Jesuit magazine condemns pro boxing

Not beat-boxing, I hope. That's how I make my living.

What about foxy boxing? They won't ban that, will they?

I am of two minds on this subject. I think boxing can be an amazing thing, to watch, to participate in (I have boxed a tiny little bit when I was younger and could see w/o glasses, I think you box too, matteo?) and to have a culture around. So sleazy and primal and also such a good way of revealing the human soul in all its nasty glory. It also fucks people up (and at least in the USA) can be fairly corrupt. I guess I feel like christianity today feels, but as a sinner I am a sucker for spectacle and drama and the low culture. This is why I also love going to the track.

No. I was raised a big boxing fan, and if you don't ralize that getting socked in the head repeatedly could be a health hazard, well, I don't know what to tell you. NTM, banning the sport won't stop it, just drive it underground where it will less regulated and more hazardous.

jon: I hear you, but Pete Hamill -- a writer I'm assuming you might like -- a few years ago wrote a good essay about it. you need to create pension funds, and guarantee health care later in life for pros and semipros at least.
also, I'm in favor of bareknuckle fights. more blood (spectators like it) and less sneaky brain damage.

Divine_Wino: I do, but speed bags and heavy bags can hardly cause me brain damage.

I submit to the record that I come from a family of huge boxing fans, and gramps was a kickass boxer himself, whose promising career was erased by war

jon: I hear you, but Pete Hamill -- a writer I'm assuming you might like -- a few years ago wrote a good essay about it. you need to create pension funds, and guarantee health care later in life for pros and semipros at least.

What I've read of Pete Hamill, I like*. I agree with you whole heartedly on setting up pension funds, etc. And they should keep a better eye on the Don King types as well. But, outright banning? Nah, bad idea.

We didn't have any boxers in the family as far as I know, although Grampa Joe on the Irish side was built like Jackie Gleason and probably coulda held his own. His son and grandson are too wiry, and the Italian wing of the family, too short.

*although Mark Jacobsen is currently my favorite journalist. The pieces on rock writer Legs McNeil and heroin kingpin Frank Lucas in the linked book are masterful, as are his peices on the 9/11 fallout.

Keep boxing but clean it up. Ban murderous scum like Don King. Establish a single sanctioning body, a single licencing body, a single world rankings. Find a neutral way to rank the fighters which can't be gamed. Cut it down to about 8 weight classes. Make champs fight the # ranked contender regardless. Make champs fight every 6 months minimum. I love boxing but man it is a fucked up sport right now. Probably it has always been corrupt but now it is also bewildering and bullshit -- no one knows who is who, and decent matchups are like once a year.

And yes to the pension fund and retirement fund and brain scans and all that. A guy goes out and gets his head punched in - he doesn't deserve to get financially screwed over as well.

Shadowboxing, the lonliest and cruelest of sports.

hells no. I love watchin a good fight, be it boxing, kickboxing, muay thai or UFC (especially UFC). The sport definitely needs some controls, but that's why so many bloody spectacles are based in Vegas. How the hell you gonna get Vegas to comply with regulations?