Boxing over the past couple of years has grown in popularity, especially in the younger audience. The English three curriculum contains a project where you create something you are passionate about that will better yourself or others. Joshuan (Josh) Roberts is passionate about implementing boxing as a high school sport or club. According to the Harris Poll, which surveyed around 2,000 adults in 2021, boxing is the fourth most-watched sport behind football, basketball and baseball. In 2010, boxing was not even in the Harris Poll’s top ten most-watched sports. The obvious reason why boxing is not an established sport for kids is because of the concern for possible injuries. Yet, football and wrestling are both sports that have equal risk of injuries, both of which have been school sports for decades. 

“Ways to avoid danger factors is using headgear which is the most important safety factor to have,” Roberts said.

Headgear is important for avoiding major concussions or cuts on the face and head. Football has begun to install headgear-like padding that goes over helmets when practicing in the offseason.

“An additional factor is the boxing gloves and how much they weigh,” Roberts said. “Boxing gloves are measured in ounces which refers to how much the glove weighs and how much padding is provided for the boxer’s hand.”

The lighter the gloves means less padding which causes concerns regarding a hand injury. But with lots of padding, headgear and training, boxing could become a relevant sport for kids who want exercise, skills for self-defense or an activity to do with friends. There are many positive outcomes from boxing.

“The pros that come with boxing for young adults are effective workouts, stress decrease, improved discipline, better concentration skills and turning a student’s hobby into a career,” Roberts said. 

The only problem with turning boxing into a career is that colleges don’t offer it as a sport. College Jaguar states “no colleges offer boxing as a varsity intercollegiate sport. That means there are no school-sponsored scholarships available for boxing — although a number of outside organizations offer partial scholarships to talented young boxers.” The website also mentions that boxing is run at schools as a “club sport.” These are sports run by students but are over-viewed by a faculty member(s). Yet, boxing is a career path for sports, and young adults are beginning to notice that. Big-name boxers like Floyd Mayweather, Canelo Alverez, Ryan Garcia, Gervonta (Tank) Davis and even “social media” boxers like Jake Paul or KSI are looked up to by high school students all over the world. The recent “Creed” movies are even targeted toward teens all over the nation. 

“The final reason why I am so passionate about boxing is that if you have a goal of losing weight, getting stronger or working out in general, boxing helps you make progress towards personal accomplishments,” Roberts said.

Boxing has proven to be beneficial whether that be mentally for personal goals or physically for losing weight. With the right precautions and training, boxing and its up-rise could be explored as an option for young adults during high school.