The Australian Medical Association called for a total ban on boxing in 2015. John Hardy, neuroscientist at University College, London, said recently, that boxing is "A sport whose sole aim is to cause brain damage to another person is not a 'noble art.' It has no place in a civilised society."
Now is the Time
In 1963, the late great Los Angeles Times sports columnist Jim Murray -- a Pulitzer Prize winner and 14-time national sportswriter of the year -- covered a featherweight title fight at Dodger Stadium where the champ, Davey Moore, was beaten and soon died from brain injuries. Murray asked, "Do we swallow our conscience one more time and continue to ban bullfights and cockfights while continuing to sanction prize fights? Are animals more precious than human beings? Are duels at dawn more immoral than death in the evening? Do we sell tickets to an execution? Is this the 20th Century or the Roman Empire?"
That was 54 years ago. It is now the 21st Century, more than 2,000 years after gladiators and lions killed Christians and Jews in the Colosseum.
Boxing has been even more glamorized in the fifty-year period since Murray called for a halt to Boxing. Since then we have live pay-per-view boxing and regular HBO boxing nightly. Major newspapers, including the New York Times, routinely report on boxing. Even if boxing is not outlawed, major media outlets, cable television, and newspapers should cease covering the blood sport. Congress and the State legislatures should ban boxing as they have banned cockfights, dueling and bullfights. Humans are entitled to at least as much protection of the law as animals.
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