Ban boxing? Helmet to helmet hitting between football players apparently may cause them to suffer concussions, so it has been banned from the sport. Even the wisdom of head to ball striking in women’s soccer games is being questioned, because women’s neck muscles may not be strong enough to prevent slight concussions from the sharp movement of their skulls in such maneuvers. So why shouldn’t the intentional violent striking of one’s opponent’s head by one’s fist be banned in boxing matches, particularly when the specific intention of the action is to injure the opponent by giving him or even her a temporary concussion that will render him or her unconscious for a few moments? And the violent striking of heads is even more intense in ultimate fighting matches in which the opponents do not wear heavily-padded gloves on their hands and they are even allowed to kick their opponents in the head, if they can make such moves, or to strike their opponents in the head when they are down on the mat.

Time to Ban Boxing

Maybe it is time to ban boxing as a sport. Maybe it is time to bring this form of “entertainment” to an end in civilized societies that recognize that it is “not right” to intentionally seek to harm one’s opponent even in a game. I recognize that boxing is a big business and that this form of athletic competition has been conducted for a long time with relatively few fatalities from such violence, but there can be no denial of the fact that boxers are severely injured by the repeated blows to their heads that they may suffer in their fights.

The banning of boxing as a sport would have major financial consequences for the operation of this business and even the operation of some gyms and training facilities where young athletes are taught the “skills” involved in these violent contests, but it may be time to establish such a ban to protect athletes from injury in these violent fights. What do you think? Why shouldn’t boxing be banned because of the injury that combatants may suffer to their brains in the engagement of their fights? Let’s talk about ban boxing.