SPORTS LAW ESSAY

The regulation of Boxing and is it sufficient to

protect the rights of individual athletes. Should
the law have a more important role to play in
certain cases?
By
Stephanie Fiona Murphy
________________________________________________________
Introduction
Boxing is a violent sport and involves punching your opponent with your
fists. Boxing was not the original name given to the sport. Perhaps, what
is stranger was the official name that boxing was known as
Pugilism.1The definition of pugilism when defined accurately means the
skill, practice, and sport of fighting with the fists.2 Over the years boxing
has progressed from a minor fist fight to the proficient, precise,
calculated, swift sport. Boxing has been referred to as the noble art, and
it can seen as the need for man to prove oneself.3Thus, boxing as been in
existence for centuries but has it become too violent? Boxing just like all
the other sports have rules and regulations that govern the sport. It is
reasonable foresee that all competitive contact sports have high
possibility of participants getting seriously hurt. Furthermore, sports
1 History of Boxing Fight Club (2011)<
http://ww.fightclubamerica.com/about/history-of-boxing/ (accessed: 25th
September 2015)
2 Ibid,
3 Gardiner et al, Sport Law, fth edn, (New York: Cavendish Publishing, 2012) at
526
1

participants are aware of the risks and assume those risks because it is
the nature of the sport.4 This can include consenting to assault within the
rules of the sport. However, what happens if that assault occurred outside
the rules of the sport then it becomes unlawful. According to Judge William
Early, to strike someone without legal justification is a crime, whether it
takes place in the street, in the family home, or the football pitch or
elsewhere.5This essay will undertake an in-dept investigation into issues
surrounding the regulation of boxing both the consent aspect and the
legal perspective. In addition, the argument I intend to support is that
consent in boxing is prima facie and at what point does that consent go
beyond the rules of the sport. Furthermore, is boxing just sanctioned
violence that we all accept because there is element of entertainment
involved or should it be banned.

History of Boxing
Boxing dates back to 3000BC: the ancient Greeks believe that boxing was
one of the games played by the gods on Olympus,6 which resulted in it
becoming part of the Olympic Games (games). Thus, it was introduced to
the ancient games by the Greeks in the late 7th century BC.7 In 1904,
boxing first appeared in the games and has continued to be part of it ever
4 Agar v. Canning [1965] 54 WWR 302 at 304
5 DPP v McCartan Unreported, 1 November 2004, District Court, was the case of
James McCartan, a down Footballer, who was found guilty of assault under
(section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997) for breaking
the jaw of an opponent, Kenneth Larkin during a match between Down and
Westmeath reported by F. McNally, McCartan found Guilty of Assaulting
Westmeath Player Irish Times, 6 November 2004 available at:
http://www.irishtimes.com/.../mccartan-found-guilty-of-assaulting-westmeathplayer (Accessed: 25th September 2015)
6 Kat M, History of Boxing WhiteCollarboxing.com
<http://whitecollarboxing.com/boxinfo.htm (Accessed: 25th September 2015)
7 Boxing Equipment and History International Olympic<
http://www.olympic.org>sports>Boxing (Accessed: 25 th September 2015)
2

since with the exception of the games in 1912.8The first set of rules in
sport were introduced in 1973, and were known as the Brongton Rules
but they were seen as inadequate.9 Following that you had the
Queensberry Rules in 1865 which were introduced by the eight Marquis of
Queensberry.10Queensberry rules introduced rules like no hugging or
wrestling: and where rounds would be three minutes in length with one
minutes break between rounds: also the boxers had to wear good quality
padded gloves.11The Irish played a vital role by dominating national
group in professional (pro) boxing in America: boxers included Terry
McGovern Philadelphia Jack OBrien, Mike (Twin) Sullivan and his brother
Jack, Packey McFarland, Jimmy Clabby, and Britton, who dominated the
sport in 1915.12

