The law(s) of the rings: boxing and the law

To threaten harm is to assault and to realise that threat is to batter. To do so intentionally for the purpose of producing injury amounts to causing harm with intent and one cannot consent to be the victim of such violence. Despite these clearly enunciated legal principles, such conduct is routinely practised in the name of sport. Boxing is widely accepted as a highly paid professional sporting activity in which the ultimate goal is to inflict a concussive head injury upon an opponent or at least cause sufficient damage to render an opponent incapable of further self-defence. Spectators pay to watch the anticipated systematic abuse of one human being by another in much the same way they delighted in gladiators who were forced to fight for the pleasure of others. This article reviews these concepts and challenges the legal ethics of authorised violence associated with these activities undertaken in the name of sport.