KLY
WEE ATE
DEB
The Weekly Debate
FirstNews
Issue 464
8th - 14th May 2015
The Dilemma Is boxing too violent to be called a ‘sport’?
THE STORY
48 wins in 48 fights is Floyd Mayweather’s perfect record in the
boxing ring, after he beat Manny Pacquiao at the weekend.
Mayweather (opposite) says he will have one more fight, but many
people think that he will want to reach 50 wins so that he could beat
Rocky Marciano’s famous record of 49 victories and no defeats.
FACT ATTACK: A HISTORY OF BOXING
Women’s boxing was introduced
to the Olympic games in 2012
Boxing, which is both an amateur (unpaid) and professional (paid) sport, involves two
fighters in a ring attacking and defending using their fists alone.
Boxing first appeared as an Olympic event in the 23rd Olympiad in 688 BC.
Fist-fight contests date back to prehistory. The earliest evidence of boxing appears in
carvings from the 3rd millennium BC.
The earliest evidence of rules for boxing comes from ancient Greece, where fights were held
outside.
The Greek god Apollo was considered the inventor of
the sport.
The first professional boxing matches took place at the
turn of the 20th century in the UK and the USA.
Matt Wells, a very successful British
amateur and professional boxer in the
early 20th century
The 2012 Olympic games in London was the first to
feature women’s boxing.
KLY
WEE ATE
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The Weekly Debate
FirstNews
Issue 464
8th - 14th May 2015
The Dilemma IsIsboxing
boxingtoo
tooviolent
violentto
tobe
becalled
calledaa‘sport’?
‘sport’?
BACKGROUND
Boxing is a sport in which two
people punch each other until one is
knocked out or, if there is no
knockout, a winner is declared
according to how many points
judges have awarded them.
It has been played competitively
for longer than football, rugby,
cricket and other sports, and it is
popular all over the world. It features
in Olympic games and attracts
millions of TV viewers globally, many
of them prepared to pay as much as
$100 (£66) to watch a single bout –
the recent high profile fight
between Floyd Mayweather of the
USA and Manny Pacquaio of the
Philippines cost that much on
American pay-per-view TV. What’s
more, it’s a sport Britain is pretty
good at: at the London Olympics,
British boxers won three gold
medals, a silver, and a bronze.
Professionally, Britain has produced
highly successful boxers for years
and current fighters such as Carl
Froch and Carl Frampton are among
the best in the world. So why do
some people want it banned, and is
it really a sport, or just a glamorous
fight?
coma soon after a match as a result
of a head injury. In the UK, the
British Medical Association, which
represents doctors, has been calling
for a ban for decades. The sport is
currently outlawed in only three
countries: Iceland, Iran and North
Korea. Sweden legalised it in 2007
but with far shorter fights allowed
than elsewhere (four rounds as
opposed to the usual 10-12).
For decades, there have been
numerous calls for it to be banned
because it can be a highly
dangerous sport. Just a couple of
months ago, Australian medical
officials called on boxing to be
outlawed following the death of a
23-year-old fighter who fell into a
Boxers are top athletes who must
train super-hard, be super-fit and
work flat out to win fights. Boxers
must have discipline, tactics and
intelligence to win fights. Many
fighters from different countries
have said that boxing offered them a
path out of poverty. Do these
A pair of boxing gloves with blood on them from a
professional fight at the O2 in London earlier this year
fighters therefore deserve to be
considered sportsmen? Or is boxing
too dangerous and cruel to allow it
to be a sport? Is banning it an
option, or does it just risk making
boxing an illegal activity without
proper rules and regulations,
increasing the risk of injury and
even death?
DID YOU KNOW?
More people are hospitalized each
year in America due to injuries
sustained playing baseball, softball,
basketball, watersports, golf and ice
skating than boxing!
“We believe that a so-called sport where two people knock each other in the head as often as you possibly
can to win a bout seems rather barbaric. You’re not allowed to hit the organs beneath the belt, whereas you’re
allowed to hit the organ above your shoulder, which is the most important organ in the body.”
– Shaun Rudd, president of the Australian Medical Association, Queensland.
KLY
WEE ATE
DEB
The Weekly Debate
FirstNews
Issue 464
8th - 14th May 2015
The Dilemma Is boxing too violent to be called a ‘sport’?
