Boxing

Early in my time as a student at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, my political science professor required my fellow students and me to do a report on a controversial topic of public interest of our choosing.  We were to interview someone on each side of the issue.

As a boxing fan, I chose as my topic whether professional boxing should be banned in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  It had been illegal until the late Nineteenth Century.  Should it be again?

I was able to schedule an interview with Herman Taylor, the legendary Philadelphia boxing promoter.  At twenty-five years of age (in 1912), he had started on his sixty-three year career in the sport.  

I met Herman in his office when he was in his late 70s.  There I saw a lot of memorabilia from his long career involving such greats as Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Joe Louis, Jersey Joe Walcott, Ezzard Charles and Rocky Marciano.  

Herman was of course angry about such legal attempts to put him out of work and deprive boxers opportunities to make a living, to say nothing of the fan base which supported them both.  To him, boxing was a sport, just like football and baseball.  Each had inherent risks.

When the movie Rocky came out in 1976, the character of boxing promotor Miles Jergens (played by Thayer David) reminded me of a somewhat younger version of Herman Taylor.

On a subsequent day I took a bus from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, the state capital, to interview the legislator who proposed the bill outlawing boxing.  He of course mentioned the physical dangers (punches to the head) to boxers engaged in the so-called sport.  The government needed to step in and protect them from themselves.  Thankfully for Herman and me, his proposed legislation went nowhere.

I finished my report and got a satisfactory grade.  However, my professor did not think my topic was sufficiently controversial nor in the public interest.  I did.