http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills Hard to "measure" the toughness of a sport, but this seems about right. I have always contended boxing produces the best athletes by far.
Actually car racing is a very demanding sport too. Those Formula 1 driver need to be in tremendous shape physical and mental to go through a race.
key aspects to all sports: the physical, the mental, the technical. boxing is the greatest sport because it majors in all three of these. the only other sport that maxes out these three elements is tennis, but at the end of the day you're not getting punched in the face, so boxing takes it. boxing isn't even my favourite sport, but if you break it down, no sport is tougher. bar none.
the intangible fourth aspect to sport is 'creativity/flair/inspiration'... boxing majors in this as well.
You´ve never played Badminton then. It needs all the same things as tennis but happens at a much faster pace.
smaller court, therefore less emphasis on legspeed. tennis raquets and balls are heavier than badminton racquets and shuttlecocks, therefore stronger arms and wrists required. the first to 40 (game), first to 6 (set) and best of five (match, in slams) structure, compared to three first to 21 games is tougher mentally. the longest tennis matches take longer too. badminton has the edge for reflexes. at the most, although i would disagree, you could argue that badminton edges tennis for technique. but tennis is physically and mentally tougher. beyond the structure of the scoring systems, tennis at the highest level is more pressurised. the players play in front of the world, on courts over a hundred years old. and i have played badminton... squash is tougher!
