Is boxing wrong?

[Pork Chop]

Dog, Floyd Patterson suffered terribly up until his death with memory loss. Don't you remember the grand jury testimonies that forced him to resign as NY Boxing Commissioner? He couldn't remember who he fought for the title, how long title fights were, anything like that. He was another reason why I have quarrels with boxing as an institution.

I believe he was 60 or 61 at the time he got hit real bad by the alzheimers and pugilistic dementia. Prior to that I read that he didn't show many signs.

How many people have their heart explode or die from complications of an unhealthy diet or get taken by cancer in their 50s? I think he had a pretty long and productive life, even if those last 8 to 10 years weren't good.

Even if you drop Patterson as an argument, there are plenty of others with more fights than that that came out of boxing with their health reasonably intact. And if the dementia doesn't hit until the 60s, exactly how much are they missing?

[Mr. Ryan]

I believe he was 60 or 61 at the time he got hit real bad by the alzheimers and pugilistic dementia. Prior to that I read that he didn't show many signs.

How many people have their heart explode or die from complications of an unhealthy diet or get taken by cancer in their 50s? I think he had a pretty long and productive life, even if those last 8 to 10 years weren't good.

Even if you drop Patterson as an argument, there are plenty of others with more fights than that that came out of boxing with their health reasonably intact. And if the dementia doesn't hit until the 60s, exactly how much are they missing?

I agree, I don't want to diminish how great a life he or other boxers had. It's just sad to me really, its hurtful to a large extent.

[eazy_mas]

Boxing could work as sword with double edge.

If you look in a latin comunity there are things worse than boxing. There are many gangs and **** like that that it really hard to not go somewhere for protection or someplace to take you anger.

For example if you look in many gang member they are filled with tattos and marks symbols of there gang. but if you see there is many boxers who dont have these tattos.

for example Margarito, Morales, Chavez and many other mexician boxer is better to be a boxer than to go to gang and you probalby end up in two road dead or jailed. and that goes for Mayorga too.

But on the other hand i have the same thing going on. It better to have a full brain that a brain that is damaged. I seen many boxers speech are a bit splured and they seem to be unhealthy.

Have anyone seen the Dezel Washington movie about Rubin Carter. There is a nice quto there:
" Hate put me in jail and love taken me out."

I think boxing skills and power really didnt did anything for him in jail but to use his power with hate but once he started writing he was became free and touch a boy that lived a 1,000 miles.
that is really insprational story to see

[The Noose]

Dog, Floyd Patterson suffered terribly up until his death with memory loss. Don't you remember the grand jury testimonies that forced him to resign as NY Boxing Commissioner? He couldn't remember who he fought for the title, how long title fights were, anything like that. He was another reason why I have quarrels with boxing as an institution.

Was that a result from boxing?
I doubt there is any proof of that. Of course i understand he fought for many years and took alot of ounches to the head, but that kind of memory problem, as well as Ali's parkinsons, happens to people who dont box.
I just dont like people making assumptions about the effects of boxing.

Apart from the slurred speach many fighters have, which i havemt seen in people who have never boxed.

I agree totally. Nobody ever forced our arms behind our back and made us watch this, if we enjoy the brutality of boxing then it must be ingrained in our souls. Boxing is the most cold blooded of all sports because there is no pension plan or anything like that to ensure that boxers are taken care of after they are done. Promoters throw stiffs in there with guys they have no chance in hell of beating so a big attraction can look good.

I was at a fight last winter and this guy who had 20 losses got knocked out in the first round. I asked him why he continues to go through with this. He said "It's Christmastime soon". He's going through all this humiliation so he can make a few extra bucks to get his kids some toys. You know it would crush his children to know what he goes through to make the dough to get ****ing Power Rangers under the tree.

The vast majority of boxing fans complain wen it isnt competitve, or a champion fights a guy who clearly isnt a match and doesnt deserve a shot at the title.
We want a proper competion.

Also, would it be considered humiliating for that boxer to be washing dishes or cleaning toilets instead of being KO'd?
Or is he doing what he loves, although not succeeding. Alot of people would feel like a piece of **** taking orders from some ******* boss, doing a ****ty job and getting pain ****.
He is an athlete, a sportsman. I would have thought he would be proud of what he does to earn money.

[Crazy Dude]

Something to keep in mind, a lot of progress has been made with safety in the sport. Referees are stopping matches a lot sooner than they were in the past. Also fighters are fighting a lot less than in the past (which many people ***** about).

The sport would be better off if some fighters knew enough to retire when they should. For whatever reason though some of them don't. Maybe they could have an enforced retirement age of 30 or 35 or a certain number of matches; in some cases that would be too early and in some cases too late though.

[-EX-]

I don't think guys far past their prime and getting beat up, shouldn't be fighting.

What happened with Meldrick Taylor is disgusting.

[Neckodeemus]

As a former amateur, I had to deal with the internal stigma about it constantly. I was raised a very religious guy, a "philosopher" like yourself wouldn't be down to hearing things of that nature.

I was raised a Catholic.

This is a non-issue. If you think it is wrong, know it is wrong, think it is immoral yet persist in watching it then you are doing something wrong but you obviously enjoy doing it so you have to reconcile yourself with that fact. A forum is unlikely to be the place where this will be achieved

You talk about Floyd Patterson.

What about Jack Dempsey? Fit as a fiddle as he got older and still quite sharp. He beat up some muggers when he was an old man.

I met Jack Turpin, hundreds of fights (legal and illegal) yet still is engaging and quite healthy for his age.

Also Ali may have suffered from illness if he had not boxed. Diet pills sped-up the deterioration, if he had stayed retired post-Spinks he may have had a relatively healthy old age. As it stands medical reports suggest that the lifetime of fitness he endured as a boxer made him stronger in the face of his illness.

The man can still think, people forget this, he just cannot communicate with his prior speed.