What current boxers could transition to MMA?

I know a decent amount about MMA, but it's nowhere near my knowledge of boxing. A question I've always wondered in watching those fights is how would an elite boxer's skill set translate to mma? I know that it's completely different, but I don't see anyone in mma who has great hand striking from a boxing discipline.

I know Mousasi has a boxing background and there are several kickboxers who have done well, but I'm curious to know if boxing skills can translate into mma success. Hopefully, Toney will stay in the fight long enough to be able to answer some of those questions.

What current boxers do you think could succeed in MMA?

I say Pacquiao. I don't think anyone, including Jose Aldo, would want to stand and trade with him. And he's so quick and with such a strong base that I can imagine with some training he'd be hard to take down.


If this topic is better for the MMA forum, please move it there.

Love the thread. I asked same question in the thread where Haye was commenting on James Toney's chances in MMA.

The posters who know more MMA than I do, suggested Cintron as he has a wrestling background. Someone else suggested Berto as he may have had some martial arts training.

I'm not an MMA expert, but I would think it would be difficult for alot of boxers. Tall skinny boxers without alot of pure physical strength would be in deep trouble.

Boxers with a wrestling background like Cintron or physically powerful guys like Berto would have the best chance of adjusting.

Cintron would be a beast and would kill most MMA guys right now. He was a big time wrestler who got a D1 scholarship. He could KO anyone standing and if you try to take him down he has a bunch of skill there too.

If Cintron could develop a good sprawl and force his opponent to stand, he'd do well. Thing is, with Kermit's lack of mental toughness makes me wonder if he's the type to give up a limb/back to get tapped without really quitting.

Berto has the build, and a family background (dad is an MMA trainer, brother fought in EliteXC) to go with it. I think he could make the transition well.

K Bros. are so damn big they'd have a shot (Vitali was a kickboxer)

Marco Huck has a muay thai background

Mike Alvarado wrestled

Vic Darchinyan was a wrestler for most of his youth and his dad was assistant coach on the Armenian wrestling team. If there was a weight class for below 125, he'd be great as most of the fighters would probably be Thai fighters with a pure muay thai background.

the funny thing is the succesful boxers in MMA werent succesful boxers

Anderson Silva, Tra Telligman, LeVarne Clark

toney is a overweight old fighter that lacks the skill of doing ok on the mat..its two differnt sports..common now every fight well almost every fight i saw from ufc or whats called mma this is coimmon.1.most of them have in boxing terms a glass jaw.first punch most of them get hit with they go down..they run out of gas after 2 rounds most of them.they go down from a punch the other guy jumps on him throws 10 punches mostly without leverage or power misses 4 and they stop the fight..chuck lindell one of there legends i saw fight 4 times.3 times he was koed and mostly buy the first punch he was hit with..come on please..
look the old saying is you dont beat a man at his own game..or rarely anyway..put 20 top notch boxers differnt weight classes in the ring with20 of thoses guys in a boxing match..all 20 mma guys would get kayoed..in mma some boxers will win..first you got to take down the boxer without getting hit..if they get hit there done..citron would do well against 147 mma fighters..he will win some..what chance does the mma fighter have with citron in the boxing ring..none zero..

Didn't Vitali Klitschko compete in K1 ?

Cintron doesn't have the mental toughness to fight in MMA. Plus doesn't he have a fucked up back and isn't that why he stopped wrestling?

Pac would be ideal if he could develop some takedown defense. Any guys with good athleticism ie Chad Dawson could be taught the skills over time

Cintron,Enzo Mac,Berto and Haye.

bobbitt15 wrote:

Cintron doesn't have the mental toughness to fight in MMA. Plus doesn't he have a fucked up back and isn't that why he stopped wrestling?

Pac would be ideal if he could develop some takedown defense. Any guys with good athleticism ie Chad Dawson could be taught the skills over time

I dont know man. I think Cintron would scare the hell out of many guys in MMA. A guy with power and speed that can also wrestle very well. That would make him very very dangerous.

ya Ali Vitali did do some K-1

I need to watch the MMA more to really answer that. From what I see of ultimate fighting, they don't seem to have the greatest boxers in the world. They rely more on kicking and wrestling and punching becomes deadly when someone has their opponent down and is pounding a defenseless figther. Granted, there have been KO punches in UF. I'll go on and admit to being a purist. I don't want any good boxers becoming MMA figthers. We're having a rough enough time as it is. Of course, if MMA fighters took on professional boxers, they'd have a great deal of advantages, but I'm a boxing guy.

soonermark890 wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

Cintron doesn't have the mental toughness to fight in MMA. Plus doesn't he have a fucked up back and isn't that why he stopped wrestling?

