numbers that would make sense for Floyd," White said. "And I guarantee you he would not accept it. Floyd Mayweather would never fight in the UFC because he would get his head ripped off."

Yes, he would. But only if Sherk didn't get his head ripped off first.

[Guest Mr. Potato Head]

Well, this is the sort of thing UFC was originally set up for - to pit fighters of different styles against each other. Unfortunately, it's gotten to the point where you need a little bit of training in every discipline to stand much of a chance in UFC (not sure about other MMA), and that's why Mayweather wouldn't win.

Of course, it doesn't help his cause that he's not interested in possibly single-handedly saving boxing because he'll "only" make a couple of hundred thousand dollars for it.

[DeeJam]

If he were to get in the octagon, UFC would probably be able to put up a mult-million dollar purse for the fight since it'll probably do record-breaking numbers.

Mayweather knows he'll never step into the octagon nor would he be able to win in the octagon, so he's just trying to get as much attention as possible

[ACCBiggz]

This has been discussed in other UFC/MMA threads and it breaks down easily. If Sherk stands with him Floyd will KO him, however Sherk is a wrestler. He'd take him down and end it there either by ground and pound or most likley the rear naked choke. It'd last of all of a minute or so. Really doesn't matter as I don't see Mayweather or Toney entering the UFC anytime soon. Although Toney may as he stated he wants to, Mayweather is just running his mouth trying to get people to notice boxing and himself.

[NobBe Nobbs]

I can't add much more than what's already been said, but I'd kill to see that match. I also cannot believe I'm taller than Sherk is.

Fuck me, I'm taller than Floyd as well? This shit is unreal

Edited April 19, 2007 by Starty Marty

[Colly]

Why is that unreal? He's not even a middleweight.

[Toe]

Boxers and kickboxers, I think, have the best chance of coming straight in and actually getting a win because they can just knock you out with a punch before you can grapple them. However, as seen with the very first UFC, it is not hard for someone smaller to just take a boxer down and win.

[Farmer Reil]

When your name is Floyd Mayweather, you have little option but to be a fighter, really ¬_¬

This could be interesting. I mean, I'm with the crowd - Mayweather is just trying to steal some of UFC's heat for his out-of-fashion sport, and would probably not seriously consider a UFC fight - but it's interesting to think about, for sure.

[NobBe Nobbs]

Why is that unreal? He's not even a middleweight.

[Guest mrbigstuff]

Only way a boxer would win is if fight was stand up only and not own ground. Would be intresting to watch though to be honest but i like MMA better than boxing as boxing is boring and has lack of top talent.

[Cactus Drags]

My instinct would be to say the UFC guy would win, just take the boxer down and you've taken away all his ability. But there's two things. No boxer would ever step into the octagon without any kind of wrestling/ground/submission training, it'd be incredibly complacent, not to say stupid to think "I can knock him the fuck out, ain't no need for ground training." The second was mentioned in the article, a wrestler going for a takedown isn't going to be able to just waltz in under the guy's guard without being touched and taking some damage.

So yeah, I'd say Sherk would take it, but in not quite the foregone-conclusion fashion some of you seem to think.

[Liam]

Mayweather moves well, so as Dragsy says, not only will it not be a case of just waltzing in underneath his guard and dropping him, I'm pretty sure he'd be able to move out of the way as well, so Sherk would find it hard to get to him and take him down, potentially. It then just comes down to a matter of how much damage Mayweather can dish out/Sherk can handle before Sherk is able to get around the guard and the jabs and take him down.

I guess Sherk would win, but yeah, no foregone conclusion like Dragsy said.

[Trey]

I know I'm in the minority, but I think that Mayweather would win if he went against Sherk. The fact that Mayweather would be wearing only 4 ounce gloves is a huge bonus. I just don't see how Sherk would be able to get in close enough to take down Mayweather without taking an amazing amount of shots. Mayweather could hit Sherk very, very hard quite a few times before Sherk got near him, especially with his reach. If just one of those shots stunned Sherk even for a second, Mayweather would take his chance and probably break Shrek's jaw.

[DeeJam]

Something else I just thought of..........

