Boxing: Down For The Count :: essays research papers fc

Boxing Down for the CountThe tenth edition of Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary defines boxing as"the art of attack and defense with the fists practiced as a sport." I could bemistaken, but there is a certain emphasis placed on the idea that boxing ispracticed as a sport. It is rather ambiguous. Is boxing a sport to begin with?Is boxing something else that is just practiced as a sport? Is it, can it, orshould it be practiced as something else rather than as a sport? Maybe I am justmaking too big a film out of a simple definition here. Nevertheless, this simpledefinition of boxing gives rise to one question we should all take some time to reply should boxing be practiced as a sport? Examination of medical findingsand statistics and re-examination of our views and goals as a modern societywill lead us to the one inevitable conclusion conside beleaguer boxing as arespectable sport just flies in the face of decency and civilization andtherefore, it should be banned. Someh ow, knickers and supporters have deludedthemselves into thinking that boxing, when properly conducted, is safe. Theclassic justification goes something like this "boxers are not two brawlingbrutes seeking to maim or kill each other. they are two closely matchedathletes seeking, through the use of such skills an footwork, timing, accuracy,punching, and feinting, to determine who is the better man in the ring" (Farley26). Unfortunately, dead boxers tell a unlike story. A study on dangerouscontact sports conducted by Patrick Malone of the Knight Ridder News Service in1980 revealed that from 1970 to 1978 in America, there was an average of 21deaths per stratum among 5,500 boxers, or 3.8 deaths per 1,000 participants,compared to college footballs 0.3 deaths per 1,000 and high school footballs0.1 deaths per 1,000 (Sammons 247). Another more recent study conducted by theNational Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia revealed that361 deaths have occurred in th e ring worldwide since 1945 (NHMRC 22). Deaths andserious injury suffered in boxing contests reveal only a small percentage of thepotential for danger. Unfortunately, the damaging effects of the "sport" arecumulative and difficult to diagnose, sometimes resulting in death, seriousillness, or blindness long after the boxer is out of the public limelight.However, convincing evidence has attach over the years to the effect thatchronic encephalopathy (a disease of the brain marked by personality changes,intellectual impairment, slurred speech, and motor deficits), Parkinsonssyndrome (a spooky disorder marked by tremors, drooling, muscle weakness, and