Amateur v Professional
Boxing is classed as amateurs and pro. The rules regulating amateur
boxing are unified all over the world. In contrast, to pro boxing rules that
differ according to the country. In Ireland, the governing body for amateur
boxing is the Irish Amateur Boxing Association founded in 1911: which is
governed and sanctioned by the International Boxing Association referred
to as the IABA, which is the sport organisation that sanctions amateur
Olympic style boxing matches.13Since 1980, the governing body for pro

8 Ibid,
9 L.Donnellan, Sport and the Law A Concise Guide (Dublin: Blackhall Publishing,
2010) (hereinafter Donnellan) at 68
10 Ibid, Donnellan
11Ibid,
12 Supra note 1
13 Irish Amateur Boxing Association (hereinafter IABA) available at
<http://www.iaba.ie (Accessed: 29th September 2015)
3

boxing is the Boxing Union of Ireland (BUI).14The BUI is recognised and

affiliated to the European Boxing Union (EBU)15 and oversees the sport in
Ireland. Thereafter, you had the establishment of the World Boxing Council
(WBC)16 which is affiliated with the World Boxing Association (WBA).17 The
BUI functions include, inter alia the licensing of Irish pro boxers: the
licensing of managers and trainers.18 The rules are different in amateur
and pro boxing. For Instance, pro boxers compete in weight classes from
heaviest to lightest.19Amateur boxers usually compete for their club or are
members of organisations.20 Amateur boxing is not dangerous as they
wear head protectors and bigger gloves and have a better standard of
referees.21 In addition, amateur matches consist of 4x2 minute rounds as
opposed to 12x3 minute rounds for pro.22 Money is the notable difference
between amateur and pro boxing where pros get paid. Amateur boxing is
a good outlet for young people and is closely supervised so no
participants get seriously hurt. Therefore, the issue of violence in boxing
is centred on pro boxing.
14 Boxing Union of Ireland (hereinafter BUI) available at:
<http://www.boxingunion.ie (Accessed: 29th September 2015)
15 European Boxing Union (EBU) available at: <http://www.boxebu.biz/
(Accessed: 29th September 2015)
16 World Boxing Council (WBC) available at: http://www.wbcboxing.com/wbceng/
(Accessed: 29th September 2015)
17 World Boxing Association (WBA) available at: http://wwwwbanews.com
(Accessed: 29th September 2015)
18 Supra note 14
19 Ibid, BUI
20 Supra note 13
21 Ibid,
22 Kat, Supra note 6
4

Legality of Boxing
Ireland has no statutory provisions that deal with that lawfulness of
boxing.23 Cox et al believes that the law should only intervene where a
serious assault has occurred that was outside the rules of the game or if
the injured party is seeking compensation.24 There is a mens rea and actus
reus outlined in Section 2 and 3 of the Non Offences Against the Person
Act 1997 (1997 Act).25 It can amount to assault where consent is not
present.26 However, the English case of Collins v. Wilcock27 makes it clear
that consent is not absolute. Therefore, people who take part in sports are
aware of the risks involved and they do consent as part of the sport to a
certain degree of physical contact within the rules of that sport. For
instance, under section 22 (1) of the 1997 act28 states that consent cannot
be defence to all forms assault. Thus, there can be no consent to
deliberate acts of violence as stated in R v. Billinghurst.29
23 Neville Cox et al., Sport and the Law (Dublin: First law,2004) pp. 4.3.1 at 176
24Ibid, Cox et al
25 Non Offences Against the Person Act 1997 (hereinafter 1997 Act) Section 2 &
3
26 Ibid, 1997 Act at s. 2
27 Collins v.Wilcock [1984] 3 ALL ER 374 (hereinafter Collins)
28Ibid, supra note 25, 1997 Act s.21 (1)
29 R v. Billinghurst [1978] [1978] Crim LR 553, also see R v. Donovan [1975] 2
KB 498 at 507; [1934] ALL ER Rep 207; this was the case where the appellant in
private act beat a girl 17 and he was 19 for the purposes of sexual gratification
with her consent; the court stated that it is unlawful act to beat another person
with such a degree of violence that infliction of bodily harm is a probable
consequences, and when such an act is proved, consent is immaterial at 210
5

