Boxing Should Be Banned.

AS and A Level Physical Education (Sport & Coaching)

Boxing Should Be Banned

Boxing is a sport that has a history dating back centuries. The ancient Greeks practised a brutal form which involved participants wearing studs on the knuckles and death or serious injury were common. Nowadays the ‘sport’ has a more humane set of rules but nevertheless the principal aim is to debilitate the enemy.

Boxing can be defined as a sport that is merely a legalised way of attacking another person. It is the only sport, which brings out the worst in not only the boxer himself or herself but also the spectators. A large, majority of boxers were once young, aggressive juveniles who built up reputations for themselves as street fighters, and were in this way noticed by local professional talent scouts. These scouts brought their protégées into a world where the golden rule is that the harder you throw the punches; the further you get in the way of a career. These young boxers are conned into believing that the more aggressive they are in the ring, the more respect they will gain in the boxing community, when really they are being exploited in all ways imaginable by their managers and fight promoters.

For instance once a boxer reaches the age of 18, a manager can take a cut of 25% of the takings of a match, a completely preposterous figure when you take into consideration that it is the boxer who is knocking the years off his life with each fight he takes part in: not the manager. Boxers are the means by which managers make their money; to be financially used is part of the profession of boxing. What absolutely amazes me is why a man or women would want to put his or her health on the line time after time for mere money. Money I'll admit is important in every day life but your health is of utmost importance. All it takes in the ring is for a fighter to get riled and throw one wild, thoughtless punch, full of malice at an opponent for excruciating pain to be inflicted.

Professionals can punch hard, and both the speed at which the punch travels and the weight behind it can certainly cause extensive damage if aimed anywhere near the head. I, for one would not want to be on the receiving end of one such a punch. An example of a boxer who died a few weeks after being knocked out in a fight is Johnny Owen, the Matchstick Man from Merthyr Tydfil. He died in November 1980, after being knocked out by Lupe Pintor when fighting for the world bantamweight title in Los Angeles. This is just one example of ...

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Professionals can punch hard, and both the speed at which the punch travels and the weight behind it can certainly cause extensive damage if aimed anywhere near the head. I, for one would not want to be on the receiving end of one such a punch. An example of a boxer who died a few weeks after being knocked out in a fight is Johnny Owen, the Matchstick Man from Merthyr Tydfil. He died in November 1980, after being knocked out by Lupe Pintor when fighting for the world bantamweight title in Los Angeles. This is just one example of many boxers who owe the sport a debt in human terms. Outside the ring a man would be sentenced to life imprisonment if such a thing occurred yet because it is inside the ring we make an expectation. Why? Don't the rules apply to every human being in every situation? The deliberate loss of life never goes without punishment, yet in these cases it does. Where is this thin line drawn and by whom is it drawn? Many boxing supporters would say that health risks occur in every sport. If for example a footballer heads the ball enough times using one particular area of the head brain damage bound to occur, or if a rugby player gets tackled roughly that player could end up getting his neck broken. This is to a degree correct but in both these sports such going ons are freak accidents. The objective of both such games is not to deliberately attack other team members but it is to get control of the ball. These games can be looked upon as close to friendly in comparison to boxing. In boxing harm is inarguably inflicted so as to score as many points as possible and to a boxer the harm that is inflicted is of no importance. The boxer wants desperately to win but at what cost to himself or his opponent is the question we must ask ourselves. Would a boxer be willing to beat a man to a pulp so as to add another title to a growing list of accomplishments? Surely this is an act of barbarism in the 21st century society.

Yet seemingly this view is a minority one if we look at the popularity of the sport and the wide acclaim it receives both from the media and world spectators. Boxing is an intensely violent sport that has people off all ages both young and old hovering over their T.V. sets, eyes glued and bellowing comments like," kill him," or, "go on you know you can do it, give him a left, a right, and it's all over!" It is clear from such remarks that boxing promotes violent feelings in its spectators, yet people practically idealise these men, who state their viciousness all to clearly in and sometimes out of the ring. Scandals are forever appearing in the tabloids about boxers who end up having trouble with their wives and I think we can guess who comes out of such quarrels the worst off. Men who are trained from a young age to show no mercy inside the ring can show reserve outside the ring. It must be hard to if not impossible for boxers to divide their professional lives and their domestic lives. Most boxers tend to have bullyboy natures, and can be very difficult to live with. They seem to either love to hurt others or relish in the idea that they get to fight with other people for a living. Maybe they just were born with a killer instinct.

The other aspect of boxing besides the fighting is the money that is to be made. Boxing is a multi-million pound sport that is completely cash motivated. There are many who are out to make a living through its various branches, the selling of the tickets for important fights or the betting on the results of such fights. Either way my point is that many are pocketing money that originally belonged to the boxing enthusiasts. Tickets for fights are very high profile, difficult to come by at short notice and likely to set a workingman or women back quite a few pounds. Many don't believe that it is a sport that accommodates the needs of the fans for if an enthusiast doesn't get a ticket, he or she cannot watch the match on any of the usual channels on T.V, for the T.V rights to broadcast the fight live have probably been sold to the highest bidder, usually Sky. This could be accepted but it is the fact that people who are fortunate enough to have Sky are forced to pay about £15 extra, in order to see the fight! I think it would prove wiser to just pick up the correct radio channel and listen to the commentator's report of the going ons; it tends to work out cheaper.

Then of course we come to the problem of gambling on the outcome of the boxing matches. I realize that there are a lot of different sports results where betting goes on, but both high profile and low profile boxing seems to be a favourite. Often very high-profile bets, millions of pounds, are at stake. This outlines yet again how boxing is completely money orientated and it just goes to show exactly what image the sport is sending out to those who can be most easily influenced in our society, the young people. Agreeing to boxing is like agreeing that the easiest way in which to get serious money fast is to get a small bit of capital and gamble it bit by bit on sure wins so as to make a lot of money in a short period of time.

After writing about all the cons of the boxing trade, I see no alternative other than our society asking itself; should boxing be allowed to continue on into the 21st century as a legalized sport? Or should it be banned and written off as a bloodthirsty, uncivilized, corrupted, money-driven scheme?

Boxing Should Be Banned.