Pac would be ideal if he could develop some takedown defense. Any guys with good athleticism ie Chad Dawson could be taught the skills over time

I dont know man. I think Cintron would scare the hell out of many guys in MMA. A guy with power and speed that can also wrestle very well. That would make him very very dangerous.

But I'm saying he can't wrestle anymore. He has a fucked up back or something which is why he couldn't wrestle in college

bobbitt15 wrote:

soonermark890 wrote:

bobbitt15 wrote:

Cintron doesn't have the mental toughness to fight in MMA. Plus doesn't he have a fucked up back and isn't that why he stopped wrestling?

Pac would be ideal if he could develop some takedown defense. Any guys with good athleticism ie Chad Dawson could be taught the skills over time

I dont know man. I think Cintron would scare the hell out of many guys in MMA. A guy with power and speed that can also wrestle very well. That would make him very very dangerous.

But I'm saying he can't wrestle anymore. He has a fucked up back or something which is why he couldn't wrestle in college

I really dont think that is the case. How in the fuck would he be able to box if he had a bad back? I thought he quit wrestling for boxing.

Hey bobbit it was a knee injury that kept him from joining the college wrestiling team. While he was healing he began to box full time and then found out he is good at it and he began to make money.

It looks like his knee is fine now. So he could still be very dangerous.

he is right soioners he fucked his baack up and quit wrestling ,messed a disk up or something

Birdofthad wrote:

he is right soioners he fucked his baack up and quit wrestling ,messed a disk up or something

Really I just looked it up and it said it was his knee. Nice Sig Bird!!!

This is what I read.
Involvement in other combat sports
Cintrón found wrestling and boxing to be an outlet from his personal troubles, so he started spending more and more of his time practicing those sports. While attending William Tennent High School in Warminster, Pennsylvania, he became an accomplished high-school wrestler on the same team as actor Mike Vogel. The University of Wisconsin–Madison and Ohio State University offered him full wrestling scholarships, but an injury to his knee prevented his inclusion on these programs. Consequently, Cintrón began boxing full time.

In April 2007, Floyd Mayweather, Jr. publicly claimed that any boxer could make the transition into mixed martial arts and win. In response, Ultimate Fighting Championship's president, Dana White, issued him a challenge to fight the promotion's lightweight champion, Sean Sherk. Mayweather later retracted and apologized, expressing that he did not wish to compete in the discipline. However, Cintrón stated that he was willing to fight Sherk in his place.[3] "I want the fight," said Cintrón, who is 27-1 with 25 KOs. "I can wrestle. I can box. I can beat those UFC fighters at their own game. Tell Mr. White to make me an offer and I'll take on his guy...."[3]

Birdofthad wrote:

ya Ali Vitali did do some K-1

What was his record like ?

I looked at Vitali's Wikipedia page about 6 months ago. I'm too lazy to go look right now. If my memory isn't going, he had about 33 or 34 wins with 1 loss, with just over 20 of his wins coming by KO.

There is video of Vitali kickboxing online if you search for it.

Vitali back in the day could have been a very good MMA guy if he had the proper training. I think the different aspects of MMA would have appealed to him. Having to master different fighting techniques, figuring out what way to attack different opponents, etc..., would have appealed to his cerebral nature.

captainanddew wrote:

I looked at Vitali's Wikipedia page about 6 months ago. I'm too lazy to go look right now. If my memory isn't going, he had about 33 or 34 wins with 1 loss, with just over 20 of his wins coming by KO.

There is video of Vitali kickboxing online if you search for it.

Vitali back in the day could have been a very good MMA guy if he had the proper training. I think the different aspects of MMA would have appealed to him. Having to master different fighting techniques, figuring out what way to attack different opponents, etc..., would have appealed to his cerebral nature.

Wow that's impressive Vitali truly is a tough as old boots warrior.

Adamek vs. Cro Cop- best of three boxing, K-1, MMA rules @ The Rock.

Make it happen Dana.