It is difficult to imagine more twisted logic. A boxer enters the ring with the aim of outscoring his opponent by landing more blows to the body and head, and, hopefully, knocking him, or her, out. How this is meant to develop character is a question that is never answered.

One is tempted to call on the writer of the editorial, who is probably more familiar with a computer screen than the interior of a boxing ring, to take up "the manly art" and then maybe he, or she, would develop a healthier respect for the damaging qualities of gloved fists.

Among working people there is a strong feeling that children should be taught to "look after themselves" and some defend boxing on that basis. It is certainly true that young people, and the working class generally, need to be able to defend themselves. But it is one thing to learn the art of self-defence, and quite another to put two people into a ring to batter each other for the enjoyment of an audience. Furthermore any positive benefits from boxing can be engendered just as readily in other forms of self-defence--without the inevitable physical damage.

The origins of the so-called "manly art" are revealing. Boxing began in ancient Greece and Rome as part of games aimed at testing the strength and endurance of young men, particularly in activities related to the military. Later, wealthy men trained their slaves as boxers and had them perform for special entertainments. The Romans forced their cestus-clad (metal-studded leather strapping) slaves to bludgeon one another to death in a gruesome perversion of sport--for crowds who came to see the killing.

Modern boxing developed with the rise of capitalism in the 18th and 19th centuries out of the bare knuckle prize fighting contests staged by promoters, particularly in Britain. London became a major city for such fights, in which entrepreneurs put up a purse for the winner and made money by betting on the outcome. Bare knuckle bouts involved no rules at all--the winner was determined by beating an opponent by any means until he was unconscious or incapable of standing. Leather gloves were introduced during this period, not as a means of protecting the head but to prevent damage to the hands of the boxers.

But by the middle of last century, promoters recognised the need to clean up the image of boxing if the matches were to attract a broader and wealthier audience. As the Encyclopaedia Britannica states, "The brawling which distinguished old-time pugilism continued to alienate most of the better people of England and it became apparent that if a widely popular sport was to emerge and endure it would have to be extracted from, rather than preserved in, the hurly burly of prize fighting."

In 1867, the Eighth Marquess of Queensberry, John Sholto Douglas, lent his name, and therefore an association with the British aristocracy, to a set of rules drawn up by John Chambers of the Amateur Athletic Club--thus the name "Queensberry Rules," which eventually predominated over the earlier "London Rules" and became the framework for modern boxing today.

In all honesty, after reviewing the history of the sport, it is hard for anyone to assert that boxing has progressed. Since 1945, there have been 361 deaths in the ring. The figure does not include the countless thousands whose lives have been destroyed by the beatings they have received in boxing bouts or those who suffer irreparable brain damage.

Just last month, the professional boxer Gerry Quarry, aged 53, died of pneumonia brought on by dementia from which he had suffered for 14 years. Quarry, who twice fought for the world heavyweight title, earned $US2.1 million during his career, but finished up living on social security cheques. Out of money and already showing signs of blunt force trauma, Quarry returned to the ring in October 1992, believing he could make a comeback. He took a belting in Colorado, a state where no boxing licence is required. He was paid $US1,050.

The fact that politicians and the media, with virtually no exception, have come to the unabashed defence of boxing, for children as well as adults, is a symptom of a diseased society. The final word should go to the American socialist leader James P. Cannon who wrote a series of biting articles in 1951 on the death of the 20-year-old prize fighter Georgie Flores in the ring at Madison Square Garden in New York.

"It is a commentary on the times and the social environment out of which the boxing business rises like a poisonous flower from the dunghill, that nobody came forward with the simple demand to outlaw prize fighting, as it was outlawed in most of the states of this country up till the turn of the century. Cock-fighting is illegal; it is considered inhumane to put a couple of roosters in the pit and incite them to spur each other until one of them keels over. It is also against the law to put bulldogs into the pit to fight for a side bet. But our civilisation--which is on the march, to be sure--has not yet advanced to the point where law and public opinion forbid men, who have nothing against each other, to fight for money and the amusement of paying spectators. Such spectacles are a part of our highly touted way of life."

Источник: http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/feb1999/box-f16.shtml