Stop the world, I want to get off. During one of my routine e-mail checks yesterday, I received some terrible news.
Friday Night Fights - pound for pound the greatest show in town - has been canceled. For those of you unfamiliar with FNF, here's a little background.
Maung Gyi, at the time a professor at Ohio and coach of the boxing club, challenged his 1972-73 campaign class to come up with a way to raise funds for Ohio athletics. Gyi eventually suggested a full-boxing card and his idea proved to be a success, elevating the Ohio club boxing program's national reputation to among the elite by the late 1970s. Disaster struck the event in 1996 when the university severed all ties and financial backing to FNF due to the violent nature and injury rates associated with boxing. The event made a return in 2004 and was in Athens High School, but it was not a complete comeback until last year when FNF returned to The Convo to celebrate its 25th year.
The change of venue also was needed. Last year a record crowd of 4,129 people came out to enjoy FNF. The number of participants also had expanded - 31 amateur boxers trained last year for a chance to earn a FNF bout opportunity.
Sadly, the success of FNF seems not to matter.
Now, less than 10 years after the university first bailed on the event, FNF is again getting axed. Letters sent to the university have deemed the event too violent and dangerous for Ohio to be associated with FNF - or to support it in any way.
First things first - just how violent is amateur boxing?
A quick search online led me to statistics - found on www.usaboxing.org/100.htm - that prove amateur boxing is not only hardly dangerous, but less dangerous than some sports you find at colleges across the nation.
As far as fatality rates go, for every 100,000 people who participate, you are more likely to die scuba diving (11 deaths) than boxing (1.5) deaths. College football provides twice the chance for fatality with 3 deaths.
Wait a second, we have a football team here at Ohio. Where's the outcry there?
There are more injuries in gymnastics than in amateur boxing! Boxing also ranks lower in injuries compared to other sports like wrestling, hockey and, again, football. Last time I checked, you can find all of those sports on the Ohio campus.
Amateur boxing also provides more safety measures than pro boxing. Fighters wear shock-absorbing head gear, mouth guards and so on. Amateur boxing gloves are even designed to absorb, not transmit, shock.
What really butters my bread is that the university, which has complained about receiving the No. 2 party school ranking, is going to get rid of an event that last year drew more than 4,000 people into The Convo - on a Friday night.
If anything, Ohio should be encouraging more events like FNF to give students an alternative to drinking on typical alcohol-inducing nights like Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Yes, people punch each other in boxing. Like fighting in hockey or a hard hit in football, that is a controlled violence - that's what referees are for. Boxers do not step in the ring not expecting to take a punch just like a wrestler does not enter the circle unaware of the possibility he or she could be a human pretzel five minutes later.
FNF is a truly unique and special event that will be missed if university officials refuse to wake up and smell the smelling salts. I just hope FNF continues on with its success so, in another few years, the university will be begging to host the event again.
- Mark Shugar is a junior journalism major and sports editor for The Post who plans to go on a hunger strike until FNF returns to The Convo. Send him an e-mail at ms314803@ohiou.edu.
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Mark Shugar
