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« | Home | »

Gary Shaw: ‘MMA has a lot of haters’

By Zach Arnold | November 17, 2008

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A must-read interview at The Sweet Science just for the sheer laughter and tears of joy you will get after reading some of Gary Shaw’s latest comments:

What Shaw won’t miss, if he never becomes involved in MMA again, is the “haters” who he said infest the sport.

“MMA has a lot of haters. Boxing doesn’t,” he said. “When I’m around boxing people, they never talk about MMA, or at least they never talk about hating MMA. But MMA people hate boxing and everybody connected with boxing.

“Why do they do that? What is there to gain by being that way? When it comes to haters and hating, MMA is like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s a whole different world.”

Topics: Boxing, Media, MMA, Pro Elite, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

17 Responses to “Gary Shaw: ‘MMA has a lot of haters’”

  1. Ivan Trembow says:

    Wow, so the reason Gary Shaw was such a failure at his job was not because of his corruption and incompetence, it was because MMA fans hate any form of boxing or anyone who is a boxing promoter. What a revelation.

    In all seriousness, I’m pretty sure that there were plenty of MMA fans among the 2.4 million households who bought Mayweather vs. De la Hoya, so the idea that MMA fans automatically hate anything boxing-related is just ridiculous.

  2. si says:

    “Shaw still likes mixed martial arts and wouldn’t mind getting involved in it again, although he said the likelihood of that depends on whether Dana White, who rules MMA’s dominant organization, Ultimate Fighting Championship, with an iron fist, ever decides to loosen his grip.”

    Never have I heard a better argument FOR the UFC’s monopolisation of the sport.

  3. MMA Game says:

    What a load of drivel. The only person I’ve ever heard say anything negative about boxing is Dana and the prefaces that by saying he loves boxing. On the other hand there are loads of boxing people who slate MMA; McGuigan, Warren, Hopkins etc.

  4. GassedOut says:

    For the record, I don’t hate boxing. What I hate are guys like Gary Shaw who try to run corrupt boxing schemes in MMA. Standgate anyone?

    Boxing is an honourable and great combat sport. It’s pormoters like Shaw that ran it into the ground.

    Trust me Gary, if you don’t come back no one will miss you.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    If being a hater means:

    1. I refuse to buy a PPV with only one decent fight and a really horrible undercard.

    2. I get frustrated when two older fighters are featured on PPV or HBO and the promoter doesn’t put a showcase fight between two younger guys to get their names out to the public.

    3. I refuse to allow a sport I love to be corrupt with “stand to fight” bonuses.

    Then yes, you can call me a hater. Boxing’s model of business is so outdated it isn’t even funny anymore. In the UFC, we already know who Lesnar will be fighting… or at least the winner of what fight. At the end of most boxing fights, the winner always talks about making a deal that is right for him, getting paid enough, and if the politics of the sport will allow a fight to go down. Not exactly enjoyable stuff to hear as a fan.

  6. Evan says:

    I don’t hate boxing, I hate how its run.The only reason MMA fans bring up boxing so much is because this sport is evolving so fast and we all want to avoid as many boxing pitfalls as possible.

  7. Joseph says:

    I have to agree with Shaw.

    I follow EVERY sport out there, not like a bunch of MMA fans who LOVE MMA and hate on everything else, and for some reason, there is A LOT of hate for anything that is MMA.

    I love BOXING, MMA, NBA, NFL, Soccer, etc, and I have never seen fans attack other sports rather than focus on supporting their own.

    MMA fans are like dating an insecure girlfriend. They are pretty, you tell them they are pretty, but they will never be satisfied on how they look and will attack other girls who threaten them.

  8. Joseph says:

    ^^^
    ***I follow EVERY sport out there, not like a bunch of MMA fans who LOVE MMA and hate on everything else, and for some reason, there is A LOT of hate for anything that is NOT MMA.***

    I love BOXING, MMA, NBA, NFL, Soccer, etc, and I have never seen fans attack other sports rather than focusing on supporting their own. MMA fans think by attacking everything else is part of supporting MMA.

    MMA fans are like dating an insecure girlfriend. They are pretty, you tell them they are pretty, but they will never be satisfied on how they look and will attack other “pretty” girls who threaten them.

  9. cyph says:

    You can throw that definition towards the sports media as well. Just look at PTI on ESPN. I lost count how often they trash MMA on their show even though they don’t follow the sport.

    Perhaps MMA fans are a little insecure because they have been dumped on one too many times by the boxing enthused media?

  10. Zack says:

    “MMA fans think by attacking everything else is part of supporting MMA.”

    Yeah…even Joe Rogan went on about baseball being boring on a broadcast once. Lots of people still seem to enjoy baseball though.

  11. D.Capitated says:

    If Gary Shaw had, you know, not shut out the idea of copromotion, forced the company to accept his son as its head and mouthpiece, etc, I don’t think people would have trashed him.

  12. Vic Mackey says:

    If a grown man is using the word “hater”, in any context, you can be sure there’s no reason to listen to or read anything else he has to say.

  13. jdavis says:

    Is he serious?? There has never been a shortage of boxing fans and promoters who dog MMA at every turn. Heck look at some of the boxing websites when Golden Boy was talking about putting boxing and MMA on the same card or WBC head Jose Sulaiman saying that the UFC has taken boxing back to the era of the caveman just a couple of weeks ago. Him saying boxing people never talk about hating MMA is just a plain lie that can be easily shown with a few minutes on google.

    Boxing fans and promoters have a long a vicious history of hating MMA, MMA fans have a long and vicious history of hating Gary Shaw. Perhaps Shaw confused MMA fans loathing him and his son as them hating on boxing, of course by what I’ve read many boxing fans don’t care for him either.

  14. Asa says:

    Joseph sounds mildy delusional.

    “I love BOXING, MMA, NBA, NFL, Soccer, etc, and I have never seen fans attack other sports rather than focusing on supporting their own. MMA fans think by attacking everything else is part of supporting MMA.”

    Really? I mean, really?

    You’ve never read boxing editorials about MMA where they trash not only the business or promotion (as Dana does to boxing) but the actual martial art of boxing and refer to anyone who takes part in or simply enjoys watching as a barbaric knuckle-dragging herald of the apocalypse?

    Really? You’ve never noticed that? I love boxing as a martial art but as a sport, I don’t. I don’t care for alphabet soup. Period.

    Was that a nasty attack which insults everyone involved or ignores the INSANE amount of work and skill it takes? Was that a statement that would insult any fan of boxing? No. But this is what MMA fans have to deal with any time we check a boxing blog for news of a martial art we love but treats us like shit in return. Jared, Joseph, whatever your name is, please check out all your favorite boxing/sports sites that you visit as such a devout fan and search for every single article in the past five years that mentions MMA.

    It seems like you’re new to MMA and just don’t know what the fans of this sport put up with. We would simply not like our sport and ourselves to be insulted at every turn by professionals in other sports. I’m not even talking about fan bleating in comments, I’m talking about actual professionals insulting the sport. But this is what trainers, promoters, and journalists in boxing do on a regular basis and it just wears on me.

  15. Asa says:

    Luckily, as of late, we’ve been getting some nicer treatment:

    http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2008/11/17/663433/hatton-we-can-learn-from-t

  16. Evan says:

    Joseph……..its pretty obvious you have never been to a BOXING, NBA, NFL, Soccer, etc, forum.

    There is more hate in one thread than on an entire MMA blog.

  17. […] Gary Shaw, I thought you said there were no ‘haters’ in boxing: And there in the celebrity seats […]

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