Should boxing be banned?

I've put unsure myself.

I'm borderline because it does keep some rough element off the street and train them to respectful but the flipside is that it can be seen to be violent.

I've put yes but if they could make it safer there is a slim chance I would change my mind. Perhaps if the head was excluded as a target then we might not see so many of our boxers with brain damage. This is unlikely to happen due to the nature of the fans who want to see knockout blows to the head.

We've made sword fighting safe but at the expense of its popularity as a spectator sport.

You missed an option in the poll.

NO just wasn't strong enough IMHO. It should have been HELL NO!

Boxing is one of the oldest and best sports to watch. Long live the sport of boxing!

I've put no but I competed for many years so I'm surely going to be biased. For me it's the highest form of competition 1v1. At the end of the day it's peoples own choice to participate, they are all trained athletes. Ultimate fighting such as UFC/Pride used to be the most brutal thing on television but now even they calm it down for TV purposes.

NO way jose, it is more commen to get hurt in horse racing than in boxing, all make a choice and all work dammed hard to keep safety a premium.

This is a truly wonderful sport which gives all classes a chance to progress and make dreams come true, it has long been the sport that gives young lads a chance to make soething of themselves in world that might toherwise shun them...

Take a look in our gym, at the kidz faces during training, or go through the training for a pro bout with any pro fighter of your choice, they committ their whole lives to their sport.

The aim is NOT to be hit, and no fighter wants to really hurt another...Regardless of what you may think.

So no...lol

Isn't the aim of a boxer to win his bout? So, to win, he has to hurt his opponent more than his opponent hurts him. Sorry, but I cannot enjoy seeing people taking part in something, I cannot call it a sport, but that is my opinion, in which the whole object is to hurt your opponent. Why not play darts? Chess? Cricket? Soccer? etc, etc? You can still gain respect, and money, in other ways.

Because Boxing is one of the oldest sports in the world. AND it appeals to the primative side in us. The adrenaline, the excitment, it's like taking a step out of reality and entering a new world.

I'd love to go to one of the UFC matches too. That would be ace!

Damn, I let DaB creep ever closer to 2000 posts!!

No boxing shouldn't be banned.

It channels aggression into a safe place. Many of the kids who take up boxing would be out on the street kicking the hell out of some innocents if they didn't have that outlet.

It also encourages respect for the individuals own body as super fitness is required. Drugs and alcohol don't mix with boxing.

Boxing or anything is in the DNA you can usually from about the age of eight look at children and they are either going to be a tinker tailor soldier or sailor.

There were a 110,000 amateur boxers in the country in 1971, I believe the figures have dropped to around 8 - 10.000, it is interesting in that time span how street crime has increased.

Boxing is THE safest contact sport there is, infact I would go as far as to say that boxing is the most skilled of any sport, alot of national coaches of other sports say it is a sport that all others adhere to.

The people who are usually anti boxing dont seem to mind people going to war....

I remember the first fight that I can remember saved alot of lives, David and Goliath !!! It was skill that won that one.

As for WANTING to hurt someone, it's always the people who havnt boxed that come out with statements like that. The commoradere in a boxing gym is second to none, and every boxer is out to help his team mate, I would suggest to you to go and spend some time at an ex boxers meeting and see the admiration and respect ex boxers ahve for eachother. The people who boxed eachother in the past care deeply about one another because the people who foguht eachother learnt more about themselves by doing that and learnt more about people than anyone can ever know, because they were tested to their limits and beyond.

Brain Damage....

It happens, but there is virtually no chance of it today. Talking to the countries leading nuero surgeon I found it interesting that he was more concerned about footballers coming to the fore right now with brain damage oir signs of potential damage.

The British Boxing Board of Control has spent years and many hundreds of thousands of pounds on boxers safety, this is now THE HIGHEST regulated sports and with the medicals and stringent tests that ALL fighters go through it is without dought now a days one of THE safest

I love my fighters, they are my family, not because of their job but because of who they are....I would not be invloved in a sport where safety was not the main issue, there will ALWAYS be boxers, it is up to me and people like me and our truly wonderful governing body to continue moving the boundries and protecting our lads and lassies at all times.

BC

Ooops. I admit that my views are probably because I do not like to hurt anyone, and certainly do not like being hurt. I was a better runner than a fighter when in my far away youth.

Then again, it is not a sport that I like to see. But neither are basketball, and a few others. I would rather read a book.

LOL Then read a book about boxing and maybe you'll learn what it is all about huh ???

BC x