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Opinion & Analysis
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Staff Editorials
PELKEY COLUMN: Anderson Silva tells boxing world, "Bring it on!"
by Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist
Mar 12, 2008, 00:16
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Some days you wake up and it's a struggle. You know you have to put fingers to keyboard and meet your deadline of several hundred words on a certain subject. But what subject? Oh you have some ideas. The idea of whether a Shamrock, brother vs. brother fight will really sell. How excited you are about the free UFN card coming up on April 2nd. Or even how the drastic format change and exciting coaches could be just what The Ultimate Fighter needs to really pump some life back in the series. But then you start thinking about why those are the wrong topics. Some are too far away to write about and won't be relevant for a couple more weeks (see: UFN and TUF), and the other, well your heart just isn't into it right now (Shamrocks).
Then, every once in a while, you're given a gift. The clouds break and the sunlight starts shining through. The pitcher grooves you a fastball down the middle (ok, enough cliches) .... Anderson Silva wants to box Roy Jones, Jr. Seriously, he said that. Well to be exact, his manager Ed Soares said it for him. Anderson is a bit lacking in the English speaking department. Soares said that they're tired of boxers claiming MMA fighters are not as proficient technically as boxers. Silva wants to get in a boxing ring, put the pillows on his hands, and beat Roy Jones, Jr. at his own game.
Now I don't know Silva personally, but he's never struck me as the trash-talking type. This isn't Floyd Mayweather saying he'd step into the Octagon and show he's the best fighter in the world. If Silva says something, I believe him.
I think the common belief by level-headed thinkers is that a boxer would stand a better chance against a mixed martial artist under MMA rules, than a mixed martial artist boxing a boxer. Now before I get the hate mail (who am I kidding?), hear me out. Whenever a fighter seems severely over-matched in an MMA fight, we hear the same old saying, "well so-and-so does have a puncher's chance". That means that going against all logic, an over-matched fighter can always land that one, clean, probably lucky shot that'll put his opponent out. That's especially true for a boxer stepping in the cage. His only hope is to catch his opponent shooting in for the takedown with one shot, so he can avoid the ground game that would be his inevitable doom.
It unfortunately doesn't work as well the other way. Under boxing rules fighters are wearing big padded gloves that significantly take away from the effects of a punch. Also, whereas mixed martial artists have to divide their time between learning several different aspects of offense and defense, boxers can simply focus on punching and defending the punch. An MMA fighters catching a boxer with one big knockout punch with 16oz. gloves on his hands seems highly unlikely to me. The "puncher's chance" turns into not much chance at all.
Anderson Silva, however, is a different story. He has consistently displayed the accuracy and control in his boxing that leads me to believe he could more than hold his own in the ring. His flurries are a thing of beauty. Not the brawling, swing for the fences flurries where a fighter gets lucky enough to land three or four of ten punches. He staggers his opponent with one shot and then, smelling blood, lands six or seven more, all cleanly and with power, to signal the end of his opponents night. If anyone, Anderson Silva would be our chosen ambassador for the sport to challenge boxing's top dog.
Don't get me wrong, I think the chances of this fight actually happening are somewhere in the 0-1% range. Silva is under contract with the UFC, and I just can't imagine a scenario where Dana White would let his top fighter put himself in a position to look bad if it's not inside the Octagon. Certainly a boy can dream, but a dream is probably all this will ever be. Still, I'll always remember the day that Anderson Silva calmly, coolly, and collectively told the boxing world to "bring it on".
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