A Blow to the Head

Depression, unmanageable anger, Parkinson's disease, substance abuse, Alzheimer's: they're among the unhappy ghosts that seem to flurry around boxing, no matter how hard it tries to be the Noble Art. John Tate: alcohol and cocaine addiction, became homeless and died in a car crash. Wilfred Benitez: brain-damaged. Michael Dokes: coke addict, now in jail for sexual assault and attempted murder. Tony Tucker: former coke addict and now religious convert. Jimmy Bivins: brain-damaged and broke. Pinklon Thomas: formerly coke addict, currently youth worker. Jerry, Mike and Bob Quarry: all brain-damaged, Jerry now dead. Oliver McCall: coke addict, jailed for assault. Floyd Patterson: brain-damaged. Riddick Bowe: currently under house arrest after abducting his estranged wife and children. All were champions once, or contenders.

The problem lies in identifying cause and effect. No matter how stunned or revolted observers were by Ali and Frazier slogging it out in the 'Thriller in Manila' in 1975, no one can definitively state that Muhammad Ali's genes hadn't always determined he would spend his later years hemmed in by Parkinson's disease.

And then there's Tyson, the poor monster, Don King's punching freak show—a money machine for everyone with the possible exception of himself. Tyson's temperament was never docile, even in the sunny days of his old coach Cuss D'Amato, when boxing looked as if it would save a ghetto kid from more jail time and an invisible, wasted life. Now the business of boxing allows him to behave badly and go easy on the sporting discipline. A truly iron Mike, after all, is bad for the pay-per-view; an out-of-shape Tyson, weakened by character defects and deficiencies in the ring, promises a positively Shakespearean spectacle. But are his flaws caused by bad character, bad company, or blows to the head? Tyson, even now, is hardly known for catching punches.

Both sides try to carve out their own moral high ground. To quote Golden Gloves of America Incorporated, which organizes America's most influential amateur championships, boxing supporters promote a sport which 'encourages a positive lifestyle for today's youth', although your average Golden Gloves competition will be heavily policed to keep all those disciplined gentlemen, and now ladies, from—possibly armed—combat outside the ring. And, for the few, we're reminded, there's the chance of fame, maybe wealth, some foreign travel. Boxing's opponents see self-destructive dupes being injured in the ring to provide promoters and ghouls with a gladiatorial spectacle. While some professionals hit the big time, in their opinion, all boxers, including juniors and amateurs, risk serious injury or death.