The issue is how do we justify pro boxing as a matter of law when Mike
Tyson bite Evander Holyfield ear,30 that was outside the rules of the sport.
Of course, noted is the fact that he was banned and fined but he faced no
criminal charge. The authority used in England on the issue of consent of
assault is R v. Coney.31In Coney the courts stated that assaults occurring
during bare-knuckle prize fighting could be subject to criminal
prosecution.32However, the defendants were only spectators in that case
and had no involvement in the fight itself. Nonetheless, Stephen J stated
that the consent of the parties to the blows which they mutually receive
does now prevent those blows from being assaults.33 Coney was an
interesting interpretation of the aspect of consent because the three
defendants were mere spectators and had no involvement in the fight
itself. However, the courts did not approve of spectators who were present
at fights that they were deemed to be guilty of assault.34Thus, your mere
presence at these events was enough for it to be considered
unlawful.35The three defendants in Coney were found guilty of assault and
the case was appealed and the conviction of the three men was
quashed.36

30 T. Friend, Tyson Disqualified for Biting Holyfields Ear New York Times (29
June 1997)
31 R v. Coney and Others [1882] 8 QBD 534(hereinafter Coney)
32 Ibid, Coney pp.4.3 at 172
33 Ibid, Supra note at 549
34Ibid, supra note 9 at 66
35 R v. Murphy 172 Eng. Rep. 1165 (1833)
36 Coney, supra note 31
6

The courts view of prize fighting was that it was unlawful.37In Attorney
General Reference No. 6 of 198038was the case of two youths (17 & 18)
agreed to sort their differences out in a street fight; they both consented
to the fight. The court held that it was a matter of policy that a person
cannot consent to a fight. The court felt that boxing of the sparring kind
with gloves was a legal pursuit, because they regarded boxing as a
pursuit not incorporating constituent elements of intentional harm and
danger.39The decision in R v. Brown40addressed issue of the legality of
boxing. This case was where a group of men had been involved in various
sadomasochistic practices in private. The men were convicted of unlawful
and malicious wounding and assault occasioning actual bodily harm,
despite the fact that the men had consented to the sexual acts.41The issue
of consent was discussed in the context that there is an exception to the
rules of consent only in contact sports. Brown made it clear that consent
to assault that intentionally causes bodily harm is prima facie unlawful
unless you are talking about a contact sport that is the only exception.42
Furthermore, this means that boxers have this assumption that the
consent reduces criminal accountability for assault. The issue here is if it
goes beyond the rules of the sport then consent is no longer present and
it should be unlawful. There is an Australian case of Pallante v. Stadiums

37Ibid, per Stephen J pp. 64 at 549

38 Attorney General Reference (No. 6 of 1980) (1981) QB 715
39 B. Foley., Boxing, the common law and the Non fatal Against the person Act,
1997 (2002) 12 1.C.1.J. 15 < http://www.brianfoley.ie/Boxing.pdf (Accessed:
29th September 2015) at 9
40 R v. Brown [1993] 2 ALL ER 75 (hereinafter Brown)
41 Ibid, Brown
42 Ibid,
7

Ply Ltd43 that confirms this point and suggest that if a fight moves from
being a test of skill to being a fight that it becomes illegal.44 However,
the Canadian case of R v. Cye45makes the argument that where assault
occurs within the sport that it is considered lawful. The case is an
important persuasive authority as the courts took the view that consent
within a sport and where assault occurs is lawful. Thus, this is a similar
approach that was used in Brown. Where boxing is legal despite the fact
that it causes actual bodily harm but because it is regulated by rules and
there is public interest issue then this is considered lawful.46 Cox et al
makes the argument that the difference between brown to boxing is the
fact that boxing takes place in public unlike the activities in Brown.47

