Should boxing be banned as a sport?
Al Jazeera
Recent high-profile bouts, both professional and celebrity, are making boxing as popular as ever but medical science points to potential risks for the athletes.
An estimated 40,000 boxing fans watched Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh earlier this month.
Millions tuned in over legal and illegal streams across the world to witness Usyk defend his title against Fury in an enthralling contest that reportedly earned the boxers a combined $191m in prize money.
Earlier this year, an estimated 60 million households watched the punch-up between ageing boxing legend Mike Tyson and YouTube celebrity fighter Jake Paul. This was in addition to the 72,000 people inside the arena in Texas that together paid a whopping $18.1m to watch the fight in person, according to the promoters.
In 2024, the extraordinary number of eyeballs, online search queries and audience figures across viewing platforms confirmed boxing’s status as one of the most popular and followed sports in the world.
But given the brutal nature of boxing, should it even be considered a sport?
