OT: Why I love Boxing

That is the best trailer I've seen in a long time...

Why I don't Love Boxing.
"I remember watching the Chris Eubank and Michael Watson fight in which Michael Watson lost not only the fight but his quality of life, for he was left a vegetable confined to a wheelchair and with severe brain damage. This upset me greatly, here before my very eyes a healthy and able bodied man who could stand against anyone was now reduced to someone incapable of fending for himself physically and mentally. This would not be the only time I would see a good man reduced to a vegatative state as sometime later the boxer Gerald McClennan suffered a similar fate. Infact he was in a coma and it was feared that he would not survive. Fortunately he did survive, but was it really living, as he was brain damaged for life?"

more people died and had their quality of life effected attending music concerts in the US alone. When you post some things you have to have add the some idea of scope.

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more people died and had their quality of life effected attending music concerts in the US alone. When you post some things you have to have add the some idea of scope.

Here's a little "scope" regarding boxing deaths:

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According to the Journal of Combative Sport, from January of 1960 to August of 2011, there were 488 boxing-related deaths. The journal attributes 66 percent of these deaths to head, brain or neck injuries; one was attributed to a skull fracture.

Now please show me the 'scope' of music-concert attending deaths over the last 40 years....

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There are boxers with minimal involvement and those that are so severely affected that they require institutional care. There are some boxers with varying degrees of speech difficulty, stiffness, unsteadiness, memory loss and inappropriate behavior. In several studies, 15-40 percent of ex-boxers have been found to have symptoms of chronic brain injury. Most of these boxers have mild symptoms. Recent studies have shown that most professional boxers (even those without symptoms) have some degree of brain damage.

Now please show me the 'scope' of music-concert attending people whose lives have been affected by such attendance....

Source of quotations

Over that same period of time more people have died tryign to climb Mt Everest....not climbing Mountains, but one Mountain. My point is not to suggest that Boxing is not dangerous. My point is to show that the instances of people being killed in the ring are miniscule compared to a lot of things we do for "enterainement".

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Over that same period of time more people have died tryign to climb Mt Everest....

And 15-40% of those who survive have symptoms of chronic brain injury....? I'm guessing not.

Strikkly wrote (or quoted someone) stating his disdain for boxing becuase of the effects it has on the participants, and you responded with something about the dangers of concert attendance.

More people die from automobile accidents each year than from exposing themselves to radioactive materials. You might think that is because it's safer to stand next to radioactive materials than to get behind the wheel, but the only reason there are more auto deaths each year is because more people get behind the wheel. I'm guessing that, if 15-40% of people who drove suffered brain injury, we'd have a lot more people riding public transportation....

I had a couple amateur fights when I was young. I liked the intense training but didn't like getting my bell rung in the fights...so I quit.

Its a brutal sport and no doubt will be banned someday in the future due to the brain damage that is inherent.

The Friday nite fights on TV from MSG were a big source of entertainment when I was growing up, but since then I have gradually lost interest.

BTW, when watching a pro fight on TV, the brutal nature of the event is quite diminished compared to actually being there in person near ringside, its really almost shocking and quite sensational, which I guess is the appeal for watching a fight live.

Don't these fighters go into the sport and every fight knowing that there is a risk of these terrible things happening? Same as the NFL, all these players know they have a risk of being seriously injured or even killed. They take the risk and they get compensated for it, so banning these sports makes no sense. Why do we need anyone to tell us what to do with our bodies?

Boxing creates Icons. Dempsey, Louis, Maricano, Ali, Sugay Ray (pick one), Tyson, De La Hoya, Floyd, Manny etc. It speaks to what being human is about.

Really though it is Pro Boxing that is brutal. Not nearly are brutal as pro football due to fact you don't box one a week and there are weight classes in boxing.

I lost my love of all gladiator sports long ago -- boxing, wrestling, MMA, fencing... Ok, not fencing, never liked fencing...

but what about Bruce Lee?

dude was just asking to get his azz kicked....

I watch a lot of boxing, but I frankly have struggled with my participation as a viewer, even though I am not feeding the industry through my green energy for PPV, only watching boxing bouts on YouTube. There is unquestionably a terrible price paid by boxers, and it's a notoriously unscrupulous industry. And yet I have watched virtually every bout that YouTube has with Ali, Foreman, Joe Frazier, Miguel Cotto, Manny, Floyd, Hagler, Hearns, Carl Froch, James Toney, any bout where a Klitschko loses, and many many more. I sometimes wonder WTF is wrong with me.

Having said that, I have learned a lot about life through boxing, starting with what the referee says to the boxers before the bell sounds for Round 1: Protect yourself at all times, and don't hit the other person low. That's just good general advice, people.

well....excelltent responses Rhythmwize, Walter and Michael and thank you very much Daniel for your reasonings.

damn that like urkel goes boxing o something

I am supremely indifferent to all team sports, but I confess to enjoying watching a boxing match.

flag boxing......capoeira a do it

Nice dancing. Boxing is a supreme art not a stage show.