Most Difficult

[ocianain]

If you look at the youtube link, there are some related videos of other fighters that died in the ring.

Boxing is funeral sport. You see this clearly in the Iliad when boxing (along with wrestling, and running) are contested at the funeral of Patroclus. Some of the sports contested may bring the participant close to death (running, boxing an wrestling), these were the most highly valued. You're correct regarding boxings nature, it is barbaric. There is also a powerful existentialist appeal to it. Strange "sport"

[fsgrecofolk]

Boxing, wrestling, mma, and other martial arts appeal to our most basic primal instincts which is fight or flight, and in this case the emphasis is on fight.

[ViseGrip]

Hitting a long straight tee shot is not the biggest challenge in golf. Try sinking that 15 foot putt on an undulating green.

Its putting that makes a pro player not driving.

[TobusRex]

If you look at the youtube link, there are some related videos of other fighters that died in the ring.

Boxing is funeral sport. You see this clearly in the Iliad when boxing (along with wrestling, and running) are contested at the funeral of Patroclus. Some of the sports contested may bring the participant close to death (running, boxing an wrestling), these were the most highly valued. You're correct regarding boxings nature, it is barbaric. There is also a powerful existentialist appeal to it. Strange "sport"

Boxing was different back then. The boxers usually wore leather gauntlets with metal studs. Fights usually went until one or the other was dead. On the other hand you didn't have to worry about fights being fixed (unlike 99% of the pro matches today).