As a boxing fan, I enjoyed watching Ronda Rousey lose

By Boxing News - 11/19/2015 - Comments

rousey3by Kirk Jackson: Much to the pleasure of many and to the chagrin of a few others, notable mixed martial arts super star Ronda Rousey suffered her first professional defeat this past weekend.

Rousey was dominated in route to a 2nd round TKO stoppage by former world champion boxer and newly crowned UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm.

Ever since this epic upset, social media has had at Rousey, with various memes, gifs, altered pictures popping up left and right poking fun at the once thought of unstoppable force of nature.

Several casual fans, hardcore observers of the sport, celebrities and even some rivals within the realm of mixed martial arts have chimed in with their opinion about the downfall of Rousey.
And that’s to be expected.

When you’re such a polarizing figure, when you’re heralded as the best modern day female fighter and all of these accolades are bestowed upon you before they are actually earned, there will be a lot of attention and there will be some backlash.

From a boxing fan’s perspective, watching the annihilation of Ronda Rousey was great.

First and foremost in all seriousness, its great both Holm and Rousey walked away without serious injuries after putting on a great match for our enjoyment.

As a hardcore boxing fan and supporter, it was wonderful watching Holm overwhelm Rousey with her boxing skills and technique.

Holm established the distance and controlled the range by using her jab. Utilizing lateral movement and showing different angles, Holm set Rousey up for traps and essentially had Rousey running into punches.

Basic boxing 101. Of course of elements of martials arts were used for her strategy but her boxing fundamentals and instincts were pivotal.

Many times, the discipline of boxing is overlooked in mixed martial arts. Many assume if a fighter has learned three or four different fighting disciplines, that fighter is automatically greater and would have the edge against a boxer. That isn’t always the case as it turns out.

Some assume because a boxer has the discipline of stand-up combat, a boxer can’t adjust if thrown in a different element. There is no need to bash mixed martial arts or boxing, this isn’t a boxing vs. mixed martial arts war out on the front.

There is room for both sports to thrive and get along. It would be great to see the continued trend of cooperation between the two sports.

But as of late, Rousey has been involved with disrespecting the sport of boxing.

She had her conflict with Ann Wolfe, who by the way is an eight time world boxing champion across four different weight classes.

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Rousey thought she could beat former champion and women’s boxing great Laila Ali.

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Rousey also claimed she could beat recently retired boxing great Floyd Mayweather.

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Another case of disrespect to boxing was when Ronda Rousey graced the cover of “The Ring Magazine.” This magazine, which is proverbially known as the “Bible of Boxing.”

Rousey wasn’t completely responsible or at fault for this mishap, as the current owner of “The Ring Magazine, boxing great Oscar De La Hoya, ultimately allowed this catastrophe to transpire.

It’s obvious what De La Hoya was doing by allowing Rousey to grace the cover of his magazine.

He wanted to increase subscriptions, he wanted to cash in and sell magazines. Which by all means is fine; it’s necessary to thrive as a business.

But what about the integrity of the sport Oscar?

In the past, De La Hoya ha criticized promoters like Bob Arum and even fighters like former rival Floyd Mayweather in regards to ethics and integrity.

But for an athlete, who is not even a boxer, does not promote boxing or have any involvement in the sport, to grace the cover of a boxing magazine? Really?

Why couldn’t Holly Holm grace the cover of “The Ring Magazine?” Holm was arguably entering the biggest fight of her career and has a boxing background. Why not have Holm on the cover and show her support? The publication doesn’t even have a champion for any of the divisions.

The hype train for Rousey was unbelievable. Constantly a hot topic for ESPN, her reign of “Dominance” was often compared to Mike Tyson.

Yep. An athlete with only 13 fights (Rousey) was compared to another athlete who at his physical prime had well over 30 fights, was destroying former Olympians, world titlists and eventual Hall of Fame caliber fighters. Let alone they compete in two different sports.

Networks like ESPN, listed Rousey as the most dominate female athlete and arguably as the most dominate athlete period. Anyone ever hear of Serena Williams? She has only dominated tennis for the past 15 plus years.

As of 2015, Williams holds the most major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined amongst active players, male or female. Her record of 36 major titles puts her fifth on the all-time list and second in the open era with: 21 in singles, 13 in women’s doubles, and two in mixed doubles.

Williams is the most recent player, male or female, to have held all four major singles titles simultaneously (2002–03 and 2014–15 [Serena Slam]). Williams has won four Olympic gold medals, one in women’s singles and three in women’s doubles, an all-time record shared with her sister Venus Williams.

If we include male athletes in the conversation of dominance, Jimmie Johnson, Roger Federer, Tom Brady, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Floyd Mayweather, Wladimir Klitschko and Chris Weidman are just some of the athletes with a more impressive reign of dominance.

Rousey has a great promotional team and is a great promoter of herself. She has the backing of ESPN, UFC President Dana White and many others.

Rousey is entertaining, has a great personality that draws attention and she put in the work as an athlete and entertainer. Much respect should be given to Rousey for her hard work.

But Rousey is not as good as advertised. In her recent bouts, she faced questionable opposition and was exposed when she faced a well-rounded opponent.

There are no excuses. Rousey was dominated plain and simple.

Rousey is not a scrub; she is a former bronze medalist in Judo and made a successful transition into the world of mixed martial arts.

A rematch with Holm appears to be on the horizon for Rousey, even though the rematch will probably be as lopsided as the first encounter, in favor of Holm to the chagrin of UFC President Dana White.

As for now, it’s back to the drawing board for Rousey. The former UFC Bantamweight champion has earned a long vacation and a full course helping of humble pie.

Going forward, Rousey has to be mindful in the world in combat sports. Boxing cannot be taken lightly and disrespecting the sport or the practitioners of the sport will not be tolerated.

Holly Holm’s demolition was not a victory for boxing; it was a hard earned victory for a mixed martial artist who put in the work and had a great game plan.

But as a lifelong supporter of boxing and combat sports in general, I could not help but enjoy the show.



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