Psychology of Sport: Boxing
Introduction: Sports Psychology and Boxing
The psychology behind a sport is generally determined by the cumulative psychological impacts derived from the different aspects of the sport like the behavior of fans, a perceptive bias of adjudication in judging the sport, and morality of the players and in its fundamental. Boxing, as a sport, has been extremely controversial in terms of morality issues, biased judging based results, and violent response from the fans with respect to the issue of bad judgment and morality. This essay aims at reflecting the psychological theories of applicable to the above-stated aspects of Boxing as the sport under focus.
The psychological theories evident in sports and their application in the context of Boxing are discussed below:
Haan’s theory of moral development (moral balance and imbalance): This psychological theory establishes the development of morality on the basis of perceived rights and moral obligations of the opponents and other team players. If there is a discord among the coach and team in terms of violating the moral rights of the opponent then it is termed to be an imbalanced development of morality.
Illustration from Boxing: The fundamental principle of defeating the opponent in Boxing is to hit only over the face and give proper time to the opponent (his moral right) if he is not in stable form to stand in the ring. However, the notion of a knockout in boxing grants a win if the opponent is not able to stand back in the ring to fight. This causes an imbalance between the perceived rights and the boxers develop a psychology driven by a moral imbalance that propels them to leave no scope for the opponent to sustain in front of them, in spite of a moral obligation to spare the opponent when the rules grant him some time to recover (Dooley, 2013).
Biased judging due to previous experiences: This theory describes the mental state of match referees and judges in forming self-defined assumption and mental block which affect their rational decision-making abilities and result in biasness towards the result.
Illustration from Boxing: The boxing match for WBA Bantamweight Championship (held on Dec 2014) between Oscar Escandon and Tyson Cave where Cave was dominant in all the 12 rounds but was denied a victory by the judges sparked huge controversy over the biased decision of judges and their scorecards were found all favoring Escandon (Eisen, 2014). This match resulted in a stain over the biased judgment of judges Caiz Junior and Crebs as people called it as their predetermined inclination towards Escandon and prejudice towards Tyson Cave’s earlier fights. Thus, it can be seen that boxing has a lot of scope for biased decisions on the basis of earlier assumptions and experiences.
Aggressive instincts based behavior of the fans: This theory perceives the aggressive and violent behavior of fans a resultant development from the negative energy which they want to release by participating as an audience in Boxing.
Illustration from Boxing: The boxing match for WBA Bantamweight Championship (held on Dec 2014) between Oscar Escandon and Tyson Cave gave birth to a huge controversy and fans reacted in an extremely aggressive way towards the biased judgment (Eisen, 2014). Huge demonstrations were made to deprive the accused judges of their refereeing rights for any other boxing match in the future.
Conclusion
We have seen in this essay how the psychology behind a sport is dependent on the psychological stance of its players, judges, and fans. The amount of violence permitted in a sport like Boxing permeates an equal impact on the psychology of all the three aspects of psychological behavior discussed above. The best way to win in a boxing match is to knock out the opponent and to play on his aggravated weakness along the discourse of the match. Further, as a good boxer needs to win by displaying skilled violence, it brings him close to a prejudiced opinion of others as being merciless or inhuman (Dooley, 2013). Such experiences and assumptions affect the judgments of match referees and judges which result in biased judgments. The Boxing fans have similar aggressive instincts as they indulge in the sport to have a medium of reflecting the aggressiveness underlying their true inner self.
References
Dooley, T.(2013). A potted history of sports psychology and Boxing . Boxing Scene. Retrieved online from http://www.boxingscene.com/-potted-history-sports-psychology-boxing-69187
Eisen, L. (2014). Attention Boxing World: Tyson Cave Got Screwed by the Judges and Time to Do Something About IT! Ringside report .Retrieved online from http://ringsidereport.com/?p=49019
