THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 18, 1995 TAG: 9510180508
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The bitter truth about the boxing racket is that the barbarians aren't inside the ring fighting, but outside looking to be entertained.
Consider the obscenity expressed by British Sports Minister Iain Sproat immediately following the recent death of Scottish bantamweight James Murray.
Arguing against a ban in his country on legalized assault, Sproat called boxing a ``terrific sport.''
Had Sproat been around 130 years ago, he would have asked, ``But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?''
Murray, who suffered a blood clot on his brain after being knocked out by Drew Docherty in the 12th round of their title fight in Glasgow, was carried from the ring on a stretcher. Following an operation, he was hooked up to a life support machine, but soon was ruled clinically dead.
It is the second time in a year that a fighter has suffered serious brain damage in a British ring. In February, super middleweight Gerald McClellan of the United States had a blood clot removed after losing a title fight to Britain's Nigel Benn in London.
McClellan still lives, if you call living being sentenced to your home, barely able to walk or talk.
With this carnage so fresh in the public's mind, the minister of British sport can still bring himself to call boxing terrific.
Does this man have no decency? Do any of us who still sanction and thrill to pro boxing?
Unfortunately, Americans have not exactly seized the high ground in this debate. Too many people in the U.S. still consider boxing to be a splendid pastime.
But is it sport to bruise another man's brain? Is it sport to tear the tissue inside a person's skull?
It is sport to sit ringside, or at home watching television, and root for someone's face or brain to be turned to mush?
Murray's death will quickly be forgotten, as was the death of Mexican fighter Jimmy Garcia. But, in truth, it would be better if nothing much were said about Murray at all, except to report the pitiful facts of his passing.
A brutal, stark report of Murray's homicide is the most powerful statement that can be made for the destructive powers inherent in boxing.
Unfortunately, whenever a fighter is maimed or killed, people rush to draw greater meaning from the tragedy. Those who benefit from the barbaric nature of boxing try to distract us with phony images. They want us to believe that a fighter's hard, cruel experience in the ring is a symbol of man's courage and willingness to risk everything in order to escape poverty.
This is a big con. There is no meaning to anything that goes on in a boxing ring. There is only suffering caused by desperation.
The new reality comes shorn of the sentimental vision still shared by some writers and broadcasters. Even now, too many buy into the con. They fail to see boxing for what it is: a terrific way to kill brain cells.
Are the blood clots tolerated because the dead and brain dead are members of the permanent underclass? Is boxing such a fringe sport nowadays that nobody cares enough to express outrage?
Whatever, it is useless to talk of reforming boxing. You cannot reform an activity in which the primary purpose is to leave your opponent with a serious concussion.
Morally, ethically, in so many ways, it is boxing that is clinically dead. Now all we need to do is pull the plug. by CNB