Punch-drunk boxing promoter

On Saturday, September 19, boxing will go head-to-head with MMA. Floyd Mayweather Jr. will face Juan Manuel Marquez in the ring while Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort will headline UFC 103.

Many are seeing this as a test: does boxing still have it audience-wise or has MMA truly usurped the sport? I think the answer is pretty simple. Boxing is dying. Anecdotally, eight of the top ten pay-per-views last year were UFC events, consider how many MMA gyms there are compared to boxing gyms, ask a 10-year-old how many boxers they can name compared to MMA fighters, etc. Taking nothing away from the sport of boxing, but it’s popularity is declining. Plain and simple.

All of this is just my way of introducing this interview with lunatic boxing promoter Bob Arum conducted by FanHouse’s Ariel Helwani. It is incredible how out of touch Arum is, how desperately he’s clinging to boxing by throwing barbs at MMA. He says fans of MMA are tattooed skinheads, the fighters can’t throw a punch, have weak chins and like to roll around on the ground like homosexuals. It starts at around th 4:10 mark but it’s all entertaining stuff (as the ramblings of the town fool often is).