Debating the Ethics of 'America's Tragic Theater'

Start of an amateur boxing match, Rayne, Louisiana. 1938. Photographer Lee Russell

Start of an amateur boxing match, Rayne, Louisiana. 1938. Photographer Lee Russell. / New York Public Library (CC0)

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You can admire athleticism while also abhorring a sport. Writer Joyce Carol Oates once called boxing “America’s tragic theater.” Boxers die in the ring. Two of them — Maxim Dadashev and Hugo Alfredo Santillá — died just recently.

In light of these recent boxing tragedies, Charles Monroe-Kane and Steve Paulson are grappling with the ethics of boxing. It’s a debate that’s probably going on in a lot of places and will – unfortunately – continue.