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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if you don't want to watch boxing because it is too dangerous or violent then fair enough. I've said before I don't think the sport will exist in its current form in around 50-100 years which will be a shame...
But the hill I'm ready to die on is defending the great work the sport does and it is not the “least convincing” of all arguments. I was lucky to spend four nights a week in a boxing gym from the age of 7 till I moved to England at 18 and I saw countless troubled teenagers...
...being marched into the club with an angry parent who would plead with my dad (the coach at the time) to take on their son and get him back on the straight and narrow. Of course the answer was always 'Yes'. Many of these never became champions, some barely ever got in a ring...
...but the discipline, training and somewhere to be on dark nights got them out of trouble and in many cases changed their paths. The argument to that is they could just find another sport or hobby but boxing is different...
boxing gives people a way to channel aggression like no other, the discipline and dieting needed also makes being tempted by drink and drugs less attractive while at entry level it is remarkably cheap. You'll find gyms around the country offering subs for as little as £5 a WEEK.
there's no evidence (yet) to suggest any kid competing at amateur boxing level is more exposed to the risk of dementia than if they were playing rugby or football too so there is that...
of course when you get to professional boxing, then knocking someone out becomes the sell but this is a sport that gives someone of Anthony Joshua's background to become very wealthy, change his family's life for generations, get royal recognition and an ambassador for charities
...boxing gave Joshua a place to turn his aggression into something good. The sport can be tragic, it gets harder to deal with deaths and I've seen people being left with life-changing injuries but many other sports also bring great risks...
...don't watch it if you don't want but it's a sport I could never stop loving. Thankful to my dad for passing it on to me, wish I could have been good enough to make a career out of being in the ring but glad to be lucky enough to sit the other side and cover it...
...find me a better drug than the anticipation in those few seconds before a big fight when the ring has just been cleared and it is two fighters looking across at each other and we don't really know what will happen next and I'll take up something else.
