I've been a boxing fan before.

I watched the sport pretty religiously from 1996 to about 2003.  I followed the likes of RJJ, Lennox, Holyfield, DLH,Mosley, Tito, F. Vargas, B Hop, etc... to name a few.  somewhere around 03 i got a little fed up with the sport.  Whether it be promotional bullshit getting in the way of good fights, too many weight classes and belts, or lackluster PPV's that i felt like i never got my money's worth.  A little of all of those made me consistently lose interest to the point that i became oblivious to the sport almost.

In steps MMA, or more specifically The Ultimate Fighter.  I was hooked instantly.  Yes, the fighter's had hands that were no where near the level of top boxing talent, but there were so many other aspects to appreciate.  The ground game, the kicks, and the submissions taught me that there was more way than one to win a professional fight.  All the things i started to appreciate about this new sport came packaged with characters out of a street fighter arcade game and a promotion (UFC) that had most of MMA's top stars. (we won't get into the whole UFC vs other MMA orgs here).  The PPV's became worth the money because i started to recognize most of the fighters and the UFC did a great job of selling it.  I became a full fledged hardcore MMA nerd. 

Fast forward to 2009.  Manny Pacquiao's ascension (and my hate for PBF) began to draw my interest back to the sport.  For the first time in years I watched and cheered for boxing matches.  Margarito vs Mosely had me off my couch yelling in excitement!  Juan Diaz vs JMM had me going nuts in my living room! Hell i even appreciated a jab clinic by Vitali K. on Chris Arreola.  I felt like i was finding boxing again.  Pac and Mayeather were ready to go toe to toe and i was ready to lay out $60 for the first time in years for a boxing PPV. 

I find out this morning that Pac vs Mayweather is off and i instantly get angry! "boxing did it to me again" is what i mumbled to myself.  luckily, boxing introduced me to some new stars this year that i am interested to follow like A. Ward, Vic D., Cotto, Clottey, Paul Williams and a few others.  But i'm hesitant to get to involved because of shit like the Pac vs May debacle reminding me of the reasons i left. 

So its back to my faithful gal named MMA.  Haven't been nearly as upset with her in the past few years.  Stacked PPV and good free tv MMA cards provide endless entertainment for me and i don't see it going away anytime in the future.  Yes MMA has its promotional drawbacks as well (Fedor vs Lesnar will probably never happen), but for the most part i never feel duped, like boxing makes feel more often than not. 

I'm willing to stick around boxing for a little while longer, but if more Pac vs May disasters come to fruition i will be heart broken for the sport once again.