Let's get real, one of the aims of boxing is to render the opponent incapable There is no point searching for scapegoats in the aftermath of the fight between Nick Blackwell and Chris Eubank Jnr Blackwell is not in an induced coma because Victor Loughlin, the referee, did not do his job and stop the fight Or because Gary Lockett, the trainer, was reckless with his fighter’s safety He is in a coma because boxing did what boxing does The business aspect of it cannot be divorced from the potential for tragedy, certainly not when the most famous boxer on the planet, Floyd Mayweather, insists on being defined by his wealth. So there is no point searching for scapegoats in the aftermath of the fight between Nick Blackwell and Chris Eubank Jnr. Blackwell is not in an induced coma because Victor Loughlin, the referee, did not do his job and stop the fight; or because Gary Lockett, the trainer, was reckless with his fighter’s safety. He is in a coma because boxing did what boxing does. That is why comparison to other dangerous sports is specious. If motor racing goes according to plan, cars go around a track, very fast, until somebody wins; the same applies to the cross-country portion of three-day eventing, a time trial over obstacles, with horses. Accidents are exactly that. Yet one of the desired outcomes of boxing is to render the opponent incapable. In those fights when a man has died, or suffered brain damage, the winner has in the most brutal way achieved the point of the sport. This is the huge contradiction at boxing’s heart. Everybody in the fight game will say, truthfully, that what has happened to Blackwell is the worst imaginable outcome; yet it is also an outcome that achieved victory, as intended. Nobody denies Eubank Jnr won the fight. He just did so too well; in a way that makes the aim of boxing too real. It is a miracle, indeed a testament to all the judges, officials and coaches in boxing — not to mention the skill of the fighters — that an opponent is so often left just incapable enough; that the effects are temporary and brain bleeds, and comas, do not occur more often. There is a lot of talk about the pressure placed on football referees, but imagine having a boxing official’s responsibility? You alone get to decide what punishment is enough; you alone make the call on inflicting a bruised ego or brain damage. Peter Hamlyn, a consultant neurosurgeon with expertise in the field of sport, calls for particular vigilance around title fights. The boxers are tougher, less likely to go over — Eubank Jnr won every round but never had Blackwell on the canvas — and for that reason a disproportionate number end up in hospital. In Blackwell’s case, Hamlyn says, Eubank’s punches were causing violent movement of the head and ‘that’s where you get the shearing and tearing of blood vessels and damage’. No doubt referees are well versed in the specific dangers, too; yet until all referees are also neurosurgeons, calamities will occur. Hamlyn, unsurprisingly, thinks the fight should have been stopped sooner. One imagines most neurosurgeons would have fights stopped shortly after the match-making phase. The British Medical Association has campaigned against boxing since 1982. Given what is being uncovered about the long-term degenerative effects of concussion, this is an argument that will not go away. It is hard to reconcile fears about accidental injuries in contact sports such as football and rugby, with support for a sport in which blows to the head are not just common, but deliberate. The case for boxing, as advanced on the British Boxing Board of Control website, is really rather poor. Nobody is forced to box or to watch boxing, they argue, but the same could be said of pistol duelling and we came to our senses over that in the end. The BBBC also talks up the knowledge and compassion of boxing crowds — another moot point, true or not — before alighting on the oldest of chestnuts. ‘Boxing gives young men a chance to achieve something and be somebody. Self-confidence and self-esteem are boosted,’ it argues. Being an entirely unquantifiable assertion, this is impossible to argue against. Who knows what boxers would have been without boxing? Who knows how many would have lived successful, if not celebrated, lives? The presumption that inside every boxer is a criminal or a failure is part of what makes the fight game palatable. Sure, boxing is a way out of poverty, but there are other escape routes. I’m no different. I’ve attended boxing, I’ve hit the pay-per-view button, I admire the bravery and skill of the sport. Yet we do need to get real about it. This is the business we have chosen. When calamities occur, we know exactly who gave the order. It came from us. Subscribe, Like and Share

• published: 30 Mar 2016
• views: 3