Among hardcore boxing fans, it seems there are two major camps as it pertains to the junior middleweight fight between Manny Pacquiao and Antonio Margarito: those who are offended by the fight because Margarito very recently was exiled for being caught with loaded gloves, and those who look down on those who are offended by the fight.
As someone offended by the fight, I am nearly as ticked off about those who question the sincerity and reasonable-ness of my kind as I am about the fight itself. As such, before this site considers the nitty-gritty of the match-up — why it matters, how the two men stack up physically and strategically, et cetera — I’d like to address the underlying question of whether one should pay for the bout at all.
It is no small question. We are talking about Pacquiao, the biggest attraction and best boxer in the sport, facing the most disgraced boxer in the sport. It’s unlike any fight I can recall in that regard; there is no obvious historical parallel. It’s one of the reasons there have been such extremes of opinion against the bout. But I fear that sometimes, neither side has fully understood the other. And at the end, I’ll explain what I, myself, intend to do.
Boxing Is Immoral
You’ll hear the view among those supporting this bout that boxing is the red-light district of sports, that anything goes and that’s fine by them. Except no one REALLY believes that.
You can throw any number of scenarios at people that they would find hard to embrace, unless they were being disingenuous. Would they support fixed fights, where one fighter was paid to fake a defeat? Would they support someone punching an opponent on the back of the head deliberately until they got brain damage? Would they support a fight between a 105-pound man and a 250-pound man?
Every rule in boxing is about one of two things, or both: 1. enhancing competitiveness; 2. safety. Safety is, at its foundation, a moral question. Is there any other reason for safety than that? I can’t imagine it, if there is.
If someone wants a sport where anything goes, they don’t want a “sport,” per se. They want uninhibited violence. If someone wants to watch combat where two people are allowed to hit each other with bricks, or punch each other on the back of the head until someone gets brain damage, they
