Former UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva firmly believes that YouTubers are extremely disrespectful to the sport of boxing.
In June, Silva will return to the boxing ring when he takes on Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in what is his first boxing match since 2005. Silva has been boxing for over 20 years and has always made it known that he wanted to return to the squared circle one day.
Speaking to AG Fight, Silva tried to tell YouTubers such as the Paul brothers to develop a new kind of respect towards the sport of boxing.
“We see a lot of YouTubers disrespecting an old, traditional sport. Athletes take years to conquer their space and have made history to make what this sport is today. I started training boxing at Corinthians, many years ago. I went to do a soccer test, I was late and a boxing training was going on. I went there to attend the class and Professor Vitor Ribeiro asked me if I was training something, gave me the equipment, and had it trained. I started training, then I participated in the Open Games in Bragança Paulista. It has a history and reference behind it. In addition to going there and fighting, testing myself, it is like boxing. It’s the most important thing,” Silva said.
You can make the argument that the YouTubers are most definitely disrespecting the great sport of boxing, however, it seems 50-50 split between what other combat athletes think, if the Paul’s can make their money go for it, but do it respectfully.
Do you agree with Anderson Silva on YouTube boxing?