Isn’t it time that we got rid of boxing? There are many things to hate about the sport. Boxing is glorified violence. It often causes serious long-term physical damage to the athletes who participate and it encourages violence outside the ring.
At a time when virtually all other sports are doing their best to protect their athletes from concussions, giving your opponent a concussion (which is the result of most knockouts) is actually a goal of boxing and the boxers who have given their opponents the most concussions are lauded as the best.
There is no doubt the boxers are talented athletes, but to shower large sums of money and glory on people for hurting each other shouldn’t be happening in the 21st century.
The NFL and other leagues have started campaigns to stop domestic violence perpetrated by their players. The NFL’s “No More” campaign urges us to talk about and end domestic violence. Football players who have perpetrated violence are suspended and are at serious risk of losing their careers.
According to CNN, Floyd Mayweather, who won the world welterweight championship on Saturday, has been convicted at least three times on domestic violence related charges and has served two months in jail for domestic violence. And yet, to my knowledge, the boxing world has completely condoned his conduct. He has never been suspended, fined or even reprimanded for his actions.
As Saturday’s fight proved, boxing is clearly popular. Millions of people want to see grown men beat the daylights out of each other. That is a sad sign of the mindset of our society.
Gladiator combat to the death was immensely popular in ancient Rome, but at some point society figured out that it was inhumane and the sport was ended. Given that a couple of millennium has passed, maybe it’s time for the next natural step in the evolution of sport.
I say that it’s time that we say “No More” to boxing. We don’t allow dogs to fight each other. We don’t allow chickens to fight each other. We shouldn’t reward people for fighting each other. And, I consider cage fights to be boxing.
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