I don't think Mayweather would be so quick to just go in and throw. He'll probably be too worried about defending the take down. And with him being a boxer, he'd be eating leg kicks all night. There's just no way he'd win in a cage.

[Enter Blue Guy]

Stand up in mixed martial arts isn't the same thing as boxing, that's what some people don't understand. Ok, well some differences are obvious, but it is a whole different game. Standing up, fighters always have to be ready to defend various takedowns, various clinches, being driven against the fence or the ropes, as well as punches, kicks, leg kicks, knees, and possibly elbows. If you are ready to stand there and box, facing a guy who is going to take you down, it's not as easy as just trying to back up and knock his head off before he comes at you. A guy like Sean Sherk can shoot hard, he can shoot quickly, and he is strong as fuck, once he gets a hold of you, he isn't letting go. If you have no takedown defence, Sherk will put you on your back in a blink of an eye with no problem.

Sherk is only 5'6, he's got a long way to go to get there. As hard as he can shoot, he's got to get in range, you can't shoot from halfway across the cage. But yeah, like I said, Sherk is strong and fast when he goes for a takedown, and a hard shoot doesn't leave much room for reaction time, especially to the unexperienced fighter. If Floyd doesn't connect, Sherk is taking him down. And Sherk would probably shoot low, he'd go right for the legs, trying to stay out of a boxer's striking range. It would probably be key for Floyd to train seriously with his knees.

The puncher's chance is a hell of a thing, though. In a world in which Mirko Cro Cop can get knocked out by Kevin Randleman, you NEVER count out the puncher's chance.

This fight will never happen. The chance of any State Athletic Commission sanctioning this is slim to none.

EDIT: Another thing, if Mayweather was to fight a guy he didn't have such superior height and reach against, let's just say a Kenny Florian, Kenny would just stand back and eat him alive with leg kicks if he didn't want to risk going inside. A guy not used to training for leg kicks, most likely not able to check them, would be walking on legs made out of silly putty within a few minutes.

Edited April 20, 2007 by Enter Blue Guy

[Guest Larry the Mole Man]

Pfft.. The Boxer in Street Fighter rocked.... He kicked everyone's ass.

In all seriousness:

Mayweather would take him down. Not because I'm a boxer and I've beaten the school's amateur wrestlers, kick boxers, hockey players and footballers... But because I could say anything in this thread and it wouldn't matter. The UFCers would love to see this happen to gain publicity and legitimize a sport that is just... deranged street fighting but Floyd Mayweather is smart. No way he's going to get near a boxer's purse for this nonsense and he won't go near the UFC Octagon regardless of what happens. It's like Boxer vs. Wrestler matches. You know why they don't happen (anymore)? Because Boxers know it won't benefit them at all. Of course, Boxer vs. Wrestler is a little less legit.

Finally: People say boxing's popularity will eventually go to 0. Well blame Don King and Mike Tyson and the fact there's six different major sanctioning bodies of boxing in the world, with five of them having World Titles. (not sure if NABC has one)

On a side note... For UFC being a fad, it's been around for quite a long time. There's a spot where Mayweather's wrong. It's like Hockey fighting, people want to see it because it's brutal.

[ACCBiggz]

Pfft.. The Boxer in Street Fighter rocked.... He kicked everyone's ass.

In all seriousness:

Mayweather would take him down. Not because I'm a boxer and I've beaten the school's amateur wrestlers, kick boxers, hockey players and footballers... But because I could say anything in this thread and it wouldn't matter. The UFCers would love to see this happen to gain publicity and legitimize a sport that is just... deranged street fighting but Floyd Mayweather is smart. No way he's going to get near a boxer's purse for this nonsense and he won't go near the UFC Octagon regardless of what happens. It's like Boxer vs. Wrestler matches. You know why they don't happen (anymore)? Because Boxers know it won't benefit them at all. Of course, Boxer vs. Wrestler is a little less legit.

Finally: People say boxing's popularity will eventually go to 0. Well blame Don King and Mike Tyson and the fact there's six different major sanctioning bodies of boxing in the world, with five of them having World Titles. (not sure if NABC has one)

On a side note... For UFC being a fad, it's been around for quite a long time. There's a spot where Mayweather's wrong. It's like Hockey fighting, people want to see it because it's brutal.