A friend watched a tape of san shou a couple weeks back, and got talking to me about it. His take was he liked boxing better, because usually, he could make popcorn and not miss more than one round, much less the whole match, barring a tomato can versus a champ. Whereas, the tape he rented, which I haven’t seen, but apparently it had a cung le match and some other matches, was, in his words “Not very exciting”. He thought Cung Le was slick and all, but the matches were so short that they never engaged him as a potential fan wanting to bask in blood. In the end, he didn’t care about Cung Le winning, and even the close matches were close for such a short time that he, as the potential viewer, barely had the time to even consider getting into the action before the action was over.
He made the comment that even with bad boxing, you had to respect some guys going the distance in long matches despite extended and brutal punishment. He compared the two by referring to boxing as “the heart surgery of brutality”, and san shou as “a flu shot”.
Only seen clips of San Shou, and what I saw didn’t draw my attention all that much. Boxing is more engaging, because there is time to get engaged. San Shou is quick.
So, for entertainment purposes, I’d say some boxing, preferably some of the lighter divisions.
For all around desimation, I’d hand it to San Shou.
Thus far we’ve learned that Rogue finds thai men in shorts soothing like a hot cup of celestial seasonings, and that Liokault finds brazilian men clutching each other awkward; and that Vash goes for boxers for the fun of it, but looks for san shou fighters for lasting love.
Originally posted by lkfmdc
[B]everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if it’s an uninformed one based upon one tape
However, anyone who thinks that san shou is easy, has never done it…
And my experience in this game for like 10 years, CROWDS LOVE THIS SPORT… [/B]
Actually, his opinion on that tape is an informed one, since he saw the tape and the statement was solely about his response as a spectator.
And he didn’t suggest it was easy.
But he has a valid point. A crowd only brings so much money, PPV brings many million times more.
It wasn’t meant to be a scathing criticism, but food for thought. It’s the sort of thing the san shou community best be aware of should they plan for further growth. And I hope they are planning for growth, since it should, by all means, be more marketable than ufc “hug time”.
Originally posted by rogue
[B]San Shou is the FLAN of ring sports!
FLAN, it’s what the monks ate. [/B]
Yeah, you sure as hell can’t choke flan out: don’t have a neck for starters. I’m not sure rice and salt plum flan quite tickles me jellyfish however.
King of San da in China is the #2 most popular show on the world’s largest TV network, ie CCTV… ie it gets seen on TV by MILLIONS of more people than the UFC does… and it is on a hell of a lot more frequently
Every time we put San Shou on a kickboxing show, it becomes the most popular match of the night…
We have been selling shows out for YEARS,
So you don’t have to like it, but it has HUGE POTENTIAL
(by the way, related formats like Shoot boxing and Kyuk Too ki are also gaining strength in Asia)
And my experience in this game for like 10 years, CROWDS LOVE THIS SPORT…
I agree. A san shou friend of mine who has just started boxing used to get way more people to watch the SS events than the boxing events even though (or maybe because) the boxing offered lots more stuff like a proper sit down meal and alcohol.
Also the only time I have seen SS in a location where people who know nothing about it could see it was a martial arts trade show/expo (seni) and the crowd was 4-5 people deep (standing) by the lei tai with people who stood and watched EVERY fight.
I thjnk that SS will grow bigger fast and there will be a spectator base.
