Boxing and Christian values

In his homily right after the Pacquiao-Cotto fight last Sunday, a priest told churchgoers that he no longer watched boxing bouts. He said he used to be fond of ring skirmishes, but gradually he distanced himself from these. Sometime ago I also heard a priest said that contact sports such as boxing, judo, wrestling, and other similar sports are brutal and should not be patronized.

Yet His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal said after last Sunday’s bout that although he did not watch the fight, he was happy to know Pacquiao won. What’s really the position of the Church on muscle crunching sports like boxing? I know of many priests who enjoy watching boxing bouts, and last Sunday they must have been among the millions who got thrilled by the Pacman’s ring generalship.

Boxing and other contact sports are the modern versions of duel to death shows popular in ancient pagan societies. The gladiators’ joust in ancient Rome was one of them in which defeat meant death because the blood thirsty onlookers would not settle for less. In England during the Middle Ages a less sanguine form of sport emerged in which knights on horseback rode towards each other with lances aimed for mutual annihilation.

Is boxing a bloody sport? Yes, of course, although there are safeguards to minimize injuries or fatalities. But death has happened in a number of cases usually caused by head injuries inflicted in the course of a bout. No matter how one looks at it, boxing is a bloody and dangerous sport. Z. Gorres who now languishes in a hospital after a brain operation is a testimony of this. And of course, the many who died or were rendered handicapped from getting punched in the arena are reminders of the deadly aspect of boxing. If boxing is such a deadly game, why has it been tolerated? Why has the Church been non-committal about it?

I enjoy seeing a bout, by the way. It’s my favorite show on tv. During my days with DepEd’s Palarong Pambansa I worked closely for many years with Tony Aldeguer with his team of young pugilists whom he trained to become perennial champions. But even as I enthuse over the exchange of fists I cannot help but wonder if the spectacle is not against the moral teaching of the Church.

You see, violence is anathema to Christianity. Jesus Christ is the Lord of peace. In all his sermons mercy and compassion have been the central theme. “Blessed are the peace-makers”, he says, “for they shall be called children of God.” And when he was about to ascend to Heaven he told his disciples. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I leave unto you. Let not your hearts be troubled…”

Of course, like all contact sports, boxing is not based on hatred or hostility but on friendly competition. Two people agree to slug it out to delight people even to the point of destroying each other. Money is the motive and to a certain extent pride and fame. It seems all right ethically because the combatants do it out of their own volition. Yet because it is a contest of survival, an agreement to hurt or get hurt, the element of antagonism cannot be avoided. Certainly, between the boxers themselves no love is lost. Love your enemy does not apply here.

Yet that is precisely what Christians are taught. If one gets whacked on the cheek he is supposed to offer the others cheek. If he gets hit with a stone, he is supposed to throw back bread. How can a Christian reconcile this precept with his love of boxing? Or how can a boxer have peace after smashing his opponent’s face into a bloody mess? Tons of money as what Pacquiao is getting cannot justify the injury on one’s fellow human being.

A man’s body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, the Scripture proclaims. Into it God has breathed the breath of life, hence it is sacred. It may become dust after death but Christians believe that with the second coming of Christ, resurrection will bring it back to life. Certainly, it was not created to be a punching bag.

But a punching bag we shout for for our champion’s nemesis. And we get the thrill of our life when the latter kisses the floor. Then we lionize our champion and call him the pride of our country.

What’s happening to our psyche? Have the pagan impulses of our forebears taken control of our Christian upbringing? As euphoria sweeps throughout the country over the latest escapade of the People’s Champ, one wonders if our sense of values is still in its proper place.  

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