Hindsight is a wonderful thing but in all fairness in the cold light of day on balance at this point, looking back at the Ring Magazine Ronda Rousey cover decision to feature the female mixed martial artist on their front cover in 2015, the term ‘egg on face’ comes to mind.
Indeed at the time, to be fair to Ring Magazine, Rousey was arguably the hottest commodity in world combat sports – MMA, boxing or otherwise.
Their decision to feature her on the cover of their prestigious boxing magazine (which once was a wrestling magazine in the early days some forget) no doubt was based on trying to drum up interest for the publication on the back of Rousey’s (then) significant momentum.
But following a devastating knockout head kick loss to Holly Holm in the UFC and more recently a stoppage to Brazilian ‘Lioness’ Amanda Nunez at UFC 207, Rousey is no where near the feared and famed female fighting force that she once was.
Furthermore, boxing is actually making a big comeback at the moment worldwide.
In the UK for example in early 2017 there has already been a string of significant fights made including Anthony Joshua vs Wladimir Klitschko, David Haye vs Tony Bellew and more than likely to be announced very soon, Amir Khan vs Kell Brook.
Add to this in the USA, the calendar there is already shaping up nicely and includes in early 2017 already Carl Frampton vs Leo Santa Cruz II and Danny Garcia vs Keith Thurman.
2017 is set to be a bumper year for the sport of boxing with new broadcasters like BT Sport and ITV PPV in the UK also entering the market – putting on more and more live TV boxing for fight fans.
Perhaps Ring Magazine will think twice before putting a mixed martial artist on the cover of such a respected boxing publication in the future?
Not a dig at The Ring by any stretch, just a fair observation I feel.
It’s a magazine I grew up fondly reading and some of their editorial is still some of the best around.
But surely in their heart of hearts, if they were being honest at this point as of January 2017, they’d admit putting Rousey on the front cover was a bit of a blunder looking back on it now.
The two sports are apples and oranges, with plenty of room for both to further grow. Indeed, 2017 looks bright for both codes.
Long may that continue.
(Image source and credit: Twitter.com)