Boxing vs. BJJ

I have a unique perspective at this juncture of my training. I trained as a boxer for several years, but only for about 4 months very seriously in preparing for my first amateur bout as a 40 year old. I'm not 41 and training for my very first jiu jitsu tournament as a white belt, I'll have 4 months of training when my tournament starts. I wanted to do a comparison of what it's like as a beginner middle aged guy. This is of course only my perspective.

Boxing

• At the beginning levels it's not very complicated at all. Typically you're a more offensive or a more defensive style boxer. I was more a defensive style boxer. 
• Most beginner amateur boxers use their jab about 80% of the time, so it's much more about timing and accuracy than power. Knockouts are rare in amateur boxing, so it's mostly about points. Accuracy is important since you get the same points for a hard hit vs. a well placed hit that doesn't hurt very much. 
• There are no chubby boxers. At least not after a year of training. I was by far the most overweight boxer in my gym, and at that time I was 6 ft and 210 lbs or so. 
• Boxing is truly primal. There's really no feeling like getting hit in the face for the very first time, or getting hit with a 3 hit combo. It's very hard not to control the emotions. It truly feels like a fight b/c of the speed. 
• The training routine is boring, even Mike Tyson said so, one does the same things ten thousand times - jumping rope, footwork, speed bag, heavy bag, double bag, sparring, shadow boxing, and that's about it. Of course one's instructor works with you but still, there are really only 6 punches and the amateur boxer spends most of his time on the jab. 
• One's journey is alone. I've seen guys at our gym who are there totally focused, don't do anything but workout, spar, and don't say a single word to anyone. 
• The average amateur boxer, can definitely handle himself in a fight. Mostly b/c he's used to the speed of a fight. He can move, hit, and the like.
• However, it's a young man's game. I was one of the oldest guys in my gym and the majority of the guys were in their 20's. My gym was a boxing gym, and everyone is there just for boxing. No classes, just trainers and boxers. 

I still go to a boxing gym once a week or so, but I no longer spar and will not compete anymore. Reaction time is key, and as a 40+ year old amateur I found that I couldn't spar very well with the young guys. After getting hit in the head, even at 50% speed, I felt my head ringing and wanted to find a new sport. I do it mostly just to keep up my basic skills. 

BJJ

• There are all ages, all shapes, all sorts of people in BJJ. Some are there for the competition, others are there just to stay in shape, and still others like the camaraderie. My gym only does BJJ, and the age range for the adult classes are 16 - 59. 
• The belt system for the most part does level the field. Although I did submit that purple belt once (pure luck), and have come close to submitting blue belts (still luck), for the most part I can only do that b/c of my wrestling background and strength. Overall, a 150 pound purple belt will submit me 95-99% of the time even with my 50 pound size and strength advantage. I'm known as the 'strong' guy in the gym, probably the 2nd strongest guy there after the 280 pound purple. 
• Strength, and to some extent speed are not as important vs. skill. They matter when the skills are similar however. There is a purple belt in our gym who is only 23, been doing BJJ since he was only 20, but comes 6x/week. He won an all Asian open tournament, beating several brown belts when he was a recently promoted purple belt. He's flexible, extremely strong, has no fat on him, and is very lanky and fast. He seems to have the perfect BJJ body and at 23 is really in incredible shape. I've seen him spar 10 times straight, and he looked like he could go another 10. So strength and speed do matter, but skill is even more important. We have an excellent 4 stripe blue belt female who has won a bunch of tournaments, she routinely spars this 4 stripe white belt - they're both about 5'4 and weigh about 120 lbs. He submits her regularly, maybe 9 out of 10 times even though she is more skilled. So it does matter, but skill is definitely more important given everything else. This is why BJJ is cool. 
• Sparring is relatively safe. There are injuries of course, shoulder, ankle, bruises, kick to the face accidentally, dislocated elbow, torn ACL, etc. However, it's not like boxing where you get brain damage. I would say overall there's more injuries in BJJ, but they are much much less severe. In boxing, one cannot spar every day. In BJJ, many of the guys spar every time they go to class and some of the young guys spar daily. 
• I would not call a BJJ match a fight. Although the terminology is used in tournaments, I don't think it's anything like a fight. It doesn't feel like one. I've been in fights, and as a former wrestler I prefer to go to the ground anyways, but the intensity is not like a fight. There are too many ways to score points. It's a combat sport for sure, but it's not MMA nor is it like a boxing match. This doesn't mean someone trained in BJJ cannot be good in a fight, but the sparring matches do not feel like a fight vs. a boxing sparring match. I've never been in a tournament so we'll see, but in my amateur boxing match it really did feel like a fight with blood on both sides, head spinning, etc. 
• I've seen overweight black belts who are excellent. In particular, I'm surprised at how flexible some overweight BJJ folks can be and how excellent their skills. In my gym, we have a black belt that's about 5'8 and 230 pounds, with a big belly. He's one of the best. He's fairly strong, but has excellent balance and can do the splits easily. He's been doing BJJ for about 10 years. I can't imagine a boxer looking like that even after a year. The training would be too intense. 

Overall, I still think I enjoy the primal feeling of boxing but BJJ is growing on me. I'm sure the better I get the more I'll feel drawn to BJJ. I'm just so lacking as a white belt that I'm not always sure what to do. I would say right now, boxing is a great memory but I want to make new memories with BJJ. I feel like I can do this for a long time, do it slowly, and just learn. I don't really care about tournaments or self defense, the art itself is interesting enough.