‘It is not entertaining!’ another argument used against boxing, ‘Surely’ they say ‘no-one wants to see a man being beaten to a pulp.’ Well that may be true for them, but Kevin Mitchell of the Guardian tells us,
“3,500, the number of unsuccessful ticket applicants - it will rise this week - for the sold-out Scott Harrison v Wayne McCullough title fight in Glasgow this Saturday. Over the past year, shows have sold out in London, Manchester, Newcastle, Cardiff and Glasgow.” If boxing was not entertaining, how on earth could Mr Mitchell be giving us these figures? The answer is simply that those who say boxing is not entertaining are only one side of the argument and should, quite frankly, speak for themselves.
Another argument used against boxing is that it supposedly encourages violence. Some say that the physical strength gained through boxing can be used to ‘beat someone up’, and that if you did not take part in boxing you would be less likely to fight or attack someone, because you would not be less able to. However, fighting whether it be with friends or enemies will always take place, and if you want to beat a foe or at least not let yourself get beat up too badly, you will need to be able to defend yourself. Also, I believe that boxing helps to prevent fighting as it creates a chance for the participant to channel their frustration and anger, through their hands, away from their minds. I believe that this is better than fighting with people outside of the ring, because at the ring there are safety measures which are non existent in normal world.
Finally, we come to the argument that boxing may cause deaths and injuries. This is generally thought to be the most important point against boxing and can be backed up by doctors and others in the medical profession. However, all competitive sports cause injuries and in almost every professional football game at least one player is injured. As for deaths coming about as the result of boxing, these are rarer than you might think; only eight people have died in Great Britain in the last fifty years as the result of boxing, whereas people are killed every day in car crashes or by falling down the stairs.
I support boxing, and my views are strengthened by the arguments – boxing is a part of our history; boxing and it’s training techniques are a good form of exercise and teach self defence; boxing helps poorer people get a chance to achieve fame and fortune; it is a boxer’s right to choose whether to fight or not and if banned, boxing would go underground.
Boxing is one of the oldest and most natural sports known to mankind. The origin of boxing is prehistoric and formed part of the ancient Greek Games. The Romans followed and by 1681 Boxing had moved to Britain. To ban boxing would be throwing away a link to our past.
Although many in the medical profession would condemn boxing because of the general feeling they have, that boxing promotes hitting and thus may cause injury, few can deny that the particular training techniques used for boxing are extremely good forms of exercise. Skipping is a fantastic cardiovascular exercise and a round on the bags may hurt your arms at first, but after a few times you will get used to it and your arms will become stronger. Also, boxing teaches self-defence in the same way as the eastern fighting sports and I believe, should receive the same amount of respect.
Boxing helps poorer people to achieve fame and fortune because it takes the self taught ability to defend yourself, which most working class people have, and puts it to the individual’s use.
I believe that the choice of whether to take part in boxing or not, is the choice of the boxer him or herself. Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment” if people were not allowed to take part in boxing, I believe that it would be a violation of this Human right.
If boxing was banned, I truly think that it would go underground. I believe this because, even in this day where police are constantly developing better forms of surveillance and intelligence gathering, banned activities such as bare-knuckle boxing and cock-fighting still go on, and what about the thousands of loyal fans who I talked about earlier, I think many would be prepared to break the law to watch their favourite sport. If boxing did go underground, then it would loose it’s present level of safety and the sport would become even more dangerous than it is now.
I believe that boxing is a persecuted sport and should be encouraged instead of discouraged, I hope that the sport will carry on for a log time to come
and gain more support from those who at present are against it.
By Kai Campbell
