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How to make boxing illegal

It points out that medical cover is a legal requirement at all boxing promotions and, given the dangers associated with the sport, asks if the profession should withdraw its co-operation.

The doctors' professional body, the British Medical Association, has long campaigned for the sport of boxing to be banned.

Case law

Professor Hugh Bayne from Sunderland University has examined the case law surrounding boxing.

Writing in the BMJ, he notes that no court has ever been asked to rule directly on the legality of the sport or properly considered the scientific evidence of the dangers associated with boxing.

He says an assault can be legal when consent is involved. For example, surgery in hospital would be impossible otherwise. But the law sets limits, especially when contact sports are considered. If a rugby player steps outside the rules of the game, he says, it is possible to haul him before a court.

On the whole, however, injuries sustained in contact sports are regarded as acceptable because players take part willingly.

Crucial difference

Even in boxing, there is deemed to be consent. But Professor Bayne says there is a crucial difference that has been overlooked:

"Physical contact in rugby or soccer, however risky, is not intended to cause injury. The rules seek to minimise the risks of injury. Boxers, by contrast, do not breach any rules when they try to cause injury." He says the courts have never considered this point.

The Professor believes a recent case in which an injured rugby player successfully sued a referee could have an impact on boxing. The player broke his neck in a collapsed scrum and took the referee to court, even though it was an opposing player who actually caused the injury. The court decided the referee had a duty to protect the player's safety "in a situation where he would have known that intervention was necessary."

Failure to act

Professor Bayne says boxing promoters have been warned. A case might be brought against a fight referee who fails "to stop a match when one of the participants is showing injury or fatigue."

The Professor concludes that the legal justification for boxing has been made on the grounds that properly organised fights are not intended or likely to cause injury. "Analysis of the law and science has been superficial or non-existent, for the straightforward reason that there has been no test case."

As an alternative to such a case, he suggests doctors could simply withdraw medical cover from promotions. This, he says, would make professional boxing impossible without a change in the law.