Boxing has been around for almost 6,000 years. When boxing was first invented it was a type of sport where the athletes sat on a rock and hit each other until one of them was knocked out. Boxing in the Greek Olympics, wasn’t that brutal. The athletes wore what was called “thongs” (hickok sports.com) around their hands to protect them. As time progressed the thongs turned into hard leather gloves, hence turning them into weapons.
“The Romans added iron or brass studs, creating the cestus, which could be a deadly weapon. Then they went even farther, developing a cruel, spur-like instrument of bronze, called the myrmex (“limb piercer”). Boxing in the Roman Empire was not so much a sport as a bloody amusement for spectators, like the gladiatorial contests, with slaves pitted against one another in a fight to the death” (hickok sports.com).
Boxing today may be considered a blood sport, but unlike the Greek/Roman times, it is full of strategy and fast hand eye coordination. In addition, there is a trained referee (watching the fight) rules, and a medical technician at ringside to care for any injuries. Sure the fighter’s bleed, but the deaths in boxing are at the bottom of a table I found made by student going to the University of Virginia. “Another study on fatalities due to sport in the United States shows boxing at the bottom of the list in terms of deaths per 100 000 participants. This is illustrated below.Fatality Rate per 100 000 Participants According to Sport.
Looking at the table, I would say that horse racing is by far more susceptible to injury related deaths than boxing. Therefore if boxing is called a “blood sport” than horse racing should be considered a death sport. Dr. Lewis the president of NSW Amateur Boxing Association states “All sports that involve contact are potentially dangerous. Boxing is no more dangerous than in other sports such as football because of the safeguards we have in place for it.
We have for example mandatory suspensions for people who are knocked out or cop too much punishment, we have a short number of rounds, for example there’s only four two minute rounds in top level Olympic boxing – so therefore the amount of time boxers are suggested to contact is quite minimal – there’s doctors who enforce medical rules, we have age limits, and all these things on boxers – as a matter of fact when it comes to the cost of the community boxing is very low in both morbidity and mortality. Worldwide fewer people die from boxing per 100 000 competitors from say playing college football in America”. In retrospect, I believe that boxing has evolved and developed a more civilized way to present itself. Boxing is more regulated than it use to be and we as a nation must veto the name “blood sport.”