Hey Richard... yeah, the tough guy comment wasn't necessary, my apologies.
Either way, this discussion isn't really fair unless we're just talking skills that both guy train.
can a pitcher hit like a outfielder? They're both pros but you know the difference.
Here you have boxers that never even trained for any of these other skills, but you also have mma guys that train standup hours each day as do boxers.
Why not then put them in a ring and throw hands to see what's up?
Muay thai would be better compared to k1, I believe.
Legbreaker, in my "long 40+ year MMA journey" struggling to learn the MANY fascinating martial-arts disciplines...progressin
g through golden gloves boxing (uhhh...by the way, getting "knocked out/down" several times!), intercollegiate freestyle wrestling, judo, additional "hard-arts" (TKD, Karate, Kung-Fu, JKD), military CCC/hand-to-hand-combat), and finally GJJ...I've realized that you never master an art, and no matter how good you think you are there is always (of course!) someone better. Was it Bruce Lee who is supposed to have said (words to the effect), "the goal it is not in reaching the destination, but in persevering to make the journey"!?
For the "average joe" like myself working a regular job, rearing children, etc., just struggling to stay-in-shape, and finding time to only practice the MMA approx. 4 hours a week, I learned long ago that to enter competiton was really dangerous/unhealthy when you are competing against guys who compete for a living and can train some 8 hrs. a day 6-7 days a week!
You can only hope and pray that if you are ever faced with a real life-and-death situation that you will have developed enough MMA skills to successfully defend yourself adequately to avoid serious injury or death!
I imagine the ancient MMA art of Greek Pankration was the closest thing to REAL life-and-death empty-handed MMA combat and, if you added eye-strikes/gouging, biting, groin attacks w/o a cup, head butts, etc....then you have all of the aspects of true military empty-handed close-quarter combat!? Of course, this is considerably removed from today's Pride/UFC/KoC MMA sporting competition rules.
As mentioned, the argument/debate between the relative superiority of the strictly submission wrestler vs. boxer has gone on for centuries and I have personally witnessed (competed-in) several mixed-matches. I say this because my intercollegiate wrestling team competed in the same gym (at similar times) with our intercollegiate boxing team and we had several mixed challenge matches! It's just that the boxers always wanted us to wear boxing gloves and step in the ring with them, and we wrestlers, in turn, wanted them to step on the mat with us and let us remain bare-handed...looking back though, it was a lot of fun and quite a learning experience.
Usually the pure submission/freestyle wrestler was successful in closing the gap with a successful clinch and throw, or a successful shoot for a takedown. Occasionally, the boxer would land a successful combo. and knockout his wrestling-trained opponent in the wrestler's unsuccessful attempt to close the gap. As we know, some people "can take a punch" and some can't! Once again, it depends upon the individual's martial-arts skills and his ability to take-a-punch.
I'll tell you that in my observations/experiences, the guys who could really "take out" the boxers were the old-school submission professional wrestlers who were REALLY good at covering-up and blocking/trapping a boxers' punches while simultaneously closing-the-gap with a clinch/shoot, getting the boxer quickly on the ground, and applying the chokes/bars/locks/etc. in short order to submit them!