THE PUBLIC MIND: ON RECENT BOXING EVENT: NOTHING `BAD' ABOUT IT

To the Editor:

About the "Battle of the Bad" contest held at the Show Me Center, May 16, 1991: All-in-all, I thought that it was exactly what boxing should be! I saw: no contestants so over/under weight and out-of-shape that they appeared to be endangering their own safety; no one so hopelessly unskilled as to have been a public embarrassment to themselves or others; more than adequate safety equipment used within a well-secured ring, including heavy foam head and groin protectors, and huge, 16 oz. gloves; no serious mismatches; no apparent serious humiliations; no blood except for one bloody-nose; no evident cuts; no life-threatening knock-outs or beatings; officiation which was largely quick, efficient and cautious; only one hotly protested decision; no racial ugliness; no apparent town contestants, almost all of whom gave a respectable display of skill and courage.

This was a healthy, natural expression of normal male aggressiveness within public release of otherwise sublimated violence.

If there were more of these bawdy-fun, male, ritualistic celebrations held locally as there were during my youth back in the fifties more young, would-be "toughs" would learn to channel their aggressions into physical fitness and publicly acceptable aggressions and less into sublimated drunkenness, recklessness, and rowdiness.

America has suffered long enough at the hands of the self-castrations which are the product of the women's movement's male feminizations!

If I had any serious complaints about the contest it would be the use of the word "bad" within the promotions, which might have lent the event an unfortunate connotation. These young men were good! My hat is off to 'em! Lets see more!

Jack Stewart

Jonesboro, Ill.