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You know, I have actually asked myself this question before. The answer, I feel, is a complicated one. We are humans and have a history of violence towards our fellow-man. This history goes back hundreds of thousands of years; it's part of who we are as a species and as a people. We crave it on the most base of levels; violence, combat, etc.
Maybe someday we will evolve to the point to where we don't; but I don't think so because survival will never go out of style. There will always be a battle of some sort as long as we are in this plain of existance, maybe even in the next, too. Yin and Yang, good and evil, black and white: life is full of extremes and we dwell in the grays in between.
Boxing helps us to realize and vocalize this primal instinct; and does so in a civlized way. Two boxers, as you know, aren't really trying to do harm to one another; they are just trying to best their man. With some, it's more offensive and intense and with others it's more defenisive and precise. For every Rocky Marciano, there is a Muhammad Ali for each individual expresses their personality through their fists. It is raw, it is bare, it is real.
I think we need to be reminded of the struggles in life; and boxing does that in it's most stripped down form. I consider it kind of an action-therapy. Righfully or wrongfully, we occassionally transfuse our emotions onto these gladiators when they meet. In 1938, Louis and Schmeling embodied two worlds about to clash as did Ali and Fraizier in 1971. Boxing, as someone once said, is a metaphor for life. We need it as therapy. As long as two men are willing to put on gloves and test each other's skills, we can live vicariously through them as a community. Boxing, I think, is a release valve of sorts.
Is it wrong? It depends on the intent of the combatants. If their intent is merely to win and prove themself better than their opponent, then no. If their intent is to take their opponent's life, then yes. Also, what do the fans want? Do they want to see a ring death? If so, then yes. If not, then no. Some fans watch fights because they are indeed living vicariously through their favorite fighter, others because they enjoy the nature of the sport itself and how it is almost a living, breathing thing.
The answer is in intent and desired results.....at least, that was the answer I came to when I asked the same question of myself a few years ago.
Maybe someday we will evolve to the point to where we don't; but I don't think so because survival will never go out of style. There will always be a battle of some sort as long as we are in this plain of existance, maybe even in the next, too. Yin and Yang, good and evil, black and white: life is full of extremes and we dwell in the grays in between.
Boxing helps us to realize and vocalize this primal instinct; and does so in a civlized way. Two boxers, as you know, aren't really trying to do harm to one another; they are just trying to best their man. With some, it's more offensive and intense and with others it's more defenisive and precise. For every Rocky Marciano, there is a Muhammad Ali for each individual expresses their personality through their fists. It is raw, it is bare, it is real.
I think we need to be reminded of the struggles in life; and boxing does that in it's most stripped down form. I consider it kind of an action-therapy. Righfully or wrongfully, we occassionally transfuse our emotions onto these gladiators when they meet. In 1938, Louis and Schmeling embodied two worlds about to clash as did Ali and Fraizier in 1971. Boxing, as someone once said, is a metaphor for life. We need it as therapy. As long as two men are willing to put on gloves and test each other's skills, we can live vicariously through them as a community. Boxing, I think, is a release valve of sorts.
Is it wrong? It depends on the intent of the combatants. If their intent is merely to win and prove themself better than their opponent, then no. If their intent is to take their opponent's life, then yes. Also, what do the fans want? Do they want to see a ring death? If so, then yes. If not, then no. Some fans watch fights because they are indeed living vicariously through their favorite fighter, others because they enjoy the nature of the sport itself and how it is almost a living, breathing thing.
The answer is in intent and desired results.....at least, that was the answer I came to when I asked the same question of myself a few years ago.
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