Its really not that hard to figure out. Its not a knock against boxing or the fighters who participate. But can you really expect a guy who knows one style of fighting and is limited to that to win in against guys who train to effectively neutralize and counter all his techniques? Its too big a hill to climb for anyone. Its possible you'd see a KO here or there, but on the whole, its more of an oddity. Anyone expecting boxers to walk in and be good at MMA or K-1 are fooling themselves. These guys aren't taught the techniques necessarry to win. Botha, Mayfield and Butterbean all lost, and it was easy to pick against them. If you don't have the tools to succeed you can't win.
buddie
You are very mistaken. RJ, Toney, Vargas, Holmes easliy compete w/ some ground training.
Think of this: In wrestling you train to take a man standing to the ground after that you are taught to pin and control him.
In Brazillian Ju Jitsu, you are taught how to expose weaknesses in wrestling, boxing and other martial arts that exist because of the restrictions of the rules these styles are played under.
In boxing, you are taught to attack a standing man from the waist up who is allowed to attack you from the waist up, with his hands. Boxing kicks ass, but obviously the training is focused on attacks based within the rules. This discounts other styles of attack and these other attacks which are outlawed are never trained for. They are never taught and are not known.
In other words, boxing is a highly effective style of fighting but only against certain types of attacks. That should be obvious. Boxing is the best thing ever created for knocking someone around with punches and is highly effective for defending and countering punches obviously. But it only works if the guy is there to be punched. Boxing on its own is a sport, boxing plus something is an effective martial art against a trained opponent.
buddie
Before u guys start ure shit, buddie is an experienced boxer and isnt talking out of his ass.
I think the only time the boxer will consistantly win is when the opponenets are intimidated. Crocop has been training for quite some time and still fell to a simple armbar from under mount. Lewis etc would be lucky to get 2 wins in a row in MMA.
"Boxing kicks ass, but obviously the training is focused on attacks based within the rules. This discounts other styles of attack and these other attacks which are outlawed are never trained for. They are never taught and are not known."
This is true of all martial arts.
Of course you need more than standup skills to excell in MMA. The best Muay Thai fighter in MMA is probably Rambaa "M16" Somdet - and he isn't exactly tearing MMA up either. Cro-Cop's sprawl is just as important to his success as his striking. When he failed to sprawl in round two of the Nogueira fight, he lost.
TH
David Tua would do well. According to Bruce Buffer He has been training Muay Thai and some grappling for years.
Actually I think Buddie is VERY correct.
For any of you who've been to a BJJ/Shoot/MMA class, weren't you learning how to defend against punches, kicks, etc. almost RIGHT away? I know at all of the ones I've ever been involved with, we were training to deal with an assortment of typical street (and ring) attacks within a few days or weeks. If it's something you stick with for long periods of time, that's A LOT of training for varying attack methods.
A boxer on the other hand spends all of his training on attacking and defending punches only. Yes, there's a LOT of cardio and movement training. He's also going to learn head movement that will transfer well against any kind of strike...assuming he learns to recognize the intent.
In a way, it's almost like a TMA. I recall my TKD/Shotokan classes having a lot of sparring, too. It was really light contact (and with all of those pads), but the people who were doing it a lot were pretty damned good at avoiding and defending against other people doing the same thing. However, every time a clinch occured or someone wanted to "go WWF" -- they were lost.
It's all in what you train for. If a REALLY good boxer was working on MMA on the side while doing his boxing training, we might have a different story. At the same time, if he spread his interest that thin, he'd likely never be a world class boxer in the first place. It would take someone like Roy Jones who is so talented he really doesn't even have to try 90% of the time. That could be someone that could actually have the time to train MMA on the side enough to make it worthwhile. Otherwise, we're likely only going to see boxers who are either aging or who had burned bridges in MMA and K1...at least until the $$$ is approximate.
buddie, Domingo and Clitor are correct.
"It's all in what you train for."
Exactly, and as you note, there's not much incentive for a good boxer to make the switch to MMA.
Boxing is still what the public pays to see. Every time this comes up I think of Tito Ortiz gloating about the UFC being back on cable, right before UFC 33. He actually said: "I feel sorry for boxing". Three years later, MMA really hasn't gained much ground and I doubt it ever will.
TH