Once the Heavy Weight Boxing Champion of the world was considered by all as the baddest man on the planet, an unstoppable human force without equal, those days have now come to an end.
In the ancient world of hand to hand combat a new leader is emerging, evolving, and is set to become the most popular fighting form the world has ever seen.
MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) has truly arrived and although it has not quite yet been crowned king the coronation is clearly just a few short rounds away.
The primary difference between the two is that the MMA ring allows the use of the full human arsenal, meaning the hands, elbows, knees, feet, and body to both attack and defend oneself.
A far greater skill set and control over the whole body is required to complete in such a match.
The inclusion of these other skill sets changers the fight arena dramatically with fighters now needing to deal with a far more varied attacks from there opponents in forms such as Greek Wrestling (as old as boxing if not more so), Ju-jitsu (ground fighting, involving the manipulation and locking of limbs and chocking techniques), Kicking (adopted from Eastern Martial Arts such as Kung Fu, Karate, and Tai boxing).
A person trained in the combination of these skills represents and very complete and well balanced fighter able to handle many situations within the ring as well as being able to provide an exciting form of entertainment due the many different ways in which a match can reach its conclusion.
MMA is not so much the death of Boxing but rather the evolution of Boxing.
Boxing will always have its place as it is and will remain a strong facet of MMA due to the science behind Boxing being undeniably solid and beyond reproach but the sport of Boxing and the people behind it need to embrace this evolution rather than fighting it which seems to be the consensus amongst a large portion of the boxing community at this time.
With MMA soon to claim the number one spot as far as viewer popularity is concern the link between its popularity and the continued strong growth of the sport will eventually see boxing swallowed into the fold of the MMA world with the two no longer being viewed as two separate entities but one complementing the other and vise-verse.