Take it or Leave it, Boxing is a Sport.

A detailed Summary of Take it or Leave it, Boxing is a Sport.

"Should planes stop flying because people die in a crash? Should they stop all cars because people die in them every twenty-four hours? Because a boxer gets hurt, should they stop boxing? ... That would be crazy," Muhammad Ali rhetorically asks.

Apparently, Joan Beck-an anti boxing activist, and ex-columnar for Chicago's Tribune newspaper-has a definition of what sports and boxing are. And with these definitions, she 'knows' boxing is either not a sport, or shouldn't be considered a sport. With her biased opinions and views, Beck fails to see/seek or acknowledge important points which do in fact prove that boxing is a sport. Boxing is perhaps the most brutal activity considered to be a [legal] sport, and activists like Beck seem to enjoy nit-picking at the extreme or borderline activities like this, and then try to boycott them. Whether she likes it or not, boxing is a sport as it falls under the appropriate conditions, rules, and requirements to be one.

A sport is defined as "An activity engaged in for amusement and exercise." Individual sports are further defined by overlaying conditions: 1A contest between two or more parties requiring strength, power, agility, and intelligence, 2spectated by many-at the venue or on a form

So what does this all mean? Boxing is a sport, it should be a sport, and it always will be a sport, unless if sports in general is changed--which is very unlikely to be even possible. However, a question still remains-why should it stay as a sport?-why shouldn't it? Why change something that doesn't need changing? Fix something that isn't broken? Get involved in affairs that are otherwise not your own (Beck...), or do not have an interest in? See, boxing already is a sport; it works, qualifies as a sport, challenges, inspires, and awes-exactly what people want, and what sports are meant to do.

As noted above, boxing contains all the needed major elements to be a sport-which is really a form of entertainment, not only for the spectator, but arguably for the competitors too. It's not like they're forced into boxing, they aren't forced to take on this kind of profession like a slave. Boxing has saved kids from the ghettos even. Boxing matches are monitored by umpires/referees and judges (officials). And definitely, boxing contains rules, competition, physical and some mental aspects (agility, strength, endurance, control, determination, wits, reflexes-just to name a few). Boxing, like all sports, includes of course, a goal. Everything has a point, after all. Boxing's main point isn't necessarily to knock the opponent out, but to attain a higher score than your opponent's by landing more successful (and legal) blows to the allowable hit zones (namely, the head, torso, upper arms. Anything "above the belt."). Boxers don't actually have to hit each other in the head-something Beck had not

Some common words found in the essay are:
Chicago's Tribune, True Boxing, Schwartz Beck, , WBU Beck, boxing sport, Joan Beck-an, sport sport, Muhammad Ali, people die, boxing matches, brain damage, sports boxing, sport boxing, boxing contains,

Approximate Word count = 1075
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Sports