It should be noted at the outset that I am a fan of fighting sports, a fact that might surprise some people but not if they dug deeply into the sociology of the sport or my own personal background and intellectual interests. During dinner, I found out from one of the students that this morning at 10AM local time the Pacquiano vs. Mosley fight will be shown free on local tv. I had to inform him that watching the same fight in the United States would cost from 900 to 1200 baht (the exchange rate is about 30 baht to the dollar, as pay-per-view is generally in the $30-$40 range for boxing fights). It should be noted that the daily wage of a semi-skilled laborer is about 100 baht a day, putting a pay-per-view fight like that out of the reach of all but the wealthiest portion of Thai citizens, if such a price had to be paid to watch the fight.

That said, it appeared that even among those people who were not greatly interested in boxing (and preferred soccer), that the fact that Pacquiano was fighting was of considerable interest to them. Thais invariably call him Paquio, but though he is Filipino they consider him their own, and therefore take an interest in cheering him on to victory. It is a remarkable phenomenon. They were unable to explain (in English) why they were so fond of cheering him on, but the fact that Pacquiano is a symbol to the common people of Southeast Asia and their goal to triumph over poverty and adversity, who gives them hope to conquer in their own life’s struggles, is a very likely reason, for it is precisely that desire that leads people to box in the first place.

It has long struck me as a fan of Bully Beatdown that many MMA fighters, including host “Mayhem” Miller came from backgrounds where they were bullied by others. Being oppressed or bullied, for a certain type of person, leads that person to desire to strengthen themselves so as never to be weak or exploited again. They may strengthen themselves in will, in spirit, in mind, or in body, but they strengthen themselves nonetheless. Boxers have traditionally come from oppressed or marginalized minorities—working class backgrounds, Jews, Italians, Irish, Eastern Europeans, blacks, Latinos, and now Southeast Asians.

It is a shame that despite the wellspring of popularity of boxing in these tougher backgrounds that boxing itself is such a corrupt sport that it threatens to destroy the purpose and meaning behind the fighting behind it. One reason that war and fighting (or fighting sports) is so meaningful, even to those who are not particulalry war-like by nature, is that wars and struggles matter. Sometimes, through no fault of your own, you are put in a place where you must struggle to survive, and boxing is symbolic of that fight and its seriousness. People die in the boxing ring—and many even who survive face serious permanent damage as a result of their struggle, something that is also true of football players in a similar gladitorial-type of sport. The struggle matters, but even those who win often lose.

Let us not forget as well that boxing itself is mentioned (at least once) in the Bible. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 9:26b, states: “Thus I fight [box]: not as one who beats the air.” Paul understood that a Christian needed the spiritual discipline of proper spiritual diet, focus, and practice that a boxer demonstrates in the physical world if he is to succeed. Undisciplined habits of life, such as having frequent weight gains that have to be cut off through drastic means or training, cut a boxer’s career short and also inhibit the stamina of the dehydrated and ravenous boxer in the ring. We learn spiritual truths through physical symbols.

As it happens, I did not get to watch Pacquiano fight in Thailand, but that is another story.