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By Zach Arnold

It seems everywhere you turn these days, there’s a negative story about boxing and MMA in the sports press.

Sure, we have Bob Arum spouting off about why he couldn’t get a full-house in Las Vegas for Manny Pacquiao vs. David Diaz. In one of his now traditional anti-President Bush screeds, Arum blamed Bush for the fight not selling out in Las Vegas due to high gas prices. Arum’s excuse reminded me of the excuses that independent promoters in pro-wrestling make when they can’t draw a good crowd at a show. After 9/11 happened, some promoters blamed poor houses on fans’ fears of terrorism. Some promoters use other traditional excuses like bad weather or concerts or sporting events happening in the same town as a fight show.

And then there are those in boxing who fear that MMA events are eating away at their audience base, despite the fact that there seems to be no signs whatsoever of boxing dying (you can thank Sports Illustrated last year for pushing that meme onto the mainstream public during the time of De La Hoya vs. Mayweather).

This week’s culprit of fear and loathing – famed boxing writer Thomas Hauser.

Hauser, in a sit-down interview with Eddie Goldman for Mr. Goldman’s June 30th, 2008 edition of No Holds Barred radio, unloaded on Mixed Martial Arts. The interview consisted of all of the anti-MMA remarks that you’ve grown to and are accustomed to loving in the mainstream media. The difference this time is that Mr. Hauser, who is a very talented writer and talker, found himself using twisted logic and diplomatic language to try to make boxing sound as if it was a higher-class combat sport than MMA.

“Boxing is allowed to exist as an exception to the laws against assault and battery,” explained Mr. Hauser. “It has a long, sometimes glorious, sometimes inglorious tradition.” He then further elaborated and said that boxing was a central part of American culture.

So how is MMA worse than boxing?

“It glorifies a lot of the things that we as a society abhor,” lectured Mr. Hauser. “What we’ve seen in recent years has been a brilliantly-engineered marketing plan by UFC. … “I don’t like it. I think it’s debasing.”

There’s no question that the drunken antics on UFC’s reality TV show The Ultimate Fighter are annoying and useless. TV viewership of UFC’s landmark reality show has declined due to the program’s stale format. There’s nothing wrong with letting the marketplace decide what is ‘debasing’ and what is on the up-and-up.

For a sport that is supposedly so debasing, MMA supporters have watched circus act after circus act get second, third, and even fourth chances in boxing.

Of course, maybe Mike Tyson is not as bad for society as James Thompson. At least that is, if you believe Mr. Hauser.

“We saw that Elite XC show on CBS recently where the guy (Thompson) had that grotesque cauliflower ear that opened up in the middle of the fight and start spurting blood. To me, that’s a metaphor for MMA.”

At which point, this exchange broke out between Hauser and Goldman.

“No reputable boxing commission would allow a fighter to step in the ring with a cauliflower ear like that.”

“New Jersey, that’s one of the better…”

“Well, I said no reputable commission. I think it was a disgrace they allowed that to happen.”

As Mr. Hauser continued to play fast and loose on the standards that MMA should live up to as opposed to boxing, he brought some twisted logic.

“MMA might be less dangerous now, but it’s going to be significantly more dangerous in a few years. The reason I say that is that up until now, most MMA fighters haven’t understood how to really punch with force. And the way you position your body in MMA to avoid takedowns actually detracts from your ability to throw a punch with good leverage. But more and more MMA fighters now are training and studying and learning how to throw punches with greater impact. And you’re going to see some very unfortunate results from that in the next few years.”

As MMA fans have seen in the last couple of years, an improved stand-up game makes a difference (just ask KJ Noons and Diego Sanchez). However, to buy into Hauser’s argument, you have to believe the following premises:

1) Those who train in MMA are generally poor strikers and with improved striking, they will become more dangerous even if they have to watch for takedowns.
2) The boxing skills needed by MMA fighters to improve their stand-up is going to result in MMA being more dangerous, even though Mr. Hauser believes that boxing is less dangerous while having the best-trained punchers in the world.

