The legal liability of the various role players in professional boxing for an injury or death suffered by a boxer during a professional boxing bout held in South Africa

Abstract

In a sport like professional boxing where the infliction of bodily harm on one’s opponent is the primary objective of both the participants, it is therefore not surprising that the risk of serious bodily injury (and even death) is omnipresent within the square ring that these modern-day gladiators ply their fistic trade. At the same time, those who control, organise and officiate these contests, as well as those who prepare the combatants for battle, often do so oblivious of the daunting legal risks that stalk them whilst they do so. This research study explores these legal risks in the context of the applicable laws and the respective roles performed by each of these role players. Whilst the research study has a South African focus, it also briefly examines the corresponding laws in the State of New York and the United Kingdom, with a view to using same as a comparative basis for making recommendations on how these legal risks can be averted and/or mitigated in South Africa. Although this research study reveals that few of these role players escape the net of potential liability posed by these legal risks, the recommendations that are made in this research study should hopefully provide some comfort to them, if those recommendations were to be adopted and implemented.