Today

Boxing has always been a controversial sport, and while it continues to draw critics calling for a ban, it also continues to attract mass audiences worldwide.

The sport itself is a lucrative business – some of the world's best boxers have earned themselves millions, and the faces of current stars such as Amir Khan are often blazed over the media, providing financial opportunities for advertising and sponsorship.

Since the early 1980s, the British Medical Association has called for a total ban on amateur and professional boxing in the UK. However, the fact that boxing has not been banned would suggest that there is not yet any evidence strong enough to support a complete ban.

The BMA's opposition to boxing is based on medical evidence that reveals the risk not only of acute injury but also of chronic brain damage which is sustained cumulatively in those who survive a career in boxing. It may take many years before boxers and ex-boxers find out they are suffering from brain damage.

Dr. Raymond Monsell: "The risk of chronic damage is a separate issue, but the magnitude of risk has been exaggerated in some quarters to procure a ban."

The BMA believes that there is sufficient evidence for the risks of brain injury associated with boxing for the Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to call for an independent inquiry into these risks.

The effect of a 'knock-out' on a boxer includes grogginess, weakness, paralysis, weakening of limbs, inability to focus and possible loss of consciousness. The long-term effects are cumulative and may not show immediately after a match. Most signs of damage are more likely to appear towards the end of a boxer's career or even after retirement.

Stretched fibres may recover after many weeks but cut nerve fibres do not repair. According to the BMA, ex-boxers are less able to sustain natural ageing of brain or diseases of brain and may be more likely to suffer diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Boxers' brains are smaller, surface grey matter is thinner, fluid-containing ventricles enlarged because of the decrease in white matter.

Dr. Raymond Monsell, Medical officer to the Welsh Amateur Boxing Association and Member of the Association of Ringside Physicians, comments: "Boxing is a dangerous sport. The risk of acute injury and death is ever present, as with any contact or collision sport. The risk of chronic damage is a separate issue, but the magnitude of risk has been exaggerated in some quarters to procure a ban."

"In reality, boxing exists for two reasons alone. People want to box, and people want to watch them box. The fact that boxing as a sport is condoned is witnessed by the viewing figures for major fights, which attract tens of millions worldwide."

Those who become boxers are well aware of the possible dangers they face by taking part in the sport, and continue to do so. Supporters are also aware of this danger, and yet still continue to watch the sport.

Critics of the sport cannot escape the fact that many people have a desire to take part in the sport. If an individual wants to fight, surely it is their right to decide whether they can or not. After all, soldiers go to war knowing full well that they risk injury and death.

The purpose of boxing is to inflict pain on the opponent so that they are unable to continue to fight, and this is where some have a problem with the ethics of the sport. However, it remains a sport because it is a form of controlled aggression: there is a referee, and rules which much be adhered to. The safety of the boxers is always considered, and the referee will step in to stop the fight as and when he feels it is necessary.

Pro-boxing arguments point out the fact that other sports too result in injury, but the major concern over boxing is the brain damage sustained cumulatively rather than in any one recorded instance.

While one camp might see boxing as a skilled art-form, the other may view it as a needless act of brutality leading to serious injury.

However, while the sport of boxing continues to attract audiences and money, a lack of any concrete evidence to prove its' potential fatality would seem to suggest that boxing is here to stay, in the short term at least.