Huh?

One valid point that Mr. Hauser made during his interview with Mr. Goldman is that UFC controls the camera work at their TV & PPV events, meaning they get to control what the audience sees at home. Hauser alluded to past incidents (think: Tre Telligman) in UFC where a fighter was ‘severely disabled’ after a KO and not shown at all on TV, only to be brushed under the proverbial rug.

“UFC sort of propagates the idea that, well, it’s like professional wrestling. Yeah, yeah, it’s real unlike professional wrestling but when it’s over, everybody’s going to be happy and walk away and go home healthy. No!”

Hauser wants a serious study of injuries in MMA before New York approves MMA legislation.

“I don’t think MMA is any safer than boxing. Might become more dangerous in the long-run. And look, boxing’s a dangerous sport. I’m not suggesting it isn’t. It’s inherent in the nature of the sport that some people are going to take a beating and worse. But, to my way of thinking and I think the statistics will prove that out over the next few years, MMA will be just as dangerous particularly as guys learn and women learn to throw punches with full force.”

If MMA is going to be “just as dangerous” as boxing and shouldn’t be sanctioned in a state like New York, why should boxing be sanctioned then in the first place?

“I don’t like opera, but when people go to the opera, whether they’re singing (unintelligible) or Madam Butterfly, they’re not suffering brain damage. When you have a sport that that people are suffering, the type of short-term and long-term physical injuries that you see in MMA, you have to examine it very closely. And I ask, should society encourage this?”

That’s a question a lot of people have asked about boxing, a sport where many combatants have suffered crippling injuries and have died due to head trauma.

Then again, when the best remark you have to support boxing and trash MMA is that boxing should be the ‘only’ violent combat sport allowed to exist, well, then you run into some logical problems.

“We should not be expanding the exceptions to the laws against assault and battery. If anything, we should be minimizing them. To me, MMA runs in the face of that.”

“Might be a business advantage to boxing, but that’s not where I’m coming from on it. I just, I don’t like it. I think it sets a bad role model for kids, and by kids I don’t just mean 8 year olds, but adolescents and people in their teens and early 20s. I don’t think we should be encouraging street fights, whether there on the street or in an Octagon.”

So now we go back to Mr. Hauser’s old assumption, which is that MMA is already dangerous enough as it is, but once fighters are actually ‘trained’ it will become more dangerous.

Somehow, I don’t think he’s paid a visit to Matt Serra’s gym on Long Island to find out what kind of training MMA fighters endure in preparation for fights.

We get it. MMA and boxing do not share anything in common… allegedly. So, if you make that argument in public, then how can you use this analogy with a straight face?

“Sumo wrestling has a long and honorable tradition. Obviously, people have a great affinity for it in certain parts of the world. Now, you know, if somebody came to me and said we’ve got a new sport and we’re going to have Gary Shaw and Lou Duva belly bump each other and see who gets knocked out of the ring first, you know I’d say well I’m not quite sure I understand the thrill of it.”

The fear and loathing of MMA didn’t start amongst those in the boxing industry until it actually started making money. Unfortunately, it’s reduced talented writers like Mr. Hauser of ESPN.com and SecondsOut.com to resort to these analogies:

“Why not allow, uh, you know, fencing with real swords without the points and no masks and let people kill each other? Have duels?”

“If you took college wrestling and you jazzed it up, you know, with some of the personalities you see today in MMA, and you the smoky entrances and all the rest, that could get more exciting. Do I have a problem with college wrestling? No. Just my personal preference that I do not like MMA the way it’s practiced today. I don’t like UFC.”

You’re not helping out the credibility of your sport, Mr. Hauser. It’s a sport that you made your living in, and that is something I respect greatly. However, when it comes to going on a crusade against MMA, you’re better than that. So are a lot of others in the boxing industry who should know better, too.