Classification
Head injuries
Professional and amateur boxers take part in
contests according to their weight and fight
against boxers in the same weight class. There are
several classes, including “heavyweight” (which
has no weight limit), “cruiserweight” (boxers with
a maximum weight of 90.7kg) and flyweight
(maximum of 50.8kg). Confusingly, different boxing
associations use different terms: for example, the
World Boxing Organization calls cruiserweight
“junior heavyweight”.
According to the American Association of
Neurological Surgeons, some 90% of boxers will
sustain a brain injury, and between 14% and 50%
will have symptoms of long-term brain injury. Being
hit on the head can cause fractures to the bone of
the head and face as well as tissue damage in the
brain. It can also damage the surface of the brain,
tear nerves, cause internal bleeding and produce
blood clots in the brain. The association says that,
over time, boxers can suffer permanent brain
damage, pointing out that the force of a boxer’s fist
is equivalent to being hit with a 6kg bowling ball
travelling at 20mph. Boxing gloves add weight and
energy to punches, creating extra damage.
Boxing dangers
The dangers of boxing have been known and
discussed since the time of the ancient Greeks. Of
all their sports, they considered boxing to be the
one that caused the most injuries. An inscription
from the 1st century BC states that, “A boxer’s
victory is gained in blood”. There is other written
evidence from the time that boxing caused severe
injury and even death. According to the Journal
of Combative Sport in the USA, between January
1960 and August 2011, there were 488 boxingrelated deaths. The journal says 66% of these
deaths were due to head, brain or neck injuries,
while one was caused by a skull fracture. As well as
head injuries, boxers can suffer broken teeth, eye
injuries, cuts, bruises and cracked ribs.
Boxing involves landing several blows to the
head, which can cause serious long-term health
problems.
Mohammed Ali
Ali is one of the most famous and popular boxers
of all time, considered by experts to be one of,
if not the greatest heavyweight fighter ever. He
won 56 fights and lost just 5, as well as scooping
an Olympic gold for the USA in 1960. But in 1984,
Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The
blows he received to the head throughout his
career are thought to have played a direct part in
him getting the illness. He is the most high-profile
boxer to have become seriously ill as a result of the
sport. One fight in particular – his second to last –
is thought to have had a very damaging effect on
Ali’s health.
Ali in 1966
KLY
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The Weekly Debate
FirstNews
Issue 464
8th - 14th May 2015
The Dilemma Is boxing too violent to be called a ‘sport’?
Michael Watson
Where as Ali retired after a long career in the
ring, British boxer Michael Watson was forced
to retire early (at the age of just 26) after he
suffered serious injuries in a fight with fellow
Briton Chris Eubank. In the fight, which took
place in 1991, Eubank delivered a heavy blow
to Watson’s head in the eleventh round that
left Watson on the ropes. At the start of the
twelfth round, Watson was clearly unwell
and wobbling on his legs when Eubank
delivered further punches and the referee
ended the fight, with Eubank declared the
winner. Watson collapsed soon after and, with
no ambulance or paramedic at the venue, it
took almost half an hour for him to receive
hospital treatment. As a direct result of the
fight, he spent 40 days in a coma and required
six operations to remove a blood clot from his
brain. He spent over a year in hospital and six
years in a wheelchair. For eight months after
his surgery, he was unable to hear, speak or
walk. He can now speak and write again, but
his life was changed forever by the horrific
injuries he received in the ring. Heavy blows to
the head can cause haemorrhages, which are
heavy discharges of blood from a damaged
blood vessel. This is what causes some boxers
to fall into a coma. But punches to the head
can cause less obvious damage that is still
very serious: they can lead to tiny tears of
the blood vessels in the brain that can affect
mental health. Constant battering of the brain
can also bring about Alzheimer’s Disease in
later life.
Michael Watson, surrounded by his team,
collapses after his fight with Chris Eubank in
1991.
What is a sport?
Are boxers entitled to be called
sportspeople just as footballers
like Lionel Messi are?
The dictionary definition of a sport is: “an athletic activity
requiring skill or physical ability and often of a competitive
nature”. By that definition, boxing is absolutely a sport, in the
same way that football, rugby, tennis and other sports are. The
difference is that in boxing, the “athletic activity” is punching,
and the “physical ability” required is to punch harder than
your opponent, while avoiding their punches. What makes it
unacceptable to many doctors is that the punches are aimed
at the head, one of the most sensitive and important parts of
the human body. John Hardy, a brain expert based in London,
says, “We shouldn’t get our fun out of watching people inflict
brain damage on each other.” Boxing is a sport in which the
aim is to leave your opponent knocked out on the floor. Does
the fact it is a fight make it less of a sport than, say, golf or
cricket? Should fighting sports such as boxing, kick-boxing
and mixed martial arts be described as something different?
There are other sports that contain elements of violence, such
as rugby and ice hockey, but there are few, if any, calls to stop
considering them a sport.
KLY
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DEB
The Weekly Debate
FirstNews
Issue 464
8th - 14th May 2015
The Dilemma Is boxing too violent to be called a ‘sport’?
Other dangerous sports
While it is clear that boxing can be extremely dangerous, it’s important to remember
that there are other dangerous sports that very few, if any, people want banned. In
terms of overall injuries, a study in the USA found that the highest number of sportsrelated injuries that required medical attention were reported among basketball
players, with a total of 409,799, followed by American football (376,115) and cycling
(317,041). As far as head injuries go, cheerleading – which is commonly practiced
in American schools – and cycling are two of the most dangerous sports in the US.
Nearly 85,000 head injuries were caused by cycling in 2009, and about 600 deaths
each year are caused by head injuries following a fall from a bike. The vast majority
of these could have been avoided if the cyclist had worn a helmet. But if competitive
cycling is considered a sport, despite the risks to the millions of amateur cyclists
worldwide, why shouldn’t boxing be considered a sport?
Of course, more people cycle and play contact sports such as football and rugby
than box, so there will be a higher number of injuries sustained in those sports. But
if boxing is too violent to be a sport, could it be argued that cycling and football,
which both cause injuries to amateurs and professionals alike, should also be struck
off the list of sports?
Boxing benefits
For the young people who take part in it, boxing provides a number of positives: as a high-energy activity, it helps to keep
them fit and healthy and, in particular, improve the strength of the heart. According to the BBC, one hour spent punching a
punch-bag can burn 354 calories – that's almost as many calories as you get in a Mars bar and a can of cola! The American
Centres for Disease Control Prevention says that boxing is the ideal exercise for people who want to lower their risk of
becoming obese (dangerously fat) and it also reduces the chance of acquiring heart disease, diabetes and cancer, among
other illnesses. Boxing clubs are also good places for youngsters to make friends, learn social skills and have some fun
outside of school and college.
Saftey procedures
Although the sport does bring several safety risks with it, boxing’s authorities have taken steps to reduce the
danger, including ensuring that boxers wear gum shields to protect their teeth and that medical staff are now
in arenas for professional fights. Between 1984 and 2013, there was a big difference between professional
and amateur men’s boxing: the amateurs had to wear protective head guards that cushioned blows. Some
safety campaigners urged professional boxing organisations to introduce headguards, too, but in 2013 the
International Amateur Boxing Association announced that headguards were to be removed from men’s
amateur boxing (but not from women’s). This came as a result of two studies that said removing the guards
would actually reduce the number of concussions suffered by boxers.
KLY
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The Weekly Debate
The Dilemma Is boxing too violent to be called a ‘sport’?
“My opinion is that the brain should not be the target in any sport, and no
amount of juggling with the regulations can take away the risk. Experienced
and outstanding boxers are themselves aware of the risk, difficult as it
may be for them eventually to call a halt.” – John Corsellis, a British brain
specialist who identified damage to the brains of boxers from repeated
blows to the head in the 1980s.
Discussion
1. How would you define a ‘sport’?
2. Is boxing too violent?
3. What can be done to make boxing safer?
4. Would banning boxing just mean people
would continue fighting but without proper
supervision and safety procedures?
5. Or is banning boxing the right thing to do?
6. Should all fighting sports be re-classified as
something other than ‘sport’?
“Boxing damages your brain; don’t
let anyone tell you any different.”
– Former featherweight world
champion boxer Barry McGuigan.
Glossary
Bout – A contest.
Parkinson’s Disease – A serious condition in which part
of the brain becomes damaged over many years, leading to
serious health problems and, in some cases, death.
Alzheimer’s Disease – A common type of dementia,
which is a loss of mental ability due to the gradual death of
brain cells.
Concussions – Sudden but short-lived changes in
normal mental functions that occur after a blow or other
injury to the head. They cause loss of memory, loss of
consciousness (being ‘knocked out’), seeing things (such as
stars or blurry vision) and feeling confused and lost.