The fighters are brave and skilful - but is there really still a place for boxing in the modern world of sport? (page 1 of 2)

Brain damage affects the greatest boxers

In Atlanta, and since, Muhammed Ali's suffering from "Pugilistic Parkinson's syndrome" was visible for all to see. Like other great champions before him - Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis and Floyd Patterson amongst many others - the effects of repeated blows to the head over years in the ring was finally taking its toll. It may be that de la Hoya and Mayweather, enriched from one of the most cash generating fights in history, may now think about retirement. But will it be too late? It may take up to fifteen years for the damage of repeated concussion to emerge in the way that it has with Ali and countless others.

Many sports are dangerous - but boxing is unique

Defenders of boxing often argue that many other sports are dangerous and that that the death or serious injury rate in the sport is lower than in (say) mountaineering or sky diving. This argument misses the point completely. It is only in boxing where you will have your head pummelled continuously for more than thirty minutes by an opponent whose primary purpose is to knock you senseless. That is the point of the sport - to strive sufficiently to injure your opponent that you beat him physically into submission. The world of professional boxing is an anachronism in modern sport in that attacks by one fighter on the head of another are a normal part of the tactics - and it is this aspect of the sport that is its biggest source of controversy and shame. Whilst contests in many contact sports (like Rugby, for example) can be tough and very physically and mentally demanding there is no legal sport, other than professional boxing, where the primary intention is to put your opponent in a comatose state. Boxing legitimises and glorifies violence.

Boxing appeals to man's basest instincts

You do not need to be a student of history to know that violence is an inherent part of the make-up of Homo sapiens. Just open your newspaper any day and you will be reminded of man's inhumanity to man. But surely sport must be different? If we agree that sport, however much it is the modern opium of the masses, is essentially trivial and primarily for fun and for entertainment how can we tolerate an activity that venerates violence and causes so much suffering? That there is a glamour, of sorts, in boxing with "A list" celebrities occupying the ringside seats only intensifies the repulsion that many of us feel that modern society still tolerates this vulgarity.

The medical authorities are unanimous - the sport must be banned

Estimates indicate that around 900 people have died from boxing related injuries over the past seventy years or so - it is, therefore, no surprise that all medical authorities have called for the sport to be banned. The American Medical Association puts the case very clearly "All forms of boxing are a public demonstration of interpersonal violence which is unique among sporting activities. Victory is obtained by inflicting on the opponent such a measure of physical injury that the opponent is unable to continue, or which at least can be seen to be significantly greater than is received in return. This particularly applies to professional boxing". But it is the individual cases that really bring the barbarity into sharp relief. Take, for example, that of the former world Middleweight champion, Gerald McClellan, who sustained a brain injury in a fight in 1995 as a consequence of which he is now deaf, blind and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Yes such things could happen accidentally in other sports - but in boxing, as the AMA rightly says, the causing of such injury is deliberate.