By Babatis Banda: Boxing….. the sweet science, the art of fighting will ever remain our cherished sport. Boxing has evolved into the kind of sport it is today. There is no doubt that it will continue to evolve. People fought in streets, back yards, halls with bare knuckles for money from way back.
Huge bets were all part of the action. This game has been controlled by the powerful, the mafia, street gangs, thieves and you can name it from way back. The sport has also seen a fair share of modern thieves and mafia-like gangs in this era.
Boxing is a violent sport. It is a reflection of the inherent violent nature of all human beings. Yes, we are all violent; it is the degree by which we are able to control or suppress our ‘inner violence’ that makes the difference. Consider this…..In the old Roman Empire, it was always considered fun to see man pitted against another or against an animal, until one dies. Have you read about the theaters and coliseums the Romans built for this purpose?
This lovely game is not without black spots. It has suffered a ‘black eye’ now and then. We have corrupt administrators who fix fights, we have had faked injuries, faked in-house fights and we have had unbelievable mismatches. We have cheats of all kinds in this sport, but by no measure does this indicate its demise. We will always love the violence this sport brings, the blood and the sweat. We love those savage knock-downs, to see those gaping raw cuts or a fighter stopped by a punishing blow to the liver. Other than the pure savagery, we also love the art, the ‘smooth’ art of fighting. We love to see those fighters glide as if riding on a cushion of air. We love and enjoy seeing boxers master the art of hurting their foes, in the same way scholars, scientists and professionals perfect their trade.
Black eye or not, this sport lives on. We carry the ‘violence gene’ in our systems and this sport will continue to flourish as we all need to quench this ‘hidden insatiable appetite’ for violence. Boxing is now a ‘billion dollar’ industry, it can survive any low moments and it can ride the tide just as it has done for ages. There were great names before…… Dempsey, Lamotta, the brown bomber, Rocky, Ali, Frazer, Leonard, Hearns ……and the list goes on, and other great names shall be added.
We look forward for our lovely sport to move with the times. We need strong regulation for boxing, to check the corruption, the greediness and the cheating. All the fans add value in their own way, it could be in a foolish blinded way, or it could be in an enlightened way, at the end of the day they are all fans casual or not, only that they are either foolish or smart.
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