It had to come to public attention again,the so called sport of boxing.

We all know, it is the only sport where a competitor wins by reducing his opponent to a state where he cannot retaliate because of physical injury.

These injuries can be seen on several retired boxers.

Muhammad Ali is one such case, and lately a young man has been revived from a medical induced coma, in a battered way.

The lure of fame and financial reward is the only thing that drives them and perhaps the chance of a very gilded belt that won't even hold trousers up.

The sport doesn't really belong in a country that holds animal cruelty like fox hunting as abhorrent.

There was a great outcry a few years ago I don't remember the outcome, but at that time the feeling was intense, and I feel it in the air again.

Alan Blandford, Southampton

Editor's note: Muhammed Ali has Parkinson's. There is no conclusive link between his boxing career and his contracting of the syndrome.