Bad Left Hook has a special feature for you fine folks today courtesy of The New York Times Retro Report. In this video, Retro Report takes a look at how the sport of boxing changed dramatically 30 years ago after a fight between Ray "Boom Boom" Mancini and little known Duk Koo Kim. Their highly entertaining 1982 slugfest thrilled audiences, but ended with a right hand from Mancini that would result in the death of Kim.
The brutality of that fight kicked off a wave of negative publicity for the sport of boxing, one that also involved an attempt by the American Medical Association to ban the sport entirely. Although boxing was never banned, the negative publicity caused large corporate sponsors to withdraw from the sport, encouraging networks to shy away, and media providing less and less coverage -- all of which eventually devolved boxing into niche sport.
So now that brain related trauma is a major point of concern for all contact sports, particularly in the $10 billion dollar industry that is American Football, Retro Report incites some hard-hitting questions - like how can the general public express visceral outrage over the excess violence in these sports as they continue to grow in viewership and profits? What's the deal with our simultaneous fascination and disdain for violence? The video poses a number of questions with no easy answers.
All in all the video is really well put together, narrated, and deep. Take a look, think about it, enjoy, and discuss...