The Brutal Arena: Is Prizefighting Dying Out?
An editorial reflection on whether America’s growing appetite for athletics is being corrupted by the 'tigerish' violence of professional boxing.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The presence of the histrionic prizefighter Corbett on our local stage this last week naturally suggests the inquiry whether public sentiment grows more tolerant of prizefighting as the popular taste for athletics increases in America. There is no question concerning the increasing taste for athletic recreation; but, we are glad to believe that it is not accompanied with larger tolerance for that brutal abuse of athletics that is expressed by prizefighting. Muscular Christianity is good, but prizefighting is but the modern survival of the hideous brutality of the arena in the worst days of imperial Rome. In England, the law is enforced so sternly that a prizefight is far more difficult than in America, despite the fact that the English are a most pugnacious race. While it is true that prizefighting is at a lower ebb in this country than it ever was before, in a few of our states it has a far more rigorous life than in England, because the law is not so earnestly enforced. In the vast majority of our states, however, the government is not disposed to wink at prizefighting; it has decided that it is a thing of evil influence.
“Prizefighting is but the modern survival of the hideous brutality of the arena in the worst days of imperial Rome.”
This editorial captures the late 19th-century tension between organized sports and 'moral' civic standards. Seattle still debates the ethics of combat sports today, though the focus has shifted from the 'brutality' of the ring to the long-term health consequences for the athletes.
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