Volenti Non Fit injuria

Volenti non fit injuria simply translated means the assumption of risk. For
liability to occur in competitive sports the plaintiff needs to able to prove
that the defendant failed to exercise a degree of care and that the injury
went beyond the rules of the game. There is a general rule that
sportspersons who part take in a sport that there is a general assumption
to consent to risk of injury which can occur within that sport. In Condon v.
Basi48 was where the plaintiff suffered serious leg injury as a result of a
43 Pallante v. Stadiums Ply Ltd (No. 1) [1976] UR 331
44 Ibid,
45 R v. Cye [1989] 48 C.C.C. (3d) 480, [1989] 5 W.W.R 69, 75 Sask. R.53 (C.A.), is
a ice-hockey case in which Cye cross-checked the victim from behind into the
boards, causing facial injury, a concussion, and whiplash and spent 3 days in
hospital.. The defence argued the victim consent was part of taking part in the
sport.
46 Brown, per Lord Jancey at 88A-B
47 Cox et al at 171
48 Condon v. Basi [1985] 1 WLR 866
8

tackle from opposing team member in football match. The plaintiff

exposed himself to the risk and he was aware that it could occur can been
seen as consent to the risk of harm. The court of appeal upheld the
judgement in Condon and found in favour of the plaintiff stating that there
is a duty of care of one sportsperson to another and a set of rules within
that sport that should be adhere to, and if they go beyond those rules
they can be held liable.49
In Watson v British Boxing Board Control (BBBC)50 there was the question
been asked was the boxing board liable and did they owe Michael Watson
a duty of care. Watson was claiming compensation against the BBBC when
he suffered brain damage in a match in 1991 against Chris Eubank. It was
held that the BBBC failed to provide medical care at the ringside and that
they had a duty of care to those who took part. The evidence showed that
the injuries that he sustained would have been less severe if medical
treatment had been available at ringside. The duty of care in this case
was not in the causing of the injury but the duty to ensure that if injuries
occurred were immediately treated at ringside.51What these cases
demonstrate that it is possible for an injured sportsperson to seek civil
redress for injuries sustained within a sport if it goes beyond the rules of
the game. Also, if a sporting body had not taken reasonable care to ensure
that medical care was available to those who took part in the boxing
match

Should Boxing Be Banned?

Yes
Boxing comprises health, it is the only sport where beating another
human being is legal and even if that resulted in death; legal? For
49 Ibid, per Sir John Donaldson MR pp. 13 at 728
50 Watson v. British Boxing Board Control (BBBC) [2001] QB 1134 (hereinafter
Watson)
51 Ibid,
9

Instance, Pedro Alcazar, Cho Hi, Jimmy Garcia, Oscar Gonzalz, Simon
Byrne, Jefferson Goncala, and James Murray all dead due to injuries
sustained in boxing.52The Australian Medical Association actively opposes
boxing.53In 2005 a female boxer from America Becky Zerlentes was hit
with a punch and fell unconscious.54.She died from blunt force trauma to
the head; it was the first case of a female boxer dying in the US.55 There
is always the risk of brain damage. Boxers repeately get hit in the head
and professional boxers dont have protected head gear unlike amateur
boxers. The greatest boxer of all time in my view has to be Muhammad
Ali. However, three years after Muhammad Ali retired he was diagnosed
with Parkinsons disease at the age of 42. This is neurological syndrome
that may or may not be linked to boxing but there is a strong possibility
according to a US doctor.56
Furthermore, there is a potential for boxers to contract HIV, the virus
known as AIDS. Heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison died at the age of

52 Horrific Boxing Deaths (22 September 2013)<

http://www.inquistr.com/95953311/horrific-boxing-injuries-and-deaths-from-thelast-100-years (Accessed: 01st October 2015)
53Australian Medical Association Boxing 1997, reaffirmed 2007,<
http://www.ama.com.au/node/444 (Accessed: 01st October 2015)

54 J. Alarcon-Swaby, Unfortunate Deaths in the Ring Within the last 10 Years (7 August
2011)<http://bleacherreport.com/articles/794374-10-unfortuate-deaths-in-the-ringwithin-the-last-10-years/page/3 (Accessed: 01st October 2015)

