Muhammad Ali and the glorification of violence.

I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised that so many people turned out to deliver eulogies on Muhammad Ali. Actors, celebrities, even President Obama, turned up to honour the great man’s achievements. I was not surprised that people should honour Ali for his ebullient personality, courage, devotion to charity and work inspiring marginalised people. I am just a bit surprised that none of these celebrities even mentioned that the way Ali achieved greatness was by punching people until they were unconscious.

After all, that was his job. Punching people.

I know they call it “boxing” but it’s really just “punching.” That’s all boxers do. They stand in a ring and punch each until one of them can’t punch any more. In the Olympics, running is called “running”, hurdling is called “hurdling” and swimming is called “swimming” so why is punching called “boxing”?  The answer is that calling it “boxing” seems to be an attempt to disguise the activity from what it really is which is just fist fighting. Which is, oddly, the very same thing we’re currently trying to eradicate from our streets and homes

After all, it is a little surprising that, at a time when we are running campaigns to stop street violence and teach people that Once Punch Can Kill and eliminate violence in the home, that people should be waxing lyrical about man whose entire career was based on punching people till they fell down or were so injured that the referee would have to stop the fight. At a time when schools are running anti-bullying programs and trying to prevent violence in the playground, it is more than a little disturbing to read biographical articles in which the writers seem to revel in the details of Ali's victories – bloodied faces, opponents sprawling on the canvas. Why are they not troubled that an African-American should find fame by inflicting brain damage on other African-Americans for the entertainment of cheering crowds of morons?

Yes, I know that some people will say boxing is an ‘art.’ But... no. Embroidery is an art. Etching, sculpture, wood carving, poetry and song-writing are arts. Boxing - that is: punching - is a skill just as butchering a carcass or gutting a fish is a skill. It takes practice but its primary purpose is still to inflict damage on a body.  What is possibly most remarkable is that, in other sports, punching someone will get a player sidelined, sin-binned, suspended, fined or even banned from the game. So how is it we tolerate a game where the entire aim is to punch your opponent?

The sickening answer to the contradiction is that there are still people out, mainly men (let’s face it) who think that boxing, punching, fighting, martial arts – whatever you want to call it – is  “manly”; that fighting is some sort of sign of masculinity - even a requirement of masculinity. This, of course, is the underlying cause of street attacks, bar fights, road rage and, ultimately, domestic violence.

So again why,  given the current efforts to remove violence from society and knowing that it causes brain damage, is boxing still legal? And how do we now have an even more violent incarnation of street fighting called "UFC" where combatants kick, gouge, knee and batter each other in a cage?

And most perplexing, what kind of arsehole pays to go and watch this? Over to you world.