Ethan Miller / Getty Images file; AP file

Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., left, says that MMA, which features stars such as Brock Lesnar, “stole boxing’s whole blueprint and tried to run with it.” 

“I don’t know any fighter in MMA who has generated a total revenue in two fights … of $250 million. They’re not even on my level. … MMA stole boxing’s whole blueprint and tried to run with it.”

Mayweather pointed out another aspect of the two sports that may continue to keep them separate.

“In boxing we know who’s dominating," he said, "Black fighters and Hispanic fighters are dominating in this sport. This is not a racial statement, but there’s no white fighter in boxing that’s dominating, so they had to go to something else and start something new.”

Richard Schaefer is CEO of Oscar De La Hoya’s company, Golden Boy Promotions. He may not agree with Mayweather’s contention that MMA was created to give white fighters a place to flourish, but he does recognize the difference in audiences, and the potential for growth in both sports because of it.

“The demographic is a bit more nationalistic on the boxing side,” he said. “There is American versus Mexican. There is Mexican versus Puerto Rican. Boxing has a rich and deep history in those demographics.”

Shaw agrees. “(MMA) attracts ethnically a different group. And it attracts maybe 80 to 90 percent more women. More women are going to MMA than to boxing. More white crowds are going to MMA than Hispanic or African-American. MMA also has a younger demo.” There is also growing MMA exposure on television, including shows on Spike, Showtime, Versus and even CBS.

Another vital ingredient MMA has going for it, in the opinion of Scott Coker, CEO of Strikeforce, are roots in the martial arts. That may seem obvious, but for years youngsters who learned martial arts did so in the classical sense. Now the sport’s appeal has been widened somewhat, and students today may become the octagon denizens of tomorrow.

“When I look at martial arts schools today, a lot of them are teaching mixed martial arts,” said Coker, a former martial arts teacher. “It’s been integrated into the grass roots of traditional martial arts as a basic defense system. Students are accepting it, parents are accepting it as part of the training curriculum.”

Coker took a more diplomatic outlook toward the future of the two sports than perhaps some of his more combative colleagues.

“I believe the big boxing fights right now have proven they draw a bigger audience than MMA, just based on the numbers they achieve,” he said. “But I think there’s room for both.

“I’m a fan of both. I think there is room for both parties. I will watch one and TiVo the other.”

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