I hear people compare MMA fighters to boxers a lot in terms of punching, but I wonder how much is context-dependent. I don't think any of the top MMA guys would win against top amateur boxers in a boxing match (and I don't think any of the top guys would even place in a top amateur wrestling comp either - including the ones who were top wrestlers in their college days), but to what extent should they even want to? Put a great pro boxer in a top-level MMA fight and he'll get killed because he'll be boxing (assuming for some reason he would just try to box and nothing else) and be kicked and kneed and taken down and submitted at will. The movement, positioning, set up and recovery throwing punches are all based on a boxing context where defending takedowns (for example) are not a consideration. I think if you took a top boxer and had him cross train for MMA for a year he'd end up looking a lot more like exactly what goes on now than you expect.
Maybe.
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