55 Ibid,
56M. Healy, Doctor says Alis Brain Injuries Due to Boxing Los Angeles Times (16 July
1987) <http://www.articles.latimes.com/1987-07-16/sports/sp-4337_1_muhammadali
(Accessed: 01st October 2015)

10

4457.Morrison tested positive for HIV hours before a match in 1996.58At

present there are only four states that carry out mandatory HIV testing.
There needs to be unified approach to the testing of boxers for HIV
worldwide. For instance, in 2005 Tommy Perez who was 19 at the time
and has HIV was allowed to box in match in Ontario despite the state rules
about HIV.59

No?
Boxing promotes discipline, fitness and dedication. If you were to ban
boxing it would go underground. In Ireland, boxing has been one of our
most successful Olympic sport with 16 medallists, 7 of which have been
won in the last two Olympic games.60 Boxing is not the only sport where
deaths have occurred. For instance, recently there was a cricketer Philip
Huges who died from a traumatic brain injury.61This has resulted in the
call for better helmets but no one called for cricket to be banned.62 Thus, if
you banned boxing you would have to ban kickboxing, judo or any other
competitive contact sport. The list would be endless. According to a US
based Centre for Disease Control Prevention reported by the IABA that
boxing provided the best mixture of exercise for people whose goal is to
57D..Skretta, Ex-heavyweight boxer champ Tommy Morrison dies at 44 USA Today (2
September 2013)<http://espn.go.com/.../_/idl/.../ex-heavyweigh-champ-tommy-morrisondies-44 (Accessed: 01st October 2015)

58 Ibid,
59S. Sprinter, Boxer Fought Despite HIV Los Angeles Times (July 30 2005)
<http://www.articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/30/sports/sp-boxer30 (Accessed: 08
October 2015)
60 Supra note 14
61 Philip Huges: Australian Batsman Dies, aged 25 (2014)
<http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/30219440 (Accessed: 09 October 2015)
62 Ibid,
11

decrease their risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis

and cancer.63Furthermore, boxing offers a unique opportunity for young
people who are living in disadvantage areas like Sugar Ray Leonard to
excel and can change their whole life for the better.

Conclusion
There is a need for the criminal law to play a role in where serious injuries
have occurred that were intentionally, deliberate and recklessly in nature
and were outside what was consented in rules of the sport. At present
there is no Irish case law that offers insight into how the courts view the
legality of boxing. The cases mentioned although from other jurisdictions
offer a persuasive authority and demonstrates how the courts approach
consent and the legality of violence within competitive contact sports.
Given that there are shortcomings in the 1997 Act in relation to consent
as defence in sports. Furthermore, the 1997 Act makes it clear that a
person can consent to assaults causing harm, short of serious harm. There
should be no exception to assault whether it takes place in the boxing ring
or a street. It is reasonable occurrence that injury would occur within any
sport, although some courts have recognised this as implied consent.
Boxing is the only sport where actual bodily harm is the objective of the
sport. In Greece, the Greek parliament has passed a new bill on violence
in sports to tackle this very issue.

64

There is a need for reform in boxing

but banning boxing is not a solution and it does not deal with the issue at
hand. Boxing would just end up go underground. Furthermore, there is a
need for pro boxers to wear protective headgear like amateur boxers. It
63 Super note 13
64 New Bill on Violence in Sport Passed By the Greek Parliament (2015)
<http://www.greece.greekreporter.com>Greeknews (Accessed: 10 th October
2015)
12

would go some way to protecting the individual boxer from serious and
fatal head injuries. Boxing offers more than the shadow of violence that
surrounds it. Violence is always going to be part of boxing but steps can
be taken to protect the individual athlete. Thus, the law needs to play a
bigger role, not only for protecting the individual boxers, but the sport.

Bibliography
Cox, Neville Dr., Alex Schuster., Sport and the Law (Dublin: First Law: 2004)
Donnellan, Laura., Sport and the Law A Concise Guide (Dublin: Blackhall
Publishing, 2010)
Gardiner, Simon, OLeary, John, Welch, Roger, Boyes, Simon, and Naidoo,
Vrvasi, Sport Law, (fth edn) (New York: Cavendish Publishing, 2012)

Articles
Alarcon-Swaby, Jorge., Unfortunate Deaths in the Ring Within the last 10
Years (7 August 2011)<http://bleacherreport.com/articles/794374-10unfortuate-deaths-in-the-ring-within-the-last-10-years/page/3 (Accessed:
01st October 2015)
Australian Medical Association Boxing 1997, reaffirmed 2007,<
http://www.ama.com.au/node/444 (Accessed: 01st October 2015)
Boxing Equipment and History International Olympic
http://www.olmpic.org>sports>Boxing (Accessed: 25th September 2015)
Foley, Brian, Boxing, the common law and the Non fatal Against the
person Act, 1997 (2002) 12 1.C.1.J. 15 <
http://www.brianfoley.ie/Boxing.pdf (Accessed: 29th September 2015) at 9

13

History of Boxing Fight Club (2011)

<http://www.fightclubamerica.com/about/history-of-boxing/ (Accessed:
25th September 2015)
Horrific Boxing Deaths (22 September 2013)
<http://www.inquistr.com/95953311/horrific-boxing-injuries-and-deathsfrom-the-last-100-years (Accessed: 01st October 2015)
Katz, Michael, History of Boxing WhiteCollarboxing.com
<http://www.whitecollarboxing.com/boxinfo.htm (Accessed: 25th
September 2015)
New Bill on Violence in Sport Passed by the Greek Parliament (2015)
<http://www.greece.greekreporter.com>Greeknews (Accessed: 10 th
October 2015)
Philip Huges: Australian Batsman Dies, aged 25 (2014)
<http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/cricket/30219440 (Accessed: 09 October
2015)
Sprinter, Steve, Boxer Fought despite HIV Los Angeles Times (July 30
2005) <http://www.articles.latimes.com/2005/jul/30/sports/sp-boxer30
(Accessed: 08 October 2015)
Skretta, Dave, Ex-heavyweight boxer champ Tommy Morrison dies at 44
USA Today (2 September 2013)<http://espn.go.com/.../_/idl/.../exheavyweigh-champ-tommy-morrison-dies-44 Date accessed: 01st October
2015

Newspaper Articles
M. Healy, Doctor says Alis Brain Injuries Due to Boxing Los Angeles
Times (16 July 1987)
<http://www.articles.latimes.com/1987-07-16/sports/sp4337_1_muhammadali (Accessed: 01st October 2015
F. McNally, McCartan found Guilty of Assaulting Westmeath Player Irish
Times, (6 November 2004) http://www.
T.Friend,Tyson Disqualified for Biting Holyfields Ear New York Times (29
June 1997) available at:

Cases
Irish
DPP v. McCartan, Unreported, 1 November 2004, District Court

14

English
Attorney General Reference (No. 6 of 1980) (1981) QB 715
Condon v. Basi [1985] 1 WLR 866
Collins v. Wilcock [1984] 3 ALL ER 374
R v. Billinghurst [1978] [1978] Crim LR 553
R v. Brown [1993] 2 ALL ER 75
R v. Coney and Others [1882] 8 QBD 534(hereinafter Coney)
R v. Donovan [1934] 2 KB 498; [1934] ALL ER Rep 207
R v. Murphy 172 Eng. Rep. 1165 (1833)
Watson v. British Boxing Board Control (BBBC) [2001] QB 1134

Australian
Pallante v. Stadiums Ply Ltd (No. 1) [1976] UR 331
Canadian
Agar v. Canning [1965] 54 WWR 302
R v. Cye [1989] 48 C.C.C. (3d) 480, [1989] 5 W.W.R 69, 75 Sask. R.53
(C.A.)

WebPages
http://www.iaba.ie
http://www.boxingunion.ie
http://www.boxebu.biz/ (
http://www.wbanews.com/
http://www.wbcboxing.com/wbceng/

Table of Legislation
Non Offences Against the Person Act 1997
s.2
s.3
s.22 (1)
15

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