Boxing

Boxing is incomprehensible to me! I read some pretty dismissive comments by the Boxing Board after this chap ended up in intensive care.

I've never understood a sport that sets out to batter the breath out of another person. I know officianados claim it's more than that but I don't agree. Make them wear head guards at least...

God spare Nick Blackwell...

Boxing = legalised AbH/GBH and evidently permits brain trauma
Sickening activity sport

I detest this so called sport

Why wasnt this fight stopped!!!!!
Chris Eubank had the sense to see that the referee wasnt going to stop the fight and he warned Chris Jnr body blows only, disgrace that the fight wasnt stopped.

I know nothing about this boxing match until I looked at this thread, but am saddened that a young man has been so badly injured. I have always hated the "sport" although I appreciate that successful boxers are very skilful. What I find especially nauseating about boxing is that people pay for tickets (and television companies pay for broadcasting rights) to watch two men brutalise each other; that seems little better than the cheering blood-lust of audiences in the Coliseum.

absent behind you all the way, its a dreadful "sport" !!!

And women are doing it too!

Either ban it, or introduce compulsory head guards.

Bloody awful "sport" I have always hated it.

Boxers can get head injuries even with head guards. It certainly is a brutal activity and I can't understand the people (especially the women) who sit ringside and support it - horrible!

I guess In the defence of boxing , that it gives a controlled outlet to many youngsters who would otherwise be on the streets. Boxing clubs have turned around many antisocial kids .

suzied yes I agree with that side it has helped some young boys, but its barbaric especially for women to sit and watch

I can't watch it.
How is watching two people battering each other entertainment

Another boxer,George Groves, was a pupil at a schol where I was head. He was a quiet and reserved little boy..nothing at that stage to suggest he would have what it takes to become middleweight champion! His mum was always very protective of him. No idea how she copes when he is fighting.

Yet, they choose to box, know the risks

Whilst I can only agree with everyone about the primeval nature of boxing, I like watching armature boxing and can understand why youngsters take it up as a sport.
No one these days is forced to box, they take it up because they enjoy it, every participant knows and accepts the risks.
If you don't like it, don't box or watch it.
Compare this to National Hunt racing, where the horses get no choice.

A great many sports require intensive training which can impact on the health of the ayhlete/sportsperson. I worry for young gymnasts and rugby players too .maybe not as risky as boxing but can cause lifelong damage.

pompa I have to disagree with you with regard to racing, both National Hunt & Flat.

On the flat,it is not unknown for horses to refuse to leave the stalls, & there was an NH horse (whose name I can't remember) who last season refused to race so many times that he ended up being banned!

Mad Moose...think he has his own fanclub these days....bet he has a Facebook page.

I have for many years believed that it is wrong to describe as a "sport" two men (or women) aiming blows to each other's head and upper body and hoping for a "knock out". I can never understand how my dad, who normally abhorred violence, would nevertheless be quite happy to sit and watch the most brutal of boxing matches - ditto my granddad, husband and son (my daughter feels like me). It seems to be more a male thing - though, of course, I also know women who enjoy watching it and who think it is a perfectly legitimate sport.

Whilst men of all educational backgrounds may take up amateur boxing in their teens, through school or clubs, I'm not sure that there are many trained barristers, accountants or the like who decide to pursue it as a professional career. It seems to me that it is predominantly young people who have come from less advantaged backgrounds and who have little in the way of qualifications that are attracted to boxing as a way of earning some money.

The argument is often put forward that other sports, such as motor racing, rugby, football, etc., cause greater numbers of serious injuries than boxing. That is so, but such injuries are an unfortunate by-product of the sport rather than the primary purpose of it.

Apparently, most doctors say that head guards and other supposed safety measures will not protect a boxer who is being regularly subjected to heavy blows to the head. It is also said that something like 80% of boxers will over a period of time acquire varying degrees of brain damage.

Oh come on Pheonix, a horse does not have choice when raced over jumps, it does not appreciate the fact that if it breaks a leg it will be destroyed.

I find boxing upsetting too.
But as we're on the subject of unnecessary injury and harm on the pursuit of entertainment - I am (have been since a young age) appalled at the state of professional ballet dancers' feet. I mean - standing on the tip of your toes?! How unnatural is that.

That "on" should be "in".