Boxing: A Brutal Sport That’s Time Is Past
This is certainly out of the ordinary for this blog, and it’s far from the most pressing issue of the day, but stories like this reinforce a thought that has been gathering in my mind for some time: boxing is a brutal relic that should have no place in a civilized society.
I know, there can be beauty even in brutality (witness Raging Bull‘s fight scenes), and the purists will talk about the skill involved, but when you strip the sport down to its essence, it’s two guys intentionally beating the crap out of each other, with the very real goal of doing the other harm (‘go for the knockout’).
Now, I’m a fairly live and let live guy, and I don’t believe in a big brother society, so I’m not sure I would go so far as to ban the sport; but I certainly intend to vote with my pocketbook. There was a time when I relished the big fights, going to sports bars or purchasing pay-per-view broadcasts. Those days have gone. For myself, I will have nothing further to do with a sport whose entire purpose is the possibly crippling, or even fatal, inflection of great violence upon another. Goodbye to all that…
What about football, then? People are routinely carried off the field with all sorts of injuries as a result of being piled on. How many quarterbacks have been sidelined due to being “sacked?” Or Hockey, for that matter. A big part of the reason why I haven’t watched or attended pro hockey games in years (aside from the extortionate ticket prices) is what seems to be a greater incidence of fights on the ice for spectacle purposes.
I’m not a fan of boxing, but it’s not by any means the only sport where people beat the crap out of each other (whether for point scoring, defensive reasons or pure spectacle).
bebere, I would argue that boxing is several magnitudes more brutal than football…one difference is the goal in football is to score, not to maim your opponent (though some end up that way, it’s incidental and not the ‘purpose’ of the sport).
Another big difference is the protective gear, and the rules regarding ‘clothes-lining’, ‘late hits’, ‘roughing the passer’, all rules intended to protect the players from injury.
I hear what you’re saying, but if all sports have the risk of injury, only(?) boxing is organized around the expectation that you will punish and / or injure the other participant physically…
True, but it would be interesting to see how much viewership would change if the NFL were to do something like switch to Touch Football.
Mark,
There is spiritual satisfaction to combat sport, that is why I did it. I did amateur kick-boxing when I was younger and more able. You stand in a ring, all by yourself, facing an opponent who is also all by himself. It is a test of your constitution. At the end of the day, I came away from a fight (win or loss) admiring and respecting my opponents more.
Well, bebere, Minh-Duc, that’s why I say I don’t think I necessarily would support a ban – to each his own. I’ve just decided to vote against it the good ol’ capitalistic way, with my money (or withholding of same)…
Oh, and excellent point on the touch football…
You need to box before you can judge the sport. In amateur boxing very few people get hurt and very few people get knocked out. It is more of a mental game than a physical test of whos stronger. I would get so nervous before a fight that most the times the nervous part was worst than the actual bout. It takes a lot of self motivation to conquer this fear. You step in to a ring with a mental picture of the toughest guy you have ever met and it’s just you and him. After a few amatuer boughts, you realize you are a much stronger person mentally than most.
Also, most times I have a lot of respect for my opponent after the fight.
Touché (snort). I do have to second Minh-Duc on the one-to-one combat thing as well. Studied martial tai chi for a number of years and served as a sparring partner for my little brother who’s a kempo instructor. If I were to pick two major lessons I’d learned from this, they’d be that I should never underestimate my opponent and that I’m not ever going to stay on my feet all the time, so I might as well learn how to fall with grace.
bebere, those are good lessons, and Lonnie, I freely admit that you, bebere, and Minh-Duc have the advantage on me in that I am talking about something I’ve never done…Lonnie, you make a good distinction between amateur boxing and the professional stuff…the headgear makes a big difference, I would imagine…
[...] I blogged recently on my decision to withhold my dollars and viewing time from the sport of boxing (at least professional – my readers persuaded me there was value yet in amateur boxing). Jim Lampley, who knows a thing or two about this issue, writes a longish piece on the subject at Huff’n’Puff. Lampley was there, calling the match, while Leavander Johnson received the beating that ended his life. [...]