Is Boxing a Cruel, Vicious Sport as Quarry said?

Definitely it is. Maybe this makes me a hypocrite, but I never watch fights where another boxer is killed or permanently injured. I've never watched Mancini vs Duk Koo Kim, Benn vs McClellan. Hide vs Bentt, etc.
I remember watching Vitali pummel Shannon Briggs and cringing and praying for Briggs. Thank God Briggs wasn't killed or permantly injured.

 

Of course it is; it's probably the most primal (legal!) sport in modern life. The minute you step into the ring - your first fight or your fiftieth - it's always the same; it's whatever you bring that particular day or night. Your manager can't help, your trainer can't help, your family can't help - for those three, five, ten rounds, it's whatever you have. You can run and hide for those minutes, or you can stand your ground and find talents and strengths you never knew you had. And part of it is, unfortunately, getting hit. That's why it's boxing. And when you get hit, you WILL get hurt. Maybe a little, maybe a lot, but it's inevitable. And that's where the primal aspect kicks in - we're still here because our ancestors got hit, and kept coming back. At it's best, boxing is a chance to reconnect with that ... at it's worst, it reminds us of the fragility of life. It's cruel and vicious - then again, so is life itself.