Boxing: Down for the Count

Boxing: Down for the Count
The tenth edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines boxing as 'the art of attack and defense with the fists practiced as a sport.' I could be mistaken, but there is a certain emphasis placed on the idea that boxing is practiced as a sport. It is rather ambiguous. Is boxing a sport to begin with? Is boxing something else that is just practiced as a sport? Is it, can it, or should it be practiced as something else rather than as a sport? Maybe I am just making too big a deal out of a simple definition here. Nevertheless